My Trails into the Past

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)  Show us your pedigree (or fan) chart.  Who are your end-of-line ancestors?  Describe the top 5 or 10 of them. Here’s mine . I made a nine-generation fan chart from RootsMagic that has my daughter in the center. I marked out the living people for privacy. It clearly shows some of the end-of-line ancestors. I have not named them all, but here is a sampling: On my daughter’s paternal side: Heinrich Bischoff and his wife Ann Elisabetha, who were the parents of Henrich Bischof. Eventually, the Bischof name morphed into Bishop. Nils Jonsson and Kerstin Arvidsdotter, parents of Jonas Nilsson. As well as Brukaren Sven and Catharina, parents of Jonas’ wife, Stina Svensdotter. Sven Svensson and Sara Jonsdotter, parents of Karin Svensdotter. I don’t know the name of her husband, Mathes Peterson’s parents. Lars N...

For several years, I have been giving a presentation on how to do focused research. I use William C. Gleeson’s obituary as a starting point. First, create a research question and then make a research plan. This presentation is interactive and I have the audience participate by reading the obituary to discover something they would like to know, and then read it again to list the background information—those facts that the obituary is stating. Then we make a list of items to research. The research question is usually who are his parents. Always someone lists getting the death certificate as one of the first items. One day I realized I had never ordered it. I knew when he died and where he was buried, but I never took the time to get the actual death certificate. We should always strive to get every document that might have information about an ancestor. Even when you think you know everything. I know who his parents are, where and when he was born, etc. Of course, one thing I did n...

I have completed one hundred eighty-five (185) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. This week I went to the History Center and then we left for NYC on Jet Blue, wearing our masks. Masks on the subway but we ate indoors most of the time because it rained on the weekend. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings None this week. Genealogy Writing Besides working on my renewal, I started on a new presentation on using probate records. I’m doing a presentation for the Seattle Genealogical Society in November. Blog Posts: Adversity: Single Mothers Raising Their Families . For Week 38, I wrote about three generation of Hork wives who had to raise their family alone. This post was highlighted in Amy Crow Johnson’s 52 Ancestors email. Genealogy Volunteer/Work John helped me with the inventory of the library materials. We are almost finished but have a few books we cannot locate that had been entered previously.   AppGen meeting went over the proposals for the upcoming Spring session a...

In three consecutive generations in the Hork family, women had to raise their young children without a husband. I had not thought about the loss of the breadwinner before, but now I will. Maria Catharine Trösster (1813-1874) Joseph Heinrich Horoch, who lived in Oberhundem, in Kreis (county) Olpe in Westfalen, died on 5 October 1857 of dysentery. [1] Two other children also died two days previous on 3 October: Maria Elisabeth who was just eighteen months old [2] and Johan Joseph Carl, who was eleven. [3] Joseph was fifty-three years old and the father of at least five children. I have two more children whose baptisms I have found but whose death I have not. In 1857, at the time of her husband’s death, the five children living were Frederich, age twenty-one; Franz, age sixteen; Anton, age fourteen; Clementine, age six; and Albert, age four. What would she have done? Who would have taken care of her? The likely answer was the older boys found work to help support her. She may have done...

I have completed one hundred eighty-four (184) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Besides phenology, I went to the history center, got a haircut, and operated trains at Train club. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings There were several meetings this week:  Kinseekers Military SIG, where KB showed how to use the catalog and the History Hub on the NARA website. We saw some cool photos another member got from the National Archives of her father while he was in Vietnam. Stewart and I met during Amigos and discussed his autobiography and our plans for the upcoming retreat. I hosted the CGS Roundtable discussion groups by myself this month. Seven attended and there were lively discussions about everyone’s research. Genealogy Writing I continued working on my renewal, writing a research report. As of Sunday evening, I had seventeen pages written, not counting any images except a map and a tombstone. It’s coming along well. Blog Posts: James Sullivan: Enjoying the Prosperity He De...

