My Trails into the Past

Spent three days at Train Club, two days helping with the installation of the electrical panels for the Diablo Yard project, and one day attending an inspector’s class. Too hot for hike this week, so we visited Delia’s garden. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I spent two days at the History Center, working on the library database and answering queries. On Saturday, I spent time researching for an article for the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society’s newsletter. I presented on colonial land records at the Oakland FamilySearch Center for CGS.   Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met and discussed her trip to California. I attended the Kinseekers Military SIG.  On Friday, I attended the OFSC staff meeting. Genealogy Writing/Research : I did some research on George Wilson Lancaster this week, and checked some locked films at the OFSC on Wednesday, but did not finish. I did not get a post written this week. Instead, I have been working on an Airtable base ...

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)  March 21 is National Memory Day.  How can we celebrate, and participate, in the day?  I asked AI tool ChatGPT how, and it suggested "Capture a Memory Before Its Gone;" "Rescue and Identify Old Photos;" "Record an Oral History;" "Organize One Small Thing;" "Share a Story with Family;" and/or "Visit or Virtually Honor Ancestors." 2)  For SNGF this week, do one or more of those tasks or some other related tasks of your choosing. [Thank you to Genea-blogger Janice Sellers for telling Randy about the National Memory Day and suggesting this topic.] Here's mine: Surprisingly, this is a tough challenge. I did capture a memory this week in the 52 Ancestors challenge, writing about my childhood home. Check out “ 130Paulson Lane: A Family Home that the Fr...

We lived in the best house and neighborhood growing up. In 1963, my parents purchased a home in Walnut Creek, California. They had been living in a rental on East 9th Street in Pittsburg, that had two bedrooms for six people. My parents made the dining room into their bedroom and the girls had one of the upstairs bedrooms and the boys had the other. It was definitely too small for the growing family. There were probably other factors in the decision as well. They were paying for tuition to St. Peter Martyr School for two kids. The schools in Walnut Creek were top-notch, so they would not need to pay tuition in the new town. My father got a new job at Loray Market in Walnut Creek and the commute added to his time away from home. The new home was only three blocks away and he would walk if my mother needed the car. How my parents pulled it off financially was with the help of my grandparents and their friends. I believe money was loaned to them for the down payment and other money ...

Spent the weekend at Train Club working the set-up position for our open house. Our hike was at Black Diamond Mines Regional Park but I forgot my phone, so no photos were taken.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I sent out the remaining BCG-sponsored webinar press releases. At the History Center, I worked on answering queries and entering more details to the library database. I attended and took minutes for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society board meeting. On Thursday, I led the writing group and we discussed a couple of submissions, and gave a webinar on church records to Root Cellar. On Saturday, I hosted the third installment of the Precision series at CGS. Genealogy Meetings:  I met with my Renewal Accountability group, Jacqueline, and Military SIG on Monday. Jacqueline and I discussed my trip to visit her this month. I was the only attendee on Friday in the Writing Accountability group. Genealogy Writing/Research : I am still working on the Lancaster fam...

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)  How was your genealogy day?  Tell us about it - what genealogy-related activities did you do today, yesterday, or another day this past week? Researching, summarizing, transcribing, analyzing, writing, etc. Here's mine: I shall also select Friday, March 13, 2026. My day started at 8 a.m. with a writing accountability group where we get together to write for an hour on whatever genealogy topic we are working on. I set up the meeting but no one came. I started a new article about full-text searching for George Wilson Lancaster at FamilySearch. A 10 a.m., I joined the first session of the Writing for Discovery course I’m taking where we had 90 minutes of writing time. We first explained what we’re working on, then we wrote leaving our cameras on, and then checked in at the...

I do not remember when I started doing genealogy research. It was sometime in the early ‘90s. I remember the place where I first found my great-grandfather on the 1920 Soundex and then the 1920 census record. I was taken to Sutro Library in San Francisco by my friend, Susan. I was hooked. I spent any free moment to keep at it, though it was hard at that time because not much was online except RootsWeb and county pages on USGENWeb . I visited libraries and wrote letters to libraries and repositories, sending along my self-addressed stamped envelopes. It was fun coming home to the mail with one of my envelopes in it, wondering what treasures might there be. I also read books, beginning with Doane’s book, Searching for Your Ancestors , and later reading Ancestry’s The Source. Somewhere along the way, I knew I should keep track of what I was finding and I kept spiral-bound notebooks of my searches, whether positive or negative. I just wished I had been more organized, separating out ...

