We began a three-week vacation on Thursday.
Genealogy
Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
On Tuesday, I volunteered at the History Center. I spent time clearing off the
accession's desk so there will be room for donations in the next three weeks. We
also got a couple of queries, and I took care of those. I sent out the press
release for the upcoming free BCG-sponsored webinar.
On Wednesday, I gave a presentation to the Genealogy Club of Newtown on researching using church records.
Genealogy Meetings: Jacqueline and I got in an hour or so call on Monday, but I missed Amigos due to giving the presentation to the genealogy club.
Genealogy Writing/Research:
I wrote a couple more blog posts to be published
later while I’m on vacation. I have done no additional research this week as I prepared
for our vacation.
Blog Posts Published:
On the Waters of Paint
Creek
For the theme of “water” I wrote about my attempt
to locate Frederick Bishop’s land in Ross County, Ohio. This was highlighted on the 52 Ancestors email.
What Can be Found in WPA Files? For my second Webinar Wednesday post, after viewing a webinar on W.P.A. records, I searched for some of the inventories created by the Federal Writer’s Project. This was highlighted on Friday’s Family History Finds and Randy Seaver's Best of the Genea-Blogs.
SNGF– Your Most Recent No-Name Ancestor
We were asked to find an ancestor who has no
name. I chose Thomas Haley’s wife, whose first name was Elizabeth. I need to
work on this project now that we have full-text search at FamilySearch.
Webinars/Courses Viewed: None this week.
Other:
The beginning of our
vacation was an adventure. Two hours into our train ride on the California
Zephyr, we learned the Union Pacific Railroad had a derailment blocking both
tracks between Colfax and Truckee in California. We waited about 5 hours in Colfax
before they decided to swap the passengers on trains 5 & 6. Train 5 was
headed to Oakland and was in Reno. We were on Train 6. We were only going as
far as Elko, Nevada, and arrived there finally after midnight. Fortunately, the
hotel had a shuttle and picked us up. We also discovered my husband’s suitcase was
missing from the train, but a call back to Reno revealed it was there. So,
after renting a car, we drove five hours back to Reno to pick it up, and then
drove 4 hours to Ely, our original destination. Over the weekend, we rode two
trains on the Nevada Northern Railroad.
I am reading:
- Die Trabantenstadt
by R Goscinny & A Uderzo (another Asterix in German)—FINISHED!
- Sweet Success: How Industry, Immigrants, and
Working Women Shaped a Town by Barbara Pagni Denton—FINISHED!
- The American Road: The Story of an Epic
Transcontinental Journey at the Dawn of the Motor Age by
Pete Davies
- A Château Under Siege by Martin Walker
Photos for this week. Our drive from Reno to Ely was partly on Highway 50, the loneliest highway in the world. Below are some shots from that drive and another of the locomotive of the train we rode in Ely.
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.
Your talk to the Genealogy Club of Newtown was very well received, I can say because I was in the audience! Thanks for the program and for the highly informative handout. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I enjoy giving it.
DeleteCongratulations on finishing your German book. That is an accomplishment. Love your fall photos.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete