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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of August 4–11, 2024

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 and tax records. Ancestry has census records. Once I have collected and transcribed these documents, I will analyze and write up whether it is concluded that David might be NHO’s father.

Blog Post Published:

Lancasters Lease Land to Oil and Gas Developers in Erath County, Texas. For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Free Space,” I wrote about Ebenezer Loveless, George W. Lancaster, and William C Lancaster, all leasing part of their land to oil explorers.

SNGF: What is on Your FamilySearch To-Do List? Randy asked us to list when we last visited FamilySearch and what we were looking for or plan to look for. I wrote about the my efforts with the Polly research.

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
I continued working on the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Collection. I also attended the Board meeting on Thursday evening and the committee 1 of the strategic plan meeting on Monday.

The AppGen founders met and we discussed the upcoming registration for the fall session and the spring session’s call for proposals, and we created a new timeline of the call for proposals and registration for fall 2025.

Webinars/Courses Viewed: none this week.

Other:
The San Ramon Valley Branchline of the Southern Pacific Railroad in N-scale is on display at the Harrington Gallery in the Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, along with other railroad art. We plan to operate the layout on Saturdays. Friday, I helped Steve by running the engines and cars over the entire layout seeking any problem areas. Saturday, we operated from 10-3 for the public who came to see the art.

I am reading:

  • Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation by Tiya Miles
  • Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Photos for this week. We planned to do a longer hike at Sibley Preserve, but it was too hot to take the open hilly route, so we walked along the creek and back.




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.

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