Monday Genea-pourri, Week of September 29–October 5, 2025

My outside activities this week included two trips to the History Center, one trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and a hike with the Friends of Alhambra Creek at Pacheco Marsh. Outside, I finished cleaning up the leaves in the yard. We had no phenology this week because of the federal government closure.

Genealogy

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
I volunteered for two days at the History Center. Tuesday, after answering some research queries, I entered descriptions into the library database. Saturday, I met with Maxine to discuss archival matters. I worked on the press release for the upcoming BCG-sponsored webinar and created an agenda for this month’s Sonoma County Genealogical Society board meeting. I did my volunteer stint at the Oakland FamilySearch Center. Because of the rain, we had few visitors.

Genealogy Meetings: Jacqueline and I spoke for an hour or so call on Monday. On Wednesday, I attended the Certification Discussion Group meeting, and on Friday, the OFSC meeting on “what’s new.”

Genealogy Writing/Research:
I have started a new blog series where I take something I learned during a webinar and apply it in some manner. I’m naming this series Webinar Wednesday. I view quite a few webinars, but I don’t always read the handout or apply the new knowledge. I will make an effort to use what I learn in my own research and write it up. The first one is below. I also processed many newspaper articles about Hork family members that I found while researching articles for the school censuses.

I also wrote and scheduled some blog posts that will be published while I am on vacation. I have a couple more to do this coming week. That way, I can relax and not think about that.

Blog Posts Published:

The Day We Tried to Find Family at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles
For the theme of “cemetery,” I wrote about our attempts to find burial sites at the Catholic cemetery in LA.

What Can I Learn About School Censuses from Newspaper Search? This is my first Webinar Wednesday post, after viewing a webinar on school censuses. I investigated how school censuses were conducted in Hamilton, Montana, where my grandfather attended school. This was highlighted on Friday’s Family History Finds.

SNGF – Your Disappeared Ancestors
We were asked to discuss an ancestor who disappeared. I had written a post previously for 52 Ancestors, so instead, I used RootsMagic to search for all the direct ancestors I have that have no death information.

Webinars/Courses Viewed: 

• Foundations in DNA 5 of 5: Understanding Ethnicity Estimates by Blaine Bettinger (LFT Web)
• The Emperor's New Code by Ute Brandenburg (LFT Web)
• Ten Tantalizing Sources and the Lessons They Teach by J. H. Fonkert (LFT Web)

Other:
We scanned more of my father-in-law’s negatives. I have processed them, but kept the original name as the scanner labeled them. Some were scanned in pairs, so I split them up and also made JPGs of each. I posted a few of the train pictures to the Western Pacific Railroad Facebook group.

I am reading: 

• Die Trabantenstadt by R Goscinny & A Uderzo (another Asterix in German)
• Sweet Success: How Industry, Immigrants, and Working Women Shaped a Town by Barbara Pagni Denton

Photos for this week. The Wednesday Walkers had no hike due to pending rain, but the Friends of Alhambra Creek group hiked at the Pacheco Marsh. This time it was calm and warm. We saw several white-tail kites hovering overhead.

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.