My Trails into the Past

My outside activities included a trip home from Colorado, a visit to the History Center, phenology, a train club meeting, a hike, and a No Kings protest.     Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I sent out the press release for the upcoming BCG-sponsored webinar and another for the release of the new BCG application guide. I dropped by the History Center on Wednesday afternoon and took care of the items that had been donated while I was away on vacation.  Genealogy Meetings:    Amigos met, and Stewart, Jacqueline, and I caught each other up on our past month’s activities. We made preliminary plans for a retreat in Oregon in September. Now, to decide if we’re driving up or taking Amtrak. Genealogy Writing/Research : I found some images of birth records for the children of George Elden Lancaster and his wife, Lillie Pearl Tinsley, in Arizona records on FamilySearch . I had previously only had the information from an index. I downloaded an image of the t...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s is to: 1)  It's Father's Day on Sunday.  This week, tell us about the fathers in your tree -- their names, their birth and death years and locations, their occupations, the number of spouses, the number of children, etc. Go back at least four generations, if possible, through your known second great-grandfathers . Here's mine: Generation 1 (Father) William J. Hork (1930-2007). Lived in California his whole life and worked as a produce clerk for a variety of grocery stores. 6 children. Generation 2 (Grandfathers) William Cyril Hork (1899-1967). Born in Montana, died in Los Angeles. Never met him, as he was separated from my grandmother. Worked odd jobs. 5 children. Tom J. Johnston (1912-1973). Born in Texas, died in Pleasant Hill, California. Worked as a carpenter. 1 child. Generation 3 (Great-grandfathers) Johan Anto...

My 2x-granduncle, Reginold Lancaster, married Eda Pearl Ralston on 30 July 1920 in Los Angeles when he was thirty-two years old. She was thirty-five. [1] This was her second marriage, having been divorced from Eugene De Lartigue. Eda Pearl Ralston was born in December 1880 in Wyoming to Ellis Ralston and Flora Sackett. In 1880, her parents were living in Cheyenne, Laramie County, so it is possible that this was where she was born. Her father was a railroad engineer. [2] By 1900, her mother was a widow living in Los Angeles County, California, with three children: Eda, aged 19, Ruby F., aged 17, and Earl E., aged 15. [3] Actress Sometime before 1902, Eda began working as an actress while living with her mother and brother at 3680 South Grand Avenue. [4] In the earliest news found in October 1901, she was a whistling, song and dance soubrette at the Unique Theater on South Spring Street in Los Angeles. [5] Variety was a weekly newspaper that covered actors and actresses. Eda R...

My outside activities included a trip to Colorado with the Special Interest Tours.     Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work:  None this week.   Genealogy Meetings:  None this week. Genealogy Writing/Research :  I did no writing or research except for the blog posts. Blog Posts Published: William J Hork and Lela Nell Johnston’s Wedding For the theme of “wedding,” I shared what I had written about my parents’ wedding in a booklet I wrote for my siblings about my parents’ lives. SNGF: Favorite Learning Experience This Past Month – I wrote about one of the NGS Family History Conference sessions I attended about AI. Webinars/Courses Viewed : I viewed no webinars this week. Other: We are in our fourth week of our 27-day trip, spending time this past week in Chicago (for a few hours) and then in Colorado. Our first day was spent in Denver, and we walked to the Capitol building for a tour. We then began the Special Interest Tours trip with an ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) What was your favorite genealogy learning experience this past month?  In-person program? Online webinar? YouTube video? Blog post?  Social media item?  Family history story? Here's mine: I have been on vacation since the NGS Conference and have not had any genealogy education in two weeks, however, the NGS Family History Conference in Louisville counts as a genealogy experience. I volunteered during the conference, so I did not attend as many sessions as I would have liked. One session stood out for me: Guiding Principles for the Genealogical Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) by Steve Little, David Ouimette, Lynn Broderick The panelists answered questions about the best practices for using AI. Lynn Broderick said something that made sense to me. She suggested not using...

W illiam Joseph Hork and Lela Nell Johnston were married at Queen of All Saints Church in Concord, California, on 19 April 1953.[1] Lea’s friend, Barbara Boyenger, was her maid of honor and Bill’s brother-in-law, Gene Soares, was his best man. Before the ceremony, Ken Harvey, Barbara’s future husband, took photos of the preparation at Lea’s house. Barbara must have spent the night as we see the two of them having breakfast still in their night clothes.  The marriage news was written about in the Contra Costa Times and the Concord Transcript . The article in the Times is very detailed about the clothing the participants wore during the wedding and afterward for their wedding trip. They married on a Sunday afternoon at Queen of All Saints Church in Concord. Father Adrian McKenna presided over the ceremony attended by immediate family members and close friends. Because Lea was not Catholic, the ceremony was likely not a full Mass. The photo below shows the couple just at the alt...

My outside activities included visits to research repositories in Louisville, Shelbyville, and Frankfort, as well as visits to attractions and distilleries in Kentucky.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I have started drafting the upcoming BCG-sponsored webinar press release for June and will send it out this coming week.   Genealogy Meetings:    Meetings this week: None. I meant to attend the RootsMagic SIG but forgot. Genealogy Writing/Research : This week's research involved researching at the Filson Historical Society in Louisville, the library in Shelbyville, and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives in Frankfort. I spent three hours at the Filson looking at books, mostly about bourbon. One was exactly what I wanted, so I bought a used copy instead of wasting time photographing pages. I also researched subjects concerning Lewis and Shelby Counties, where my ancestors are from. I missed some items on my list because I wasn’t careful whe...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings tonight is to: 1) Who are your 32 3rd-great-grandparents?  List them (with birth names).  Tell us when and where they were born, married, and died.  [NOTE:  This is easily done in your genealogy software program or online family tree by making an Ahnentafel or Ancestors report from yourself as #1, then copy and paste.] Here’s mine: This will not be an exhaustive list, as I have several 3x-great-grandparents who have yet to be identified. 32. Johann Horoch : born 15 Aug 1773 in Altenhundem, Kreis Olpe, Westfalen, Germany; married 22 Apr 1798 in Kirchhundem, Kr. Olpe, Westfalen, Germany; died 18 Oct 1826 in Altenhundem, Kreis Olpe, Westfalen, Germany. 33. Anna Gertrud Sommer : born 25 Jun 1770. 34. Johann Joseph Trösster : born 2 Feb 1778 in Oberhundem, Kreis Olpe, Wes...