My Trails into the Past

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  If you could go back in time to interview one of your ancestors, what questions would you ask him or her?  Tell us your selected ancestor's name, their birth and death years/locations, and their spouse's name and marriage date/location.  List at least five questions to ask that selected ancestor. Here's mine: The ancestor I’ll ask questions of is my great-grandmother, Anna Maria Gleeson , born 13 February 1860 in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada, [1] and died 3 January 1912 in Anaconda, Deer Lodge Co, Montana. [2] She married John H. Sullivan sometime in 1882, likely at Mitchell, Davison Co, Dakota Territory. [3] I wished I had asked my grandmother questions about her childhood and her parents. But she died before I became interested in genealogy. Questions to ask: ...

When my father went off to work, it was to grocery stores or supermarkets as a produce clerk or produce manager. He worked for several different stores, but the longest was for LoRay Market and Safeway. Safeway When we lived in Pittsburg, he worked at Safeway. The city directory just says clerk, not specifically produce clerk. The directories from 1955 to 1962 identified his place of work as Safeway. In 1963, they purchased a home in Walnut Creek. My father may have already been working there, and buying a house closer to work was more desirable. LoRay The LoRay store in Walnut Creek was only a few blocks away. There were three or four LoRay stores in the county. The name came from merging the owner's and his wife's names. My father always drove to work, primarily because he started work at 5ish. This gave him time to put out all the produce that had been removed from the shelves and put into cold storage refrigerators. I believe this was before they created refrigerated displa...

My outside activities this week included doing phenology, hiking in Pt Richmond, visiting the history center twice, volunteering at the OFSC, three doctor’s appointments, lunch with two friends from German class, and having a 45th anniversary dinner with hubby. It didn’t seem like I was that busy! Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I did two trips to the History Center this week. On Tuesday, I worked on accessions, and on Thursday, I attended the board meeting and took the minutes. At the Oakland FamilySearch Center, I assisted a researcher in trying to fix a wrongly linked person in the FamilySearch Family Tree. The son was linked incorrectly as his mother’s husband. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Kinseekers NARA SIG, and I shared about seeking record groups that might have resources about the agencies where my great-aunt worked. Jacqueline and met and we talked about the upcoming retreat. I cannot wait. Genealogy Writing/Research : This week, I managed to download...

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)  Do you recall the layout of one of your family homes (a parent's home, a grandparent's home, your first home with your spouse/SO, etc.)?  Can you estimate the size of the house and the size of the rooms?  What features were in each room?  Can you draw the floor plan, showing doors, windows, etc.? Here's mine: I could describe both of my childhood homes, one in Pittsburg and the other in Walnut Creek, but I will save Walnut Creek for another day. Pittsburg, California, at 467 E. 9th Street We lived here from about 1955 to 1963. During that time, four children were born, and the six of us lived in a two-bedroom house. By the time we left, the kids slept upstairs, two to a room, which worked out as there were two girls and two boys. Our parents slept in the dining room downs...

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...