My Trails into the Past

As I researched the funeral Masses of my Catholic family members, I often found that the recitation of the Holy Rosary preceded the funeral Mass, or was said the previous evening. My grandmother, Anne M. Hork, died on 14 February 1979, and her funeral was held on 17 February at St. Matthews Catholic Church in San Mateo. I was present at the funeral, but I don’t remember much about it, except for the nice wake we had following it at my Aunt Virginia’s home. According to her funeral card, the Holy Rosary was recited ten minutes before the funeral Mass. Now, ten minutes is not enough time to recite the whole rosary, so I imagine they did only a portion. This past week, I attended the funeral for my cousin, Melanie. We also recited a portion of the rosary before the start of the funeral Mass. I am sure not many in attendance knew what to recite. We had no reading aids to follow along. It had been many years since I learned the parts of the rosary. It was not hard to find online. If y...

My outside activities this week included doing phenology, visiting the history center twice, attending a funeral and a genealogy meeting, and working at the train club show.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the historical society, I worked on cleaning up the finding aid entries on the computer. We have multiple versions of several of the collections. On Thursday, I took minutes at the board meeting. I hosted the monthly writing group. We discussed Nancy’s article for a New Mexico journal and Lynne’s summary of her trip to Poland. I also worked on the new presentation that I’ll be doing this coming week for the Sacramento German Genealogy Society. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met and she described a bit about their trip . I attended several meetings this week, most of which were on Monday: recertification accountability group, Kinseekers Military SIG, APG Writers SIG, and the C&C NGSQ study group. The NGSQ study group discussed Tom Jones’ article, ...

In 2004, John Quigley retired as a judge for Napa County, California, and his six living cousins attended his retirement party. He was the son of Ethel Sullivan and Vir Quigley. Pictured from left to right: William “Bill” Hork, son of Anne Sullivan and William Cyril Hork; Margaret Patterson, daughter of Loretto Sullivan and James Patterson; John Quigley; son of Ethel Sullivan and Vir Quigley; Mary Brehaut, daughter of Loretto Sullivan and James Patterson; Lorene Waldron, daughter of Anne Sullivan and William Cyril Hork; Virginia Gertridge, daughter of Anne Sullivan and William Cyril Hork; and June Stewart, daughter of Anne Sullivan and William Cyril Hork. Loretta, Anne, and Ethel were the daughters of John H. Sullivan and Anna M. Gleeson. Their two other children were Helena “Nellie” Goe and John Cyril Sullivan. Only Nellie had children and they were deceased by 2004. #52Ancestors-Week 29: Cousins This is my eighth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (...

My outside activities this week included phenology, a train club meeting, and a visit to the History Center. I almost had jury duty, but the midday call excused me. However, I missed our weekly hike. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: For the historical society, I worked most of the day on Tuesday at the History Center and covered for LeighAnn when she went home sick. I entered the accessions in PastPerfect and gave a tour to a genealogist working on an assignment. Later in the week, the strategic planning Committee #1 met on Zoom to discuss facilities. For BCG, I sent out the last of the press releases for this week’s webinar. Lastly, I took minutes for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society’s board meeting. Genealogy Meetings:  I met with Jacqueline this week, as she is back from her vacation. I showed her the Shutterfly book I created of my vacation. I attended the new Kinseekers Employment & Labor Records SIG, and we were shown a great resource at the Walter P. Reuth...

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)  Taneya Koonce wrote a Happy Birthday post about her own life in  Quick Tip: Create Your Personal History Timeline - The Birthday Edition 🥳 .  What a great birthday idea! 2)  This week, write your own Personal History Timeline - every 5 or 10 years, or the most important events.  If you don't want to do yours, write a History Timeline for one of your ancestors. Here’s mine: I decided to do myself in the same fashion as Randy. I found the early years easier to write than the later years. 1954 (age 0) . I was born at Concord Community Hospital, and the doctor said I was the most beautiful baby. I am my parents’ firstborn. 1959 (age 5). We lived in Pittsburg on East 9th Street. I began Kindergarten. I came down with scarlet fever, and we were quarantined. Now I h...

Three Gleeson sisters were school teachers. Elizabeth (1865-1942), Helena Mary (1867-1950), and Margaret T. (1873-1941) grew up first in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada, and then moved to Davison County, Dakota Territory in 1879. By the 1890s, Elizabeth and Helena were living in Anaconda, Montana, and worked as school teachers. Margaret arrived before 1900 and followed in their footsteps. None of these women married. Helena and Margaret taught school for their entire life. Elizabeth had other adventures after teaching for a few years and ended up being a landlord in Los Angeles. However, what do school teachers do in the summer months? Take trips. Newspapers reported on these trips, so it is interesting to see where they traveled. Summer of 1899 “Miss Elizabeth Gleeson left last evening via the Northern Pacific for South Dakota on a visit to her former home.” [1] Her parents still resided in Mitchell. The Northern Pacific Railroad line traversed from Seattle to Minneapolis. A ...

My outside activities this week included phenology and two trips to the History Center. I also went with Elaine to Watershed Nursery and the 4 th of July Parade.       Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: On Monday, I hosted another CGS neighborhood meeting with three attending. They were all able to share problems they have and get some suggestions. This week I worked at the History Center on Tuesday and Saturday. Saturday, we had a tour group come in, and we set up stations to view some Welch Family items. On Wednesday, I worked at the Oakland FamilySearch Center and helped a gentleman with the newspaper websites. At home, I prepared the upcoming BCG-sponsored press release and will send it out this coming week. I’ve been working on the presentation for the Sacramento German Genealogy Society on land records. I’m giving it later this month. Genealogy Meetings:  No meetings this week. Genealogy Writing/Research : In preparing the 52 Ancestors post, I did a...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!   Our mission today: 1)  Did your grandparents know their grandparents personally?  2)  Check your family tree, and share your grandparents' names, birth and death years and places, and their grandparents' names, birth and death years and places. Indicate if they knew their grandparents. Here’s mine: We did this on February 15 of this year. https://mytrailsintothepast.blogspot.com/2025/02/sngf-did-your-grandparents-know-their.html . However, I’ll play, but ask if my parents knew their grandparents. My father, William J. Hork, was born in 1930 in Southern California. His grandparents were: Johan Anton Hork, b. 1843 in Germany, d. 1906 in Wyoming. – No Julia Ann Sievert, b. 1854 in Illinois, died 1928 in Illinois.  – No John H. Sullivan, b. 1854 in Ireland, died 1932 in So. California. – Maybe, but he was too young to remember Anna Marie Gleeson, b. 1860 ...