Monday Genea-pourri, Week of February 9–15, 2026

All outside activities past week included the trip down to Miami aboard the Floridian, staying two nights in Miami and two nights in Key West. Today, we head up to Ocala to visit Norman’s cousin.

Genealogy

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
I had to correct the BCG press release with an updated link. I accepted an invitation to speak to the Sacramento Public Library.

Genealogy Meetings: I attended no meetings this week.

Genealogy Writing/Research: I continued writing about the Sievert and Hork families in my 12 for ’26 challenge.

Blog Posts Published:

Resolving Conflicts in Censuses – A Hork Family Example
For the theme of “What the Census Suggests,” I wrote about how I resolved the conflict of Johan Anton’s ages in the U.S. census. This post was highlighted by Linda Stufflebea and Randy Seaver.

SNGF—What Was the Great Love Story in Your Family Tree?
I wrote about my in-laws, George & Thelma Gorrell.

Vincent Sievert in Joliet, Illinois - 12 for ’26 – Part 2
This is the second post of the surnames for February’s 12 for ’26 posts, covering the Sievert family.

Webinars/Courses Viewed: Watch a couple while riding the train.

• Context in the Count: Interpreting the U.S. Census With a Historical Perspective by Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal (Legacy Family Tree Webinars)
• Searching for Sisters Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States by Sunny Jane Morton (Legacy Family Tree Webinars)
• Between Sails  Steam_ The 19th Century Emigration Experience from German Ports  by Andrea Bentschneider (Sac German Gen Soc)

Other:
Monday, we arrived in Chicago aboard the California Zephyr and spent the night at the Hilton Garden Inn. We had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Rivers. The next day we ate lunch before heading to the train station to board the Floridian to Miami. It was very cold in Chicago! The ride on the Floridian was nice. One night in Miami, then we got a rental car to drive down to Key West, only the rental car place had no cars. So we waited about 4 hours before we got our car and arrived very late (after dark). That was disappointing that we missed out on some touristy time. On Saturday, we toured the Truman Little White House and Hemingway’s home, plus walked over ten thousand steps. Sunday, we toured the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park before heading back up to Miami. It was much nicer driving back in the daylight where we could see the views.

I am reading: 

• Angels of the Pacific by Elise Hooper

Photos for this week. From the train & at Key West.

Frozen Mississippi

Frozen Pennsylvania

Looking out into the Gulf of Mexico

Gulf of Mexico on the left, Atlantic Ocean on the right

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 © 2011-2026 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.