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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of June 17–23, 2024

I have completed two hundred and twenty-four (224) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We flew home on Monday, which ended up being a day early and had to take BART home. Jet lag was tough this week, as I am still waking at 5 am.

Genealogy

Genealogy Meetings:  
I met with the NGS this week about the call for proposals for the 2025 conference, with Matt B about the timeline of our duties for the conference, and the Oakland FamilySearch Center’s staff meeting.

On Friday, the genealogy ladies (Linda, Kim, Kathryn, Sherie, and I) met for lunch. It was great seeing everyone and the conversation in the car going there and back with three others was invigorating. Too bad we forgot to take a group photo!

Genealogy Writing/Research:
This week, I started transcribing the deeds from Will County I had collected in Joliet. I found Vincent Sievert had sold a lot to his daughter, Julia, and her husband, Anton Hork. These are my great-grandparents and I had no idea they owned land that early in their marriage. I also did some FamilySearch work in locked films at the Oakland FamilySearch Center on Wednesday for some Polly research. For other Polly research, I checked out resources on PERSI and JSTOR.

Blog Post Published:

Storytellers in the Sullivan Family. For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Storyteller,” I wrote about my visit with my grandmother to her sister’s house in 1969 and how they told wonderful and funny stories about their childhood, and alas, I cannot remember any of the details.

SNGF: What Genealogy Rabbit Hole Did You Go Down Recently? I wrote about using PERSI and JSTOR to do some cultural and historical research about the Disciples of Christ and what preaching was like in Kentucky and Texas in the 19th Century.

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
I gave a presentation to the Napa Valley Genealogical Society on Thursday afternoon on church records. I did my volunteer stint on Tuesday at the History Center until I was too tired from the jet lag. On Saturday, we had a booth at a downtown Martinez event and I worked it all day. Glad it didn’t get as hot as was forecasted. Wednesday, at the Oakland FamilySearch Center, I helped a patron who was trying to locate passenger lists for his ancestors. It was difficult because he didn’t have much information about them with him. I suggested he make a timeline for each person showing dates and locations of different events.

Webinars/Courses Viewed:

  • Editing Your Own Writing Part 2 by Tom Jones (BCG/LFT Webinars)
  • What’s New in RootsMagic 10 by Bruce Buzbee (RootsMagic YouTube Channel)
  • Use AI to Research Historical Documents & Letters by Mark Thompson (NGS AI Toolbox)
  • I also attended the orientation for the NGS GRIP Institute that will be this coming week. I am taking a daily class on farmers from 7 am to 2 pm.

Other:
Monday, we took the subway to O’Hare Airport and flew to SFO on American Airlines. They had wifi entertainment, so I watched two movies on my small phone, as I couldn’t get my iPad to connect. I saw “Barbie” and “Red, White & Royal.” Once in San Francisco, we had to purchase new Clipper Cards and pay for our BART ride. Martinez Taxi picked us up and even agreed to stop by Whole Foods so we could get some food.

Wednesday, our walking group hiked at Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve where they finished opening the Alder Creek and Leatherwood Creek restoration, which involved daylighting the two creeks that had been in culverts for years. They did a great job.

I am reading:

  • The Mystery of the Lost Cézanne by M.L. Longworth

Photos for this week. Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in Oakland.





Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great at documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme.

Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. You are definitely keeping busy during the summer "lull!" I love all your summer flowers.

    ReplyDelete

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