My Trails into the Past

From 28 July 1937 to 21 December 1938, Arnold Nilsen served with the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), specifically in Yosemite Valley with Camp YNP-6. [1] He worked primarily with a pick and shovel building stone retaining walls. When he joined, he was a month short of his eighteenth birthday. He was probably settled in well, working hard at his camp along with the rest of the crew. On 9 December 1937, it started raining, light at first, but then it poured for two days. The valley received over eleven inches of rain, causing the Merced River to flood. The flood damaged roads, bridges, and buildings. Arnold’s CCC camp was evacuated and the camp lost twelve buildings. [2] The rain was not only in Yosemite but the whole state. The Red Cross worked hard to help efforts in Downieville, Yuba City, Marysville, Colusa, and other places. They sent an airplane to drop food and medical supplies to the 150 members of the CCC who were evacuated to El Portal, at the entrance to Yosemite. [3]...

I have completed one hundred eighty-one (181) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. It was a quiet week: one trip to the History Center, a hike, phenology, the Train Club show, and dinner with my husband’s brother and sister-in-law. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings Jacqueline and I zoomed in on Monday and I learned my sound was coming in garbled. Amigos met as well this week. Friday, our Der Blumenbaum team met about the upcoming issue. My articles won’t be needed until the next issue. I also caught up with my certification mentee. She is so close to submitting. Genealogy Writing This week, I have spent most of my free time working on the presentation for the upcoming Maine Genealogical Society seminar. I also wrote my normal three blog posts during the week. The post, Newest Discover, was highlighted in Linda Stufflebean’s post "Friday Family History Finds". Blog Posts: Newest Discovery: George Gorrell was the Executor of Mrs. Hardin’s Estate . For Week 34, I wrote ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!   Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings : 1)  Did you follow a research trail down a genealogy rabbit hole this week?  Tell us about it. Here's mine: Last week when searching Newspapers.com for some articles about my father-in-law and discovering he was the executor of his landlady’s estate (which I wrote about here ), I decided to see what articles I could find about my mother-in-law. Surprisingly, I found a lot. She was the executor of the estate of her uncle, David L. Lundquist, and two notices about the estate were found in the Merced Sun . [1] This estate took several years to complete due to almond contracts with Blue Diamond, but I found no more articles on this website. I found several different letters she wrote to the Sacramento Bee. One was to answer another reader whose cake didn’t rise. Her advice was to check the expiration da...

Before George J. Gorrell married Thelma M. Nilsen in 1951, he lived with Mrs. Annie G. Hardin at 2300 Portola Way. [1] She was a widow, forty years older than George. It was her suggestion that he attend the youth group at the Presbyterian church where he met Thelma.  After he married, he still visited her often, bringing their children along. At this point, she had sold the Portola Way home and bought a home at 1640 Los Robles Boulevard in North Sacramento, probably to be closer to George. [2] I have recently found a newspaper article about the proposed private sale of her real property. The private sale was to be to “the highest bidder for cash, subject to confirmation by the Superior Court, on or after the 29 th day of April 1963. The land, located in Placer County, California, was described as “the southwest quarter and the south half of the northwest quarter of Section 28; the north half of Section 33; the northeast quarter of Section 31; the Southeast quarter and the sout...

One hundred eighty (180) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19 have passed. I left the house for phenology, four trips to the History Center where I volunteer, Oakland FamilySearch Center, and to the train club for the DCC clinic and the Campbell Theatre to see a play. I also had lunch with Jacqueline in Oakland. By Saturday I had an ear and throat ache but tested negative for covid. I wore a mask in the theater to be safe Genealogy Genealogy Meetings Jacqueline and I talked for a while on Tuesday and I attended the staff meeting of the Oakland FamilySearch Center on Friday. Later, I had a nice conversation over Zoom with Kristin about military research and teaching about it. Genealogy Writing I finished the preparation for the upcoming AppGen course on land research. I worked some on the article on railroad travel and on the presentation about how to leave your genealogy. Blog Posts : The Strength of Her Faith . For Week 33, I wrote about my great-uncle’s wife, Effa Sullivan...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings today is to: 1)  Have you made an Ahnentafel report ("name table" in German) recently?  Show us yours!  How did you do it?  Which program did you use? Here's mine: Unlike Randy, I started with my father in the number one spot. I also use RootsMagic and used the publish menu to produce the ahnentafel report. An Ahnentafel is a genealogical method of numbering. How it works the ancestor’s father is always double their own number and the mother is plus one. So, my father is number one, his father twice that at number two, and his mother is plus one, making her number 3.  His father’s parents would then be 4 and 5 and his mother’s parents 6 and 7. The Ahnentafel report then lists these people in numerical order but separates them by generation. My dad is in generation one, his parents in generation two, and h...

