My Trails into the Past

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s is to: 1)  Most genealogists try to stay in contact with their aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Who among them made the most effort to stay in contact with your family?  Did they write, use the telephone, or send cards or gifts?  Did they visit you, and/or did you visit them? Here’s mine: My mother was a letter writer, though she also enjoyed talking on the telephone. Few of her letters have been saved, mostly ones sent to her mother. She wrote weekly to her mother-in-law and Nana wrote back. Her sisters-in-law wrote to her, too. I remember she had a big box full of these letters that she saved. After she died, I looked for the letters, thinking they might contain some good genealogical information. However, the box was not to be found. My sister said that a family of mice discovered them in a closet and used them to ...

When searching for the parents of someone with a common name, one must work through multiple search returns. One example is the 2x-great-grandfather of my husband, Thomas Davey. I started with his marriage to Mary Nicholas on 21 May 1832 at St. Agnes in Cornwall, England. This was from an entry in the 1859 published bible owned by Thomas and Mary Davey. His birth was also recorded in the bible as 3 September 1807. [1] There is no mention of his parents. Two Thomas Daveys The FamilySearch collection entitled “Birth, Marriage, & Death, England, Cornwall Parish Registers, 1538-2010” returned two results for Thomas Davey, baptized in 1807. Both baptisms occurred after Thomas’ birth in September 1807 so either record could be for him, or neither of them. Let’s analyze them. Thomas Davey, son of James and Elizabeth (Thomas-1) The Thomas-1 was baptized on 9 November 1897 in Camborne Parish, but no birth date is listed. The parents in this record are listed as James Davey and Elizabe...

I have completed two hundred and thirty-two (232) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Besides phenology, I volunteered at the History Center and the Oakland FamilySearch Center. I also attended the historical society’s event, Author in the Archives on Sunday. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Jacqueline and I met on Monday on Zoom and again on Saturday by phone. Also on Monday, I attended Kinseekers and this was the first time no one had sent in a question. Some of us shared some of our recent findings and I shared about discovering my uncle served on two ships in the San Francisco Bay during WWII. Genealogy Writing/Research: This week, I spent most of my research time reviewing the files I collected on my research trip to Texas last May. I had photographed pages from several books at different libraries and historical societies. I renamed each file and made a complete PDF of all the images. Lastly, I moved them into a “book” folder under the appropriate surname folder...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Here is our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings: 1)  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their life?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect their physical or legal interests?     2)  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their life. Here's mine: The first person who came to mind is my great-grandmother, Nell (Hutson) Johnston, who died on 14 July 1919 at the young age of 31. Even though Texas has been recording deaths since 1903, there is no death certificate for her, so I do not know her cause of death. [1] Her notice in the newspaper said her death was untimely. [2] At the time of her death, she left five children ten years and younger, th...

Even though my mother, Lela "Lea" Nell (Johnston) Hork had four children under 6 years old, she was active with the Junior Woman’s Club in Pittsburg, California. In 1960, she was installed as secretary. Mrs. Bess Gibson was president, succeeding Mrs. Edward Marchoke, Mrs. Frank Pietruszkiewicz was vice president, Mrs. William Hork was secretary, Mrs. Cyril Bruno was treasurer, Mrs. Ally Petrial was parliamentarian, Mrs. Marchoke was auditor, and Mrs. James Hanges was club coordinator. [1] In September, Louis Armstrong performed for a hospital benefit at the Pittsburg High School creative arts building. The sponsored show's proceeds were to purchase a circoelectric universal hospital bed for the Pittsburg Community Hospital. The following women were involved with the program: Mrs. Bess Gibson, Mrs. Ally Petrini, Mrs. Cyril Bruno, Mrs. Bernard Krieg, Mrs. Edward Marchoke, Mrs. Donald Meyer, and Mrs. William Hork. [2] A photo of Louis Armstrong appeared in the newspape...

I have completed two hundred and thirty-one (23i) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I was out more this week: dinner at Original Joes in San Jose, worked the CCCHS booth at the Lindsey Museum event, met with the archivist at Black Diamond Mines park, ran trains at the art gallery, and visited a dying friend in the hospital. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Jacqueline and I met twice, once on Monday where we caught up with things and again on Wednesday, as we were the only ones of the Amigos to join the Zoom meeting. I had three meetings with different committees about the upcoming 2025 NGS Conference. On Sunday, I attended book club where we discussed the Wild Girls book. Genealogy Writing/Research: I did a little more work with my Polly family research and writing. I also worked on some Lancaster and Loveless families as I was preparing the 52 Ancestors blog post. I discovered that something had happened to my RootsMagic file. All of the 1950 census entries are go...

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)  How many known ancestors (at least a name) do you have in your generation of 4th great-grandparents?  What about your significant other's generation of 4th great-grandparents?   2)  Tell us how you figured this out, and highlight your most recent additions to your list. Here's mine: I have found the names of 29 fourth-great grandparents (11 on my father’s side and 18 on my mother’s side). Where I have blanks are with the Irish and Germans who lived in Poland on my father’s side for a total of 21 missing people. On my mother’s side, it’s the surnames in the tree that are common such as Johnston, Jones, Davis, and Rogers, or females that I don’t know their parents’ names, for a total of 14 missing names. My husband’s side is not much better. He has 16 known na...

I have completed two hundred and thirty (230) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I went to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, the train club for meetings, and the art gallery where the San Ramon Valley Branchline is displayed. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   I met via Zoom with Jacqueline on Monday and we had further discussions about the California Genealogical Society’s (CGS) trip to Salt Lake City and the FamilySearch Library. I also attended the APG NorCal Chapter meeting on Zoom. We discussed how we determine our rates and the upcoming field trip to the San Francisco Public Library. Genealogy Writing/Research: This week, I discovered from Randy Search an updated database at Ancestry of Arkansas death certificates and I located some more Loveless death certificates which I downloaded and entered into RootsMagic. I also worked more on my Polly project. This time I focused on gathering documents naming David Polly, NHO’s possible father. FamilySearch has deeds an...

I have completed two hundred and twenty-nine (229) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We went by BART and Muni to a San Francisco Giants game and visited with my husband’s family at the Nilsen Family Reunion at Samuel P Taylor State Park. I also helped set up the San Ramon Valley Branch Line module at the Harrington Gallery in Pleasanton where it will be on exhibit until Oct 5. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   The only meeting I had this odd last of the month week was with Jacqueline on Monday. Genealogy Writing/Research: I found some newspaper articles for a friend that concerned his grandfather and great-grandfather. Blog Post Published: End of the Line: Stuck at Irish & Polish Research . For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “End of the Line,” I wrote about my Sieverts, Raduntz, and Sullivan lines where I am stuck, mostly due to lack of records. Analysis of the new AI Summary at FamilySearch . After listening to the podcast by Mark Thompson and Steve Little, I lea...