My Trails into the Past

I have many challenging research subjects, both in my family and in my husband’s family. This past week, I have chiseled away on one of them. FamilySearch Full-text Search In the new FamilySearch full-text search, I decided to expand a targeted search out a bit. [1] I searched on “Thomas Davey” and instead of focusing only on Clark County, Indiana, where he lived, I decided to see what else I could find. Sometimes records come up in unexpected places that I would not have searched. A deed record came up for Thomas and his wife, Mary, in Franklin County, Kansas. Upon reading the deed, I discovered that this was likely my Thomas and Mary Davey because their residence on the deed was Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana. Also, one of the witnesses was Fred H. Davey, who was likely their son. What puzzled me about the deed was the amount they paid for several pieces of land: $12,000 for 423 acres. They purchased this land from Henry and Mary Jane Hawkins. [2] I wondered if they bought ...

I have completed two hundred and forty (240) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Outside activities included going to the History Center, train club for our monthly show, and dinner with my sisters. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   First was a quick meeting with the NGS conference committee. Jacqueline and I met and reviewed an electronic notebook. Wednesday at the RootsMagic SIG, Sue Severson gave a great talk on how she used RootsMagic to help her create her family books. Genealogy Writing/Research: I continued working on my Polly case study. Part of the work was the homework for the Assemblage class and part of it is to try to finish it. I realize I have a couple of documents I need to locate but they are not online. I have a request with the state archives in Frankfort, Kentucky and am awaiting their research. I also continued working on the Davey problem I mentioned last week. I have determined the land Thomas and Mary Davey bought was of their daughter, Mary J...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has an assignment for us tonight:  1)   Form a research question and ask an Artificial Intelligence agent to create a genealogy research plan for you.  2)  Share the plan. How well did AI do? Is the plan useful or too basic? [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!]  Here's mine: Since I have a paid subscription with ChatGPT, I used version 4o. This is my prompt: You are a certified genealogist. Your research subject is Amos Gorrell, who was born 12 February 1837 in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, married Catherine Shotts on 6 February 1866 in Ross County, Ohio, and died on 31 March 1928 in Cooper County, Missouri. I would like a research plan to locate his parents. This is the bot’s reply (in blue) and my comments about the plan (in black): Creating a solid res...

In 1988, we were invited to a Gorrell Family Reunion being held over the Memorial Day weekend in Odessa, Missouri. We decided to go. Most of the attendees were there on the first day, May 28. The party was held at the senior center in Odessa. Those invited were the descendants of Amos Gorrell and Catharine Shotts’ five children: Louella Gorrell, who married William E. McMahon Linnie Sarah Gorrell, who married William P. Netherton Joseph Norman Gorrell, who married Matilda P. Davey Ada Leah Gorrell, who married John Whitlow Arthur L. Gorrell, who married Minnie Gillespie Of the five children, only three of the children had offspring. Arthur died in 1916 and left no children. Lou & William McMahan also had no children. The Nethertons had five children, with only two living to adulthood. Linnie & William had five grandchildren. The Gorrells had four children, all living to adulthood. Joe and Matilda had thirteen grandchildren. My husband is one of those grandchildren...

I have completed two hundred and thirty-nine (239) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Outside activities included going to the History Center twice, Oakland FamilySearch Center, the Social Security office, and on a day cruise on the Sacramento River with Norman’s brother & wife. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   This was a week with several meetings on Monday. Our CDG renewal accountability group met and we decided on how often to meet and what to discuss. I attended Kinseekers military SIG where we discussed drafting into the Navy during WWII, about National Guard service in Mexico in 1916, and Record of Service cards from a variety of states. Jacqueline and I met and talked about Ancestry’s updated DNA stats.  Lastly, at the Oakland FamilySearch Center staff meeting on Friday, one member covered what books the center has and another about the FS labs. Genealogy Writing/Research: I discovered two deeds for Thomas and Mary Davey while using the full-text sear...

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)   Which ancestor of yours married the most times?  [This may be interesting for some GeneaBloggers!]  [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!] Here's mine: The question asked about ancestors, so I will focus only on direct ancestors, as it is easier to browse looking for the number of known marriages. There was no need to look on my father’s side, as they were all Roman Catholics and married only once. On my mother’s side, her grandfather, Thomas Newton Johnston, married three times. The first marriage was to her grandmother, Nell Hutson , on 6 June 1907 in Comanche County, Texas. [1] Nell died on 14 July 1919. [2] He married next, Zilpha E. Buford (nee Morris ) on 12 December 1931 at Stephenville, Erath County, Texas. [3] This was the grandmother my mother remembered. She was ca...

My 2x-great-grandparents had ten children, all of whom grew to adulthood. Five boys and five girls were born to John Gleeson and Margaret Tierney, all in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada. In 1879 the entire family moved to Dakota Territory and settled in Davison County. John and his three oldest children, including his daughter, Anna Marie, purchased land from the Federal Government. But farming the prairie had its troubles and only Martin continued while the others lived in the town of Mitchell. These photos of the children were taken in Mitchell, South Dakota. I am not sure who is who, except for the youngest boy and youngest girl. Six of the children married. The four eldest had children, giving John and Margaret thirteen grandchildren. The first to die was my great-grandmother, Anna Marie Sullivan, who died at age 51. All except one child moved from South Dakota and settled in Montana, Oregon, and California. Three daughters taught school. One son worked for the highway departmen...