Effa L. Sullivan died on 29 April 1951 in Artesia, Los Angeles County, California. She was the wife of Jack C. Sullivan, my grandmother’s brother. Her obituary gives a little information about her: A rosary was recited at Holy Family Church in Artesia on 3 May 1951 and after a funeral mass on the next day, she was buried at Calvary Cemetery. Besides her husband, a sister, Mary McCord of Artesia, and a brother, Ira Wilson of Los Angeles, survived her. [1] However, what I do have is a copy of the eulogy recited at her funeral by Father O’Connor. She appeared to be very active in service to the parish and he recounted those activities. My guess the copy of the eulogy somehow made it to my grandmother and it was found her in papers. [2] "An Expression of Sympathy from the Priest and People of the Parish to Mr. Sullivan, to her Brother and Sister and Family.  We tender the sympathy of all our parishioners, and all the sisters of our school.  Mrs. Sullivan was known by all...

I have completed one hundred seventy-nine (179) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I left the house for phenology (alone), a trip to the History Center, where I volunteer, and to train club for the board and business meeting. I also had lunch with Jacqueline in Oakland after the CGS cemetery tour. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings Monday, I attended the Kinseeker’s Military SIG and then met with Jacqueline where we talked about CGS stuff. Wednesday, I hosted the CGS Roundtable and we discussed ideas on how to leave our genealogy after we are gone. Instead of Amigos meeting on Zoom this week, we met for dinner in Alameda. We had a great dinner and it was nice hearing about Stewart’s trip to Japan. Genealogy Writing This week, I spent most of my time reworking the syllabus, exercise handout, and PowerPoint presentations for my upcoming AppGen course on land research. I used comments made when I first taught this to tweak some parts and rework some other parts. I have to still crea...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  Have you made a pedigree fan chart recently?  Show us yours!  How did you do it?  Which program did you use? Here is mine: This is a great activity to see where I stand on extending my research back further generations. Lately, I have been focused on expanding what I know about more current ancestors and their families. These charts are showing me where I have further work to do. I use RootsMagic and creating a fan chart is located under Publish > All Reports and Charts > Fan Chart. I have my daughters in the number one position, so I made two charts with myself and my husband as the point person. I have blocked out our vital records for privacy. Husband’s Side On my husband’s maternal side, I can see that I have neglected to research his maternal grandmother’s side in Swedish records. That...

The Nilsen family of Hilmar, California, have had yearly reunions for many years. I am not sure of the date of the first of the yearly picnics, but they started probably in the 1950s or 60s. The Nilsen Family historian has a photo album depicting most of the reunions. The reunions likely started with the grandchildren generation of the Nilsen ancestor, Rev. Nils Malkom Nilsen, who had settled in Hilmar in 1905. Besides farming, he was the pastor of the Swedish Mission Church in Hilmar. Nils Malkom and his wife, Hulda, had six children. Four of them continued living in Northern California and two lived in Southern California, having turned adult while Nils Malkom was serving as pastor at a church in San Pedro. In the beginning, the reunions alternated between a location in Northern California and a location in Southern California. However, in the last twenty years, the reunions have been held in Northern California locations, as the majority who attend live up north. The picnics...

I have completed one hundred seventy-eight (178) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I left the house for phenology, the library to pick up a reserved book, two trips to a FamilySearch Center, and two trips to the History Center, where I volunteer. My twice-a-month trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Center also involves a trip to Whole Foods for some sushi. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings I met with Jacqueline on Monday and besides talking about our physical ailments, we talked about the research we are working on. I met with my certification mentee on Wednesday and she is making a lot of progress—seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. The writing group I lead met for the last session this summer and we reviewed one of the projects and made plans for our fall sessions. We hope to get in one session in person so we can finally meet each other. The AppGen founders met on Monday and we are all prepared for the upcoming signup session beginning next week. I am the only one who ...