My Trails into the Past

Lydia M. Polly was the mother of Martha Jane Polly Lancaster, who was married to George Wilson Lancaster, one of the focus ancestors of my 12 for ’26 in March. She is my 4x-great-grandmother and I do not know her maiden name. Working backwards, I have information about her from her tombstone, death certificate, and six census records from 1850 to 1910. I have no idea when she married Nathaniel H. O. Polly, though sometime around 1847. Let’s revisit the documents I have. This is often a way to find a flaw in the research or the thinking at the time I collected the documents. Maybe I will get a clue to investigate further. Death & Burial Records I have visited the Rockwall Memorial Cemetery where she is buried. Her stone, in the old section of the cemetery, is old with lichen, but readable. Her husband’s stone is newer and someone likely had it replaced. The stone reads: “L. M. POLLY Born Feb 24, 1828 Died Mar 27, 1912 Thy trials ended thy rest is won. God was thy ransom, t...

Mom made many of our clothes: dresses, jumpers, shorts, and pajamas. The only clothes she did not make were jeans, coats, uniforms, and items for the boys, though she once made matching outfits for the four oldest children.  She barely used patterns to make our clothes. Yes, she cut out the pattern pieces. She placed them carefully on the fabric and pinned them down before cutting. But I doubt she really read the instructions. She said she had her way of putting the pieces together.  One thing she did as a short cut was to forgo facings and linings. She rolled the seams at the armhole and collars. She made simple hems she could sew on the sewing machine. She had four daughters and made lots of clothes for them. One special time for sewing was those hours between when Dad left for work at 5 a.m. and we got up at 7. She hid the clothes away if they were to be gifts for birthdays or Christmas. She also made doll clothes for Barbies, baby dolls, and trolls, though the clot...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

The Genealogical Proof Standard, also known as the GPS, is the ultimate test to ensure that our genealogical conclusions are sound. [1] There are five elements that genealogists follow to ensure they have met standards. It begins with conducting reasonably exhaustive research. We research in a wide range resources, some easy to obtain, and others that are more difficult. We use the records that will most likely answer our research questions pertaining to identity, relationships, or events. Research should always begin with a research question. A sample research question might be: When was Maria Sievert, daughter of Vincent Sievert and Susanna Radunz, who lived in Joliet, Will County, Illinois, born? See how I identified Maria Sievert? She was the daughter of Vincent Sievert and Susanna Radunz. She lived in Will County, Illinois. There may be more than one Maria Sievert in Joliet, but not likely more than one who was also the daughter of Vincent and Susanna. As we gather evidence f...