My great-grandfather, John H. Sullivan’s oldest sister, Mary, married another Sullivan, James Sullivan. She was born on 1 November 1843 in County Cork to Jeremiah Sullivan and Mary Sheehan. [1] She came to the United States with her family when twelve years old, first settling in Providence, Rhode Island, and then moving to Calumet, Michigan. [2] On 8 May 1870, she married James Sullivan at Hancock in Houghton County, Michigan. James was two years older, also born in Ireland, and worked as a miner. [3] Houghton County is in the upper peninsula where much copper and iron mining was done. This was the same work that Mary’s father had done in Ireland. In 1877, James and Mary moved to Holt County, Nebraska, where James acquired a homestead. [4] He was one of many from Michigan who settled in the area near O’Neill. In 1890, he cultivated ten acres of wheat, twenty acres of oats, thirty-five acres of corn, and five acres of potatoes. He had built a cottage the previous year. He was “n...

I have completed one hundred eighty-three (183) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Besides phenology, I went to the history center twice, to a party on Saturday, and to Modesto with a friend to do some research. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings I met for the last time with my mentee, as she turned in her portfolio to BCG. We will meet up in person later this month in Bangor. Jacqueline and I met for a short time discussing plans for our trip to Modesto for research. On Tuesday, I accompanied Jacqueline to Modesto, the county seat for Stanislaus County, in order for her to collect the death certificates she ordered, and to look at the deed indexes on the computers in the lobby. We collected over 300 images of deeds from the computer screens of transactions involving her father and mother. He owned a construction company and built and sold a lot of houses. Next, we need to check the court records for any transactions. We also visited a cemetery for some tombstone photos. On the way...

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: 1)  Do you have photos of your spouse, or significant other, or a parent, or a grandparent?  Please share some of them!  Have you collected all the photos of your spouse/significant other/parent/grandparent in a computer file folder? Here’s mine: My mother was born in 1934 in Stephenville, Texas, the only daughter of Tom J Johnston and Pansy Louise Lancaster. She passed away in 1992.  This first photo is the youngest I have of her with her Mom: Her 5th birthday: 10 years old with her dad: Senior year in high school: Wedding photo from 1953 newspaper: 1964 image with the Junior Women’s Club and Louis Armstrong: 1978 Christmas image with husband and 6 children: I am currently working on organizing all my photos and putting them into archive boxes. I am creating a spreadsheet, so it will be easy t...

Although my grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, worked many jobs, mostly he was a carpenter, able to make things with wood. Many of the pieces of furniture in my grandparents’ home were made by him: tables, lamps, picture frames, and even a bar. This photo of my two grandmothers shows the two tables and lamp that he made. An ad in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune in 1940 explained his occupation before the war. [1] He and my grandmother had been married for seven years with one child and lived with her parents, Warren and Leah Lancaster. His occupation was listed as the owner of a wood shop and his income the previous year at $1440. [2] When he was drafted into military service, he gathered up letters of recommendation, probably to aid in getting a carpenter gig in the U.S. Navy. These letters stated he worked the following positions: Worked as a carpenter from August 15, 1941, to December 16, 1941, at the construction of the Fort Worth Aircraft Plant No. 4. Written by J.S. Tait, project c...

I have completed one hundred eighty-two (182) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. It was a quiet week: I left the house for three trips to the History Center and for phenology. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings The monthly CCCGS round table was Monday and we had good discussions. A group is planning a trip to the FSL in February. Later that day, Jacqueline and I zoomed in and she approved of the improvement in the quality of my sound. Genealogy Writing This week, I finished the first draft of the presentation for the Main Genealogical Society. I will review it and record myself presenting it to see what changes I might need to make. I finished the railroad travel article for CCCGS Diablo Descendants and turned it in. I also finished my methodology column for the CGS Nugget . Once the articles were finished, I went back to working on my BCG renewal. Will it be a KDP or a research report? Playing with both possibilities. Blog Posts: Disaster: Arnold Nilsen, the CCC, & the ...