My Trails into the Past

Outside activities included two trips to the History Center, phenology at the Meadow, a party with the Wednesday Walkers, and lunch with friends. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I opened the History Center on Tuesday and went again on Saturday. We came up with a plan on how to process the Davies collection. Then the board sponsored a holiday party for the volunteers. On Wednesday, I volunteered at the OFSC and had a nice conversation with Rudy, the director. I hope to teach some classes in 2026. On Thursday, I took minutes at the historical society’s board meeting. Genealogy Meetings:  There were no meetings this week. Genealogy Writing/Research : I spent a couple of days researching my father-in-law’s cousin, Dorothy Davey Borst. I was happy to locate information about her marriage to Gerrit Borst and learn about her musical performances as a child Springfield, Missouri. I also did some research in the Davey and Colby families in Illinois. I now know where Thomas Dav...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is here. 1) Write your 2025 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 volunteered most months at the Oakland FamilySearch Center and weekly at the Contra Costa County Historical Society’s archives. There, I processed several collections and cataloged the library. I gave numerous genealogy talks and facilitated a monthly writing group. The best gift received this year was from my research trip to Kentucky and Indiana, where I visited ar...

Eva Holmes, cg® gave a wonderful webinar last week, a BCG-sponsored webinar at Family Tree Webinars, called “ Social Context and the Kinship Determination Project (KDP) .” She discussed how social context helps researchers understand our ancestors’ actions, the records they created, and their place in historical and social lives. As I listened, I thought about the book I had recently read, The Farmers’ Frontier 1865-1900 by Gilbert C. Fite. [1] I found this book browsing a used bookstore in the social sciences section. That is where we can locate good sources for understanding historical and social context. This book describes the history of migration in the American lands west of the Mississippi River. Many of us have farmers who migrated to the West. Have you wondered why? Have you wondered what they found when they got there? Have you wondered how well they fared? Do you understand the process for getting land from the Federal government? From the railroad? From another land ...

My father-in-law, George Gorrell’s first cousin, Dorothy Davey Borst, was a pianist and teacher. [1] She was born on 25 June 1910 in Springfield, Missouri, to Fred James Davey and Alice C. Pfotenhauer. [2] Her father was a musician who played the trombone in bands and a music teacher who taught out of his home. So, there was music in her home growing up. Childhood By age ten, she was performing in piano recitals. In 1920, she took lessons from Miss Gladys Deaton and played Gypsy Rondo by Haydn. [3] Later that year, she performed “Faust Waltz” by Gounod Lang. [4] She performed a piano solo at the parent-teacher meeting at Weaver School in December 1920. [5] A recital held in July 1922 featured Dorothy Davey and Henryetta Looney, both students of Miss Deaton, and each played seven pieces. [6] She performed for a Kiwanis luncheon the following year. [7] She won the first-place prize in a piano solo contest of Southwest Missouri high schools in May 1924. “She was said to be the...

Outside activities included a trip to the History Center, phenology at the Meadow, a hike in Briones, a train club meeting, lunch with a friend, and a Christmas concert. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center this week, I entered more books into the library database and updated some entries. The writing group met. We discussed Jacqueline’s piece, and I showed them my post about making an ancestor’s resume. I posted about the free BCG-sponsored webinar at a variety of online sites. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the CDG Renewal Accountability meeting, Kinseekers Military SIG, Der Blumenbaum committee meeting, and Gena’s book club, where we shared the books we have been reading. Genealogy Writing/Research : I worked on transferring the writing I did about my grandmother from the InDesign file to a Word file. I could not open the InDesign file on my XP computer anymore for some reason, which frustrates me. So I’m trying to recreate it in Word, not so succ...

I watched a webinar this week called “Creating Your Ancestor’s Resume.” It was presented at Kinseekers in November by Karen Molohon. This topic intrigued me as another way to get information about my ancestors and family members onto paper (figuratively speaking). Creating a resume about an ancestor can have two purposes. If this is all you do, then you have written something about their life. A collection of these could be shared with your family. The other purpose is that it can serve as a starting point for further writing, such as adding historical and social context about their work. I thought I would create a resume for one of the ancestors I am working on. I will use these headings: genealogical summary, parents' names, spouse’s name, children’s names, skills, education, hobbies, and work history, starting with the most recent job down to their first job. My grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, saved some of the letters of recommendation he had five men write, who knew him we...