My Trails into the Past

Last week, I viewed the Legacy Family Tree Webinar presented by Sharon Batiste Gillins titled “Research Treasures in the W.P.A. – You Won’t Believe What You’ll Find.” She discussed the various departments of the Works Progress Administration, later known as Work Projects Administration. The Federal Writers’ Project produced the Historical Records Surveys, the American Guide Series, the American Life Series, and the Slave Narratives. The Federal Arts Program supported artists, musicians, and theatre performers. Artwork from that era can be found in many public buildings. The mural in our post office, “The Road to Eldorado,” was painted by Edith Hamlin and Maynard Dixon. [1]   Martinez, California Post Office Mural To discover all the kinds of records housed at the National Archives for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) in Record Group 69, see the catalog entry at: https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/069.html#69.2 . I wonder if anyone in my family parti...

On 27 May 1821, Robert Bishop, the administrator of Frederick Bishop’s estate, put a notice in the Scioto Gazette that he was selling at a public auction the late dwelling house of Frederick Bishop, which was a “certain tract of land, containing 117 acres, with the appurtenances thereunto belonging, on the waters of Paint Creek, near Robert Johnson’s mill, late the property of Frederick Bishop, deceased, subject to the widow’s dower.” [1] This land was located in Ross County, Ohio. Frederick Bishop was my husband’s third great-grandfather. His daughter, Mary Ann Bishop, married Daniel Shotts. [2] Their daughter, Catherine E. Shotts, married Amos Gorrell. [3] Their son, Joseph N. Gorrell, married Matilda Pearl Davey. [4] This notice gives me information about Frederick’s property. While I do not have the exact land description, I have the watershed (Paint Creek), the number of acres (117), and a neighbor (near Robert Johnson’s mill). These are clues that will help me pinpoint th...

My outside activities this week included two trips to the History Center, one trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and a hike with the Friends of Alhambra Creek at Pacheco Marsh. Outside, I finished cleaning up the leaves in the yard. We had no phenology this week because of the federal government closure. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered for two days at the History Center. Tuesday, after answering some research queries, I entered descriptions into the library database. Saturday, I met with Maxine to discuss archival matters. I worked on the press release for the upcoming BCG-sponsored webinar and created an agenda for this month’s Sonoma County Genealogical Society board meeting. I did my volunteer stint at the Oakland FamilySearch Center. Because of the rain, we had few visitors. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I spoke for an hour or so call on Monday. On Wednesday, I attended the Certification Discussion Group meeting, and on Friday, the OFSC mee...

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)  Sometimes an ancestor or relative just disappears from the records, and we cannot find another record after a certain date.  2)  Tell us about one or more of your relatives or ancestors who have disappeared and have not been found since a certain date.  Do you have any idea of what might have happened to them? Here's mine: First, I can share a blog post I wrote for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks two weeks ago about an ancestor who disappeared: WhatBecame of Robert Hutson of Cherokee County, Georgia? I wondered how I could locate all the people in my database who have no death fact. I have RootsMagic 10 now and used the search feature, focusing on an event that has a blank death date. I got 4839 matches out of 7462 people. That is not a great statistic! Many of the hits are pe...

Last week, I viewed Billie Stone Fogarty’s webinar titled “School Censuses: What, When, and Where” at Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Many of her examples were from Oklahoma, so I decided to check out what I could learn about the school censuses in Hamilton, Ravalli County, Montana. I view many webinars, but if one doesn’t actively apply what they learned from a webinar, the knowledge will be lost. Hamilton, Montana, is where my grandfather, William Cyril Hork, was born in 1899. He was the youngest of ten children born to Johan “John” Anton Hork and Julia Ann Sievert. FamilySearch has school census records from Ravalli County starting in 1900 and continuing until 1940. They are not indexed. They cannot be searched using full-text search. However, they are imaged. My grandfather would be in the census at least up to 1920. His siblings would be in the earlier years. Urselle was born in 1892, Raymond in 1889, Tony in 1886, Frank in 1884, Carrie in 1881, and Albert in 1879. Perhaps Albe...