My Trails into the Past

I have completed two hundred and forty-nine (249) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were trips to the History Center (twice), Oakland FamilySearch Center, the emergency room for my husband, and to a Walking group get-together.    Genealogy Genealogy Writing/Research : On Christmas Eve day, I finished the book about my parents. It’s a digital book with photos and some text I copied from previously written blog posts. I sent this document to my siblings on Christmas Eve but I have not heard from any of them yet about what they think.  I spent a couple of days working on the children of Rueben Johnston and his first wife, Catherine. The only record I have found of Catherine is their 1870 census enumeration with the first child, Samuel. Two tombstones of their children list her as S.C. Johnston. I am not sure of Catherine’s surname or even her first name. Two daughters called her Catherine Shull or Scull on their death certificates. A Sully family ...

I say goals and not resolutions. Resolutions sound like you have to fix something. I just want to get stuff done and making a list of goals might help do that. First, let’s look at last year’s goals and my grade for it. 2024 Goals Organize photos and files . I eliminated some family file folders by scanning and recycling the papers. I have reduced two large bins to one so far, but I stopped halfway through the year because the copy machine I used at the FamilySearch Center was out of order. I need to get back to that. B for effort. Write 4 research reports and articles . I have written articles for journals, but they are how-to articles, not research reports. I just don’t like writing research reports. C- for not trying hard. Write a book on the Hork family . I did create a book about my parents using text from blog posts and photos I have. It’s digital only and I gave a copy to each of my siblings. It’s not the whole Hork family, but it’s a start. A- because it does not have citations...

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: Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list: 1) Was Genea-Santa good to you?  What genealogy gifts did you receive for Christmas this year? Here's mine: Since I did not ask for any genealogical gifts (or any gifts) this year, I received none. Zooming with my daughters who were with other family in Iowa and Phoenix was a highlight of the day. We opened our present from Margaret while she watched and I received some books about birds and backyard birding. Norman received books about transit. I gave a genealogy gift to my siblings. I created a digital book about our parents covering their childhood, marriage, occupations, outside activities, vacations, automobiles, and residences they lived in. It had mostly photos and some text. We ar...

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

I just completed a photo essay book about my parents as a gift for my brother and three sisters. What I discovered as I put it together, many of the photos’ resolution were not large enough to make the images large on the page. For this book, it is currently only digital, so it does not matter. But if we want print it, I may need to re-scan the photos. Many of the photos were scanned years ago when my computer hard drive storage was much smaller. Today, images should be scanned at least at 600 dpi for a jpeg and even higher for a tiff file. A tiff file will end up very large but it is a stable format and will not change with each saving. Scanning first as a tiff is ideal. Then save as a jpeg for daily use but keep the original tiff scan untouched. So, what did I end up with some of the images? Many were under 200 kilobytes, some even under 100 kb. Here is an example of one of my parents at 62 kb. I do have many the images, so re-scanning is possible. However, the photos I borrowed to s...

I have completed two hundred and forty-eight (248) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were trips to the History Center (twice), to a music concert, and to Kaiser emergency.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    I met with Jacqueline, and we discussed the trip to Salt Lake City for RootsTech. She worked on purchasing her flight there. On Wednesday, I attended the Certification Discussion Group and heard Elizabeth tell us about her certification journey. On Friday, I met with my long-term peer group and four of us caught up on each other’s activities. We congratulated Annette on her certification and gave pep talks to Pam. I also attended the last Oakland FamilySearch Center staff meetings of the year on Zoom. They plan to have the center open four times over the break for staff only. I hope I can go in and do some scanning. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center on Tuesday, I continued with the same collection—this time I’m entering d...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s is here.  Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list: Write your 2024 Genea-Santa letter. Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy? What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list? They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest. Here's mine: I hope that Genea-Santa thinks I have been a good genealogy girl. I have written family stories on my blog for all 52 weeks of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. I hosted monthly round table talks with both the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society and the California Genealogical Society. I also hosted two RootsMagic discussion sessions while Keith was on vacation. I volunteered most months at the Oakland FamilySearch Center and weekl...

In May of 1882, Thomas Davey and his wife, Mary Nicholas Davey, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in their home surrounded by their children. They even were reunited in matrimony by their minister from the Methodist Episcopal church.  The local newspaper had a nice write-up about the event.  "Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Davey, living at No. 226 Wall street, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage at their home on Tuesday evening and were again united in marriage by Rev. Ongley, of the Methodist Episcopal church.  The aged couple were married in their native country in 1832, and are blessed with seven children and eighteen grandchildren, several of whom were present on the happy occasion.   “Mrs. Davey is particularly well known as a Christian lady whose good deeds of charity have endeared her to many during her residence of twenty years in this city.  Mr. Thomas Davey, after many years of faithful service as blacksm...

