My Trails into the Past

Agnes Hilma Carolina Lundquist was born on 16 July 1894 in Stanton, Montgomery County, Iowa, to immigrant parents from Sweden, Pehr Alfred Lundquist and Mathilda Lovisa Erikson-Holm. [1] Her parents were married on 15 March 1892 in Red Oak, the county seat of Montgomery. [2] Agnes was their second child. When I began researching my husband’s family, I looked for her father in ship passenger lists and found no record of Pehr Alfred Lundquist, nor his parents Anders Lundquist and Cajsa Lundquist. Two more siblings of Pehr Alfred, Johan Gustav and Ana Sophia, were also not found. I continued researching the family in US records but at the back of my mind, I really wanted to locate that passenger list. It’s the first connection to the old country. Then I remembered the Swedish naming pattern. Pehr’s name would be Pehr Alfred Andersson, being the son of Anders. Anders’ surname would Eliasson, as the son of Elias Pehrsson. Perhaps they did not come to America using the Lundquist name...

I have completed two hundred and seven (207) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. This week I had meals out with my sisters and with a friend of my husband. I also gave an in-person presentation in Sacramento.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I didn’t meet until Thursday when we spent an hour booking flights to Dallas, Texas in April. She is coming from Eugene and I from Oakland and we managed to locate a flight in Las Vegas that we both can transfer to! And the same with the return flight. We will be spending eleven days in North Texas doing genealogy research. Hello Dallas, Fort Worth, Stephenville, Comanche Co, Rockwall Co, and more. Maybe even a dip in Oklahoma. Genealogy Writing/Research: I spent some more time locating the 1950 census records for Whitlow, Goe, and Patterson families. On Friday, I received a land patent package from Sandy Rumble and it’s a goldmine. My 3x-great-grandfather, George W. Lancaster got 40 acres of pre-emption land and h...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has our assignment for tonight:  1)  How did your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and other greats meet each other?  Do you know any details?   Here's mine: I told the story of meeting my husband, Norman, in Saturday Night Genealogy Full – How Did You Meet the Love of Your Life? I told the story of my parents meeting in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – “How did Your Parents Meet?” I told the story of how my maternal grandparents met in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – How Did Your (Grand) Parents Meet? I wrote the story of Norman’s great-grandfather’s courtship in Courting: The Courtship and Marriage of Amos Gorrell, Jr. and Catherine E. Sayre in Ross County, Ohio . I have not written the story of my paternal grandparent's meeting. William Cyril Hork of Hamilton, Ravalli County, Mon...

We have several interesting items I would call heirlooms. These have been tucked away safely, but unfortunately, our daughters know nothing about them or their significance. My goal this year is to document these heirlooms with photos and stories, printed up in a Shutterfly book. Then if they decide not to keep the items, at least they know the background story and its provenance. This post was originally written for Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in 2017. I am updating the content. Opera Glasses The first item is a pair of opera glasses that were given to me by my aunt, Virginia Gertridge, who told me they were owned by her great-aunt, Elizabeth Gleeson. Nothing was written down and I do not remember her exact words as I received the gift. It is possible that Virginia’s mother, Anna Sullivan Hork, had the opera glasses first and then they were passed down to Virginia. Clues about the glasses. They are stored in a leather case which is falling apart. Inside the lid is wr...

I have completed two hundred and six (206) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I was out and about more this week, going to the History Center twice, having lunch with genie friends, attending a Harry Potter movie in German party at our German teacher’s home, and giving a live in-person presentation to a group in Modesto.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:  On Monday, I attended Kinseekers Military SIG on Zoom and then had a nice lunch at Jack’s with genealogy friends. It was Kathryn’s birthday and we plan to meet again for lunch in late March for Sheri’s and my birthdays. Jacqueline and I led the CGS Roundtable this week and we had a lively discussion about lots of topics. I shared the story of locating my great-uncle’s comic book story. The Certification Discussion Group meeting this week was about the BCG’s announcement of a pilot program to split the submissions of a portfolio into two parts. The rubrics and judging would remain the same. So many people came, that...

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, suggested by Jacquie Schattner:  1)  We all find "fun" or "different" information about ourselves, our relatives, and our ancestors in our genealogy and family history pursuits.  What are five "fun" or "different" facts in your life or your ancestor's lives? Here's mine: 1) I have been a railfan all my life. As a child, three railroad lines passed through our town of Pittsburg, California: Southern Pacific, Santa Fe, and the Sacramento Northern (part of the Western Pacific). I loved it when the train stopped us at a crossing. We kids would count the box cars as they passed by. Fast forward to adulthood, I got to work on a railroad. Not a big railroad like the SP and Santa Fe, but I was a train operator for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BARTD) for fifteen years a...

One cannot begin to research our German ancestors in Germany unless we have a clue to their German hometown. This is because there is no country-wide resource in Germany that covers German-speaking areas in Europe. We have our U.S. Federal Census that helps us locate where in the country our ancestors might live. There wasn’t even a German state until 1871. Before that, there were small independent kingdoms, principalities, duchies, bishoprics, and lands. When we know the hometown, then we can research in records in that location. But first, we must discover the hometown name in U.S. records. Ship Arrival List One place to start is locating a ship arrival record. I found a record that might name my great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork. A Joh. Hork appeared on the SS Idaho from Liverpool on 5 November 1870. He was 27 years old and from Germany. [1] Johan Anton Hork was not found in the 1870 census, so this is a possibility I have found a good match. However, no exact location of his ...

I have completed two hundred and five (205) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Besides going to the History Center twice and phenology, outside-of-the-house activities included volunteering at the Oakland FamilySearch Center, buying books at the library sale, and touring the new East Bay Regional Park.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   I met with Jacqueline for a short time this week as we continued our plans to Modesto next week. I’m going to be giving a presentation to the Stanislaus County Genealogical Society and she wants to take some photos in the Turlock Cemetery. I also met with KB Barcomb and we discussed some WWI stuff, particularly locating a unit in the Morning Reports on Fold3 . Lastly, I attended the Book Club at Gena’s House where we discussed Wake . We had a lively discussion about the history she wrote and the research process she explained. Genealogy Writing/Research: I turned in the German town article for Der Blumenbaum. I still have ano...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has our assignment for tonight: 1)  What were your best genealogy achievements in 2023?  Tell us - show us a document, or tell us a story, or display a photograph.  Brag a bit!  You've earned it! 2) Tell us about your best genealogy achievements in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status post.  Please leave a link on this post if you write your own post. Here's mine: I’m taking a detour from working on a presentation about federal land records to write this. Here are two of my favorite finds from last year. I tend to write about the finds and achievements I have when I find them. One of the best was finding a newspaper article that my grandfather signed up to play baseball at the Naval Training Station in San Diego during WWI. Cyril W. Hork Signed up to Play Baseball at Naval Training Station in San Diego Anothe...

In the late 2000s, I approached my husband’s aunt about writing a book about her ancestors, the Nilséns. She supported the idea, supplied funds to research at Ancestry , bought a new scanner and printer, and put up the money for the printing of the books. I ended up writing about the four immigrants who came to the United States and two of their following generations and included a chapter about the two siblings who remained in Sweden. The direct ancestor of his aunt and mother was Nils Malkom Nilsén, the eldest of the children of Jonas Nilsson and Marta Larsdotter. Nils changed the spelling of his surname while in the seminary due to there being too many Nils Nilssons. The children who came to America also used the new spelling while the children who remained kept the surname Nilsson. Nils was a minister in the Swedish Mission Church and served in many locations in the United States. To discover which churches he where served, I had to locate the churches in the various towns and ...