We left Kansas City Monday night, arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday morning, and arrive home by that evening. I have played catch up at home most of the week, going out to do phenology, and weeding in my front yard. The rain while we were gone kept the plants alive. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked on the BCG-sponsored webinar press release and it will go out next week. Genealogy Meetings:  I met up with Jacqueline to discuss AirTable, our trip to GRIP, and a trip to visit her in April. Genealogy Writing/Research : I am working on the Lancaster family for March’s 12 for ‘26. There is a lot I already have, and I found a lot in full-text search at FamilySearch and newspapers at the Portal to Texas History . I’ve written three blog posts on my other blog, Mam-ma’s Southern Family and am working on the fourth one. Blog Posts Published: Changed My Thinking For the theme of “Changed Your Thinking,” I wrote about how learning some things about our ancestors c...

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)  RootsTech 2026 just finished today.  Did you watch any classes online?   2)  Which online class was your favorite, perhaps the most informative, most helpful, or most entertaining, for you?    Here's mine: I viewed 6+ sessions at #NotAtRootsTech2026, watching the online presentations live. I attended the conference in person last year, but arrived home from vacation only a day before the conference started. I wasn’t ready to hop on a plane yet. Angela McGhie hit a homerun with her presentation “The GPS in Practice: Examples of Reasonably Exhaustive Research,” held first thing on Thursday morning. Her handout has two checklists: one showing what constitutes reasonably exhaustive research, and the other a list of records to consider when doing reason...

When we start out with our genealogy research, we are just name collectors. We find our ancestors listed in census records, vital records, and in cemetery databases. These people have names, dates of birth, marriage, and death, and name of their children. But in this early state, we really know nothing about them as people. As we become more experienced and begin to research in more advanced records such as deeds, probates, wills, court, and military records, we learn a bit more about our person. We learn how they interacted with the local government, with their neighbors, and with their family. Newspapers also reveal something about their activities, some good and some bad. Some Examples I remember being proud of my great-grandmother, Anna Marie Gleeson, who applied for homestead land in Dakota Territory. She ended up purchasing the 160 acres. However, sometime after her marriage to John H. Sullivan, the land was sold by the sheriff for failure of paying the taxes. A newspaper a...

Still on our trip, leaving Ocala on Monday for NYC, arriving on Tuesday. Spent three days with daughter in cold NYC during the day. Left on Thursday for Chicago, arriving on Friday. After a stop for brunch at Lou Mitchell’s, we boarded the train for Kansas City. We visited cousin Kathleen on Saturday in Pittsburg, Kansas, and Roger & Annette in Kansas City on Sunday. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: None this week. Vacation time! Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the RootsMagic SIG meeting on Wednesday until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore—it was approaching 11 pm in NYC. Genealogy Writing/Research : I worked on writing about the Hork families in Montana and Germany for 12 for ‘26. Blog Posts Published: Resolving Conflicts: Element 4 of the GPS For the theme of “Conflicting Clues,” I wrote about resolving conflicts, the fourth element of the GPS, using one of my collateral lines as an example. Randy Seaver highlighted this post in his " Best of the Genea-Bl...

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)  Do you know what activities one of your ancestors/relatives engaged in?  How much detail do you know about those activities? 2)  Use the FREE artificial intelligence tool  Google Gemini 3  to describe what your ancestor or relative experienced in his/her activities (e.g., military service, a ship they migrated on, an occupation, an office they held, etc.).  Here's mine: I started out stating the following to Google Gemini 3: “My father-in-law was landing gear specialist during WWII in the Army Air Forces in England, stationed at Burtonwood. What would his job have been like?” The AI answer is this: That is a fascinating bit of family history. Being a landing gear specialist at RAF Burtonwood during WWII meant your father-in-law was at the absolu...