I have completed two hundred and forty-seven (247) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were trips to the History Center, to the train club, and to a Wednesday Walkers party.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    I met with the Cert Renewal group, Kinseekers Military SIG, Jacqueline, and Amigos this week. I shared the WWI draft classification record from Erath Co, Texas during Kinseekers. Jacqueline and I talked about my new iPad and Jacqueline asked questions about census citations. We got caught up with each other during Amigos. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center on Tuesday, I continued with the same collection—this time I’m entering data into the finding aid and correcting some folder labels. Our Writing Group met and because no one had submitted any new work, we discussed general topics and made the dates for the next session. We decided to meet once a month through April.  Genealogy Writing/Research: I did some major tidyi...

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)   Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a sibling, a cousin, an in-law)!   2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?"  Use different questions from the list that you didn't use last week. Here's mine: Last week, I wrote about when we opened presents and what kinds of trees we had. This week I shall select two more topics: Were there memorable gifts or surprises from your family’s holiday history? I have been thinking about the family gifts we received over the years. One year in the mid-...

The day I met my future mother-in-law I knew it would be a good relationship. I had been seeing her son for about a year or two. We met at the trolley museum off Highway 12 when I came up with friends from the train club. We all loved volunteering there: running streetcars, maintaining the track, and working on rebuilding cars in the shop. He lived on the museum site as a sort-of caretaker and worked in Rio Vista during the week as a welder. Later, he took a job closer to where I lived and moved to Pleasant Hill. I do not remember the exact circumstances that led us to visit his parents at their home. His mother welcomed me warmly. She gave me a tour of the house and when I saw a bookcase in the hall, I knew I had found a kindred soul. Books can reveal a bit of one’s personality. She was an avid reader of fiction. Many of the books on her shelf were also on my shelves. She had a whole collection of Louis L’Amour books, and he was one of my favorite authors then. She also had the Mrs. P...

I have completed two hundred and forty-six (246) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were two trips to the History Center, a trip to the doctor’s office, a trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and a trip to the Chevron archives.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    Genealogy meetings this week included the NGS Conference Committee on Monday morning, a Zoom meeting with Jacqueline on Monday afternoon, the Certification Discussion Group on Wednesday, and Gena’s book club on Sunday. I put a library hold on one of the books mentioned about our BYOB (bring your own book) day.  Genealogy Volunteer/Work: On Wednesday, I presented at the Oakland FamilySearch Center on researching in person at archives and libraries. I had a nice audience who were very interested in doing research in Germany.  I volunteered at the History Center on Tuesday and Saturday. I’m still working on the same collection—this time I’m entering data into the finding ...

Calling All Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night Again -  Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Our mission tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:  1)   Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a nibling, a cousin, an in-law)!   2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?" 3)  Tell us about your memories of your holiday gatherings and celebrations in your own blog post, in a comment here, or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post. Here's mine: I chose these two questions: Did your family have traditions for how gifts were given or opened (e.g., all at once, youngest to oldest)? Wh...

I grew up in a large family of six children, two boys, and four girls, with me being the eldest. Back in the sixties, mothers tended not to work unless they were the only breadwinner. So, my dad worked six days a week with Tuesdays off. He worked a union job and got time and a half or more to work on Sundays. He did not always work Sundays, as he was sometimes in charge of taking us to church.  So, providing for a big family on one salary was hard. Being the oldest, my younger siblings would get my hand-me-downs from clothes to toys. Most of my childhood toys were passed on to younger siblings, so I had none to share with my daughters. But I do have one item from a purchase in fifth grade. I bought a troll with allowance money and I still have it. But being the fifth oldest grandchild of my Nana, I got some hand-me-downs from my older cousins. I’m sure that was a blessing when my brother and I went to parochial school in Pittsburg. The white shirts from cousins probably helped with...

I have completed two hundred and forty-five (245) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were trips to the History Center, two weekend days at Train Club for our public show, and Thanksgiving with my daughter on Thursday and my brother-in-law on Saturday.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:     Monday was busy with meetings: first with the CDG renewal accountability group and second with the Monday roundtable. On Tuesday, I had an early morning meeting with staff from BCG about our new mail program. Jacqueline and I met in the afternoon and we discussed Zoom and military items. I showed her images of the WWI draft classification sheets I had ordered. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I taught my last session of the Probate class for AppGen. The students had wonderfully researched presentations about probate records. My next course will be in spring and I will teach about federal land. On Tuesday, I volunteered at the History Center continuing my work on th...