My Trails into the Past

Play time was always a fun activity for my daughters. I encouraged play using their imagination and their physical skills. So, we spent a lot of time at the park where they played on the play equipment. I also encouraged them to use their own imagination in playing. We had almost no electronic devices—only a PC. However, they had blocks from Lincoln Logs to Legos, where they built towns. They always put the Lego kit together with the instructions, but afterwards the pieces became part of a big bin where their imagination in building could go wild.   I am glad I raised my daughters before so many electronic devices were available. They did have a few PC programs. One program had them design amusement parks, and another create ice-skating routines. I felt these games allowed them to use their imaginations in play. #52Ancestors-Week 34: Playtime This is my eighth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow ( https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/ ) at  Genera...

My outside activities this week included visiting the history center, the library, and attending the Art in the Park. Genealogy This week, I attended the Texas Institute of Genealogy Research course on Advanced Military Research. Michael Strauss coordinated the course along with Sandra Rumble as an additional instructor. The course was four full days and a half day on Friday. Each day had five sessions, the last being a hands-on exercise, and we had homework exercises. Jacqueline and I met afterwards on Zoom to work on the homework. I enjoyed the course very much as both instructors are very knowledgeable. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: My only trip to the History Center this week was on Saturday, mostly to catch up with Maxine on the archive projects. I answered a couple of queries waiting for me. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Kinseekers Military SIG. We covered using BIRLS, WWII alien registration, NARA catalog, morning reports, and IDPF files. At Cert Discussion Group, ...

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)  If you have your family tree research in a Genealogy Management Program (GMP), whether a computer software program or an online family tree, figure out how to find how many persons, places, sources, etc. are in your database (hint:  the Help button is your friend!) 2)  Tell us which GMP you use, and how many persons, places, sources, etc. are in your database(s) today in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook comment. NOTE:  WE last did this in November 2021. Here's mine: Like Randy, I use RootsMagic 10. I saw that I had an update to make, so I took care of it before checking the statistics. Tools > Enhanced Properties List I hope this can be read. I could not figure out how to make...

Ludwig Wilhelm Wollenweber (1822-1873), my husband’s 2x-great-grandfather, had interactions with the courts while living in Louisville, Kentucky. It mostly had to do with his occupation of selling liquor. Newspaper articles give us some clues. Court record minutes give us the proceedings, but not the details. In the 1860s, Louis ran a saloon at 90 West Market Street, between Third and Fourth Street. Here is a map showing the Market Street between Pearl & Fourth Street. Not sure why Third was called Pearl here. [1] His saloon was often the place for meetings. The Second Ward Democratic Club held their meeting at Wollenweber’s. [2] He was an inventor and manufacturer of cures. An ad for his “Celebrated Stomach Bitters,” is here: [3] He received patent no. 132,424 for a “Medical compound” made up of “angelica root, calamus root, gentian, herb absinthe, Peruvian bark, orange peel, nutmegs, cloves, laurel leaves, and anise seed, all added to a one-fourth barrel of soft water, previo...

My outside activities this week included doing phenology, hiking in Albany, visiting the history center twice, volunteering at the OFSC, and attending the train club board and business meetings. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I did two trips to the History Center this week, mostly working on accessions, processing a collection, and entering books into the library catalog. I work best when not being interrupted, as it was when only John and I were there. At the Oakland FamilySearch Center, I assisted a teen in creating an account on FamilySearch and began entering data into the FamilySearch Family Tree. She has some more work to do before she can connect to nonliving people in the tree. It was a shock to learn her mother is the same age as my oldest daughter. Next week will be the BCG-sponsored webinar at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, so I sent out the press release to the mailing lists, bloggers, and the certification action list. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the K...

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)  Learning about how to pursue genealogy and family history is a lifetime task.  Once you've mastered one record type (census, church, certificates, probate, directories, immigration, etc), or one skill (family tree software program, record transcription, source citations, DNA matches, AI prompting, etc.), a new record or skill presents itself.  With the constant advances in technology and knowledge, doing genealogy and family history well requires constant learning of something new.  2)  This week's challenge is to tell us a new genealogy-related skill that you have, or are working on, developing.  Tell us about your progress.  Are you having fun? Here’s mine: I have not been good at keeping an accurate track of my searches since moving to working ...

My outside activities this week included doing phenology, visiting the history center, and attending a family reunion. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the historical society, I worked on the accessions, entering them into the log. I added the donated books to the library database and shelved them in the library. An archivist from the CHP came in and we discussed how we accession donations and then enter them into Past Perfect. Jim had some items from our collection to show him. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met for a little bit before leaving for a webinar. Our accountability group didn’t meet as everyone else was busy.   Genealogy Writing/Research : Next week’s 52 Ancestors is written and scheduled. I spent time writing about George Wilson Lancaster’s federal land and researching the Selman family.  My SNGF post was about locating a probate record naming heirs. I am familiar with the first 6 people named in the document. They are my Selman family, ...

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) Have you been down a genealogy rabbit hole lately?  What was it, and what did you find?  [If not, go find a rabbit hole! Try your FamilySearch Notifications or Ancestry.com Photos or Stories.] Here's mine: I am going down a rabbit hole right now. I have been working on my Selman line, those who came from Alabama to Cherokee County early during Texas statehood. I began by making sure I had all the census records of the families in Texas from 1850 through 1900 and beyond, if they were still living. I added children to the families based on census records. I also added cemetery tombstone information from Find a Grave to their profiles. Once I had the information found on Ancestry , I used FamilySearch 's full-text search to locate documents I hadn’t yet seen. Be...