My Trails into the Past

When our children were young, we looked for a preschool that students attended for a few hours a day instead of one that was attached to daycare. A person at a local park suggested Creative Play Cooperative Preschool in Pleasant Hill. It is a parent-supported preschool with a teacher in each class. Not only did we do our cooping, we also had other jobs such as maintenance and putting on the yearly Winter Wonderland event in December which was a big money-maker, as children from the area attended to meet Santa, play games, and do crafts, and grownup bought baked goods. The philosophy of the organization was learning through play. There was no emphasis on learning reading, writing, etc. There was learning though, through play and exploration. Elizabeth was already not yet four and placed in the afternoon Monday/Wednesday/Friday class as a substitute, which meant when a child was going to be absent, Elizabeth could go in their place. If I was present at the school as a parent helper, sh...

I have completed two hundred and twenty (220) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I went out three times: History Center, hearing aid appointment, and to a memorial service.     Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Jacqueline and I met on Monday. She was so busy she had no time to work on her genealogy while I spent most of my free time processing the documents I had collected in Texas. Two SIG groups met this week. First Jacqueline, Stewart, and I met with Amigos and discussed possible places to have our retreat this year. I also attended the RootsMagic SIG on Wednesday evening. Genealogy Writing/Research: My writing project this week was working on the timeline for NHO Polly. It is part writing and part research, especially locating every tax record of his time in Rockwall County, Texas. I sent for the documentation from the Legislature Library of Texas for a bill that was introduced by a senator for the relief of NHO Polly for damage caused by Indians in 18...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  Again -  Time For Some More  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings Genea-Musings for tonight is to:  1)  One of the goals of every genealogy researcher is to solve difficult name and relationship problems - and traditionally we do a "genealogy happy dance" when we succeed. 2)  When was the last time you did a "genealogy happy dance" after solving one of your difficult problems? Here's mine: This is very difficult. I haven’t had a great “happy dance” in a long while. I have not found new ancestors on any of my lines. FamilySearch’s new Full-Text Search in Labs has not helped me with some of my brick walls, i.e., the parents of Samuel Johnston or Benjamin W. Jones. It has helped me locate records, though. Is being excited as good as a “happy dance?” Benjamin W. Jones I thought I would give Labs another try. I hadn’t searched on his name yet, so let...

I have two men in my family whose middle name is Cyril. My grandfather was William Cyril Hork, born in 1899 in Hamilton, Montana. My grandmother’s brother was John Cyril Sullivan, born in 1887 in Mitchell, Dakota Territory. Both men went by Cyril during periods of their lives. Technically, Cyril would not be their nickname, but certainly, it was their call name to their family. John Cyril Sullivan Cyril Sullivan played catcher for the St. Paul’s Church baseball team. [1] He was enumerated with his parents in Anaconda, Montana in 1900 as Cyril Sullivan. [2] He worked as a messenger for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. [3] He played third base for The West End Sluggers. [4] He attended a stag party of a friend Bert Milzner. [5] He was living with his family in 1910 as Cyril Sullivan. [6] However, he enlisted in the Army in 1917 as Jack C. Sullivan. All mentions of him use this name. [7] From then on, he used Jack C. Sullivan as his name until his death when his official name Joh...

I have completed two hundred and nineteen (219) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I went out three times: History Center twice and to Train Club for our weekend show. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Jacqueline and I met and reconciled our expenses. We each paid for various motel rooms and somehow managed to be very close—she owed me only a hundred dollars. Next up is to work on a Shutterfly book of our adventure. I attended Kinseekers Military SIG on Monday and the focus was on World War II. From that, I decided to send away for Jack Sullivan’s claim file. I sent it off to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis by email and got a reply that his death was too recent for them to have the file. With the email address they gave me for the VA, I sent an email to them. I haven’t heard back yet. Genealogy Writing/Research: Writing and research this week were mostly my blog posts. I continued processing the documents I collected on the research trip and worke...

The 1912 Portland City Directory’s entry for Ethel Elizabeth Sullivan stated she was a student at B-W Business College. [1] Her address was 410 Ross which was the address of her grandparents, John and Margaret Gleeson. [2] Ethel is the sister of my paternal grandmother Anna Marie Sullivan. What was B-W Business College? The business section of the directory listing under colleges and schools at the back of the book listed Behnke-Walker Business College, located at 167 4 th Street. [3] On another page was a full-page advertisement for the school. [4] According to the ad, the college had “the most commodious, best-lighted and perfectly ventilated quarters. It had the largest and most complete equipment, with the greatest number of expert instructors and the most thorough and modern methods.” Behnke-Walker Business College A browser search brought up some more information about the college. The college was established in 1902. The training was for jobs in bookkeeping and shortha...