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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of July 28–August 3, 2025

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, but the Hoyts, Bracks, Colbys, and Porters are unknown to me. They are all heirs to a guy named Ward Brack, who had no children. What’s crazy is, he died in 1853 in Mississippi, his sister, whom he left everything to, died in 1861 in Alabama, and the probate filed in Van Zandt County, Texas, was in 1885. I’ve been poking around and haven’t found the connection yet. I need to write it up carefully as a research report. I may need to use indirect evidence to solve this. I’m hoping the key to it all is that I’m related to these Hoyts through Amanda Oldham, who married into the Selman family. I don’t know who her parents are.

Blog Posts Published:

Earliest Ancestors to Texas
For the theme of “earliest ancestors,” I wrote about the first families migrating to Texas.

SNGF – Rabbit Hole! Selman Research.
My rabbit hole was trying to find those named heirs in the Brack probate. 

Webinars/Courses Viewed

  • GenTech Toolbox - Hands-On AI for Family History Writing by Kimberly Powell (GenTech Toolbox – NGS)
  • Top Newspaper Sites That You MUST RESEARCH! by Ari Wilkins (LFT Webinars)
  • 10 Advanced Ways to Use AI in Family History by Andrew Redfern (LFT Webinars)

Other:
Our hike this week was a new way to walk into the East Bay Municipal Utility District’s land at Valle Vista along a finger of the San Leandro Reservoir. It was cool and overcast most of the morning. Perfect for hiking.

We drove down to Morgan Hill to spend the weekend. On Saturday was the Nilsen Family Reunion, and we visited with most of the people there. I especially enjoyed hearing about Erik’s hike along the Appalachian Trail. Later, we ate dinner with Brian, Linda, Maddy, and Elizabeth.                                            

I am reading: 

  • Asterix der Gallier by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo
  • How Welfare Worked in the Early United States by Gabriel J. Loiacono

 Photos for this week. 




Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives, but not so great at documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

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