My Trails into the Past

The last post was written about Daniel Shotts and his wife Mary Ann Bishop. Before tackling the Bishop family line, I will write what I know about Daniel’s parents, David Shotts and Mary Wagoner. David Shotts (1760-1825) married Mary Wagoner/Wagner in 1788 or 1891. He died in Ross County around October 1825. His known children were: Catherine Shotts (1795-1833) Jacob Shotts (1796-1883), m. Sarah Toops 1817 in Ross Co. Elizabeth Shotts (1798-1894), m. Ezekiel Timmons Margaret Shotts (1800-1884), m. Jacob G. Bishop 1821 in Ross Co. Hannah Shotts (1801-1884) Mary Shotts (1802-1801) Daniel Shotts (1804-1875), m. Mary Ann Bishop 1831 in Ross Co. Sophia Shotts (1806-1881), m. Amos Bishop 1830 in Ross Co. Jonas Shotts (1809- ), m. Isabel Haynes 1838 in Ross Co. Susanna Shotts (1811-1905), m. Henry Bishop 1856 in Ross Co. My children’s line is through Daniel Shotts & Mary Ann Bishop, through their daughter, Catherine E, who married Amos Gorrell in 1866. Family Histories & C...

Outside activities included phenology, bird watching, train club show, and trips to National Park sites with Jacqueline. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I met Traci this week at the History Center to work on the Maffei collection. We sorted out photos and transferred them temporarily into folders and document boxes. On Thursday, I took the minutes for the CCCHS board meeting. On Saturday, I presented a talk about researching school records for the Sonoma County Genealogical Society. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Military SIG this week. The focus was primarily on some good resources for WWII research.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I spent Thursday and Friday researching the Shotts family and wrote two blog posts. Blog Posts Published: An Old Powder Horn For the theme of “A Document with Personality,” I wrote about a newspaper that described a powder horn one of my husband’s ancestors once owned. The description was so detailed that I had AI mak...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of GeneaMusings : 1)  What started but unfinished projects do you have?  Define one or more of them, and how far along you are in the project. Here's mine: Like Randy, I have many, many unfinished projects. I have a folder on my computer called “Work in Progress” filled with file folders of various family surnames and topics, as shown here: Within those files are more files. Here is an example of the top few folders: Most of these are images downloaded from FamilySearch, MyHeritage, or Ancestry, that I did not have time then to deal with them. Digging deeper into the Military Folder, I have a WWI Study folder, where I’m keeping track of various members of my family who either served, or at least registered for the draft. My goal was to learn as much as I can about researching WWI resources and telling WWI soldiers’...

Working on the Shotts family for September. The first post was about Catherine Shotts who married Amos Gorrell. Her parents were Daniel Shotts and Mary Ann Bishop. [1] This post will be about what I know about them. According to the Find a Grave memorial, Daniel was born on 23 February 1804 in Augusta County, Virginia. [2] The tombstone photo is very worn is difficult to read. It gives his death date of 9 Oct 1875 and the age at death of 71 years, ? months, and 18 days. However, a reading done perhaps in 1993 gave the age of death as 71 years, 7 months and 16 days. [3] This calculates to a birth of 23 February 1804. [4] Census records are consistent for his birthplace of Virginia; however, they are silent on the county. He was 46 in 1850, [5] 56 in 1860, [6] and 65 in 1870. [7] Perhaps the source for the county came from the book, Ross County, Ohio Early Families, Volume II. The bio for the Shotts-Wagoner family states “all children born in Augusta County, Virginia except S...