My Trails into the Past

My outside activities included three trips to the History Center, one to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and weeding in my backyard. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I had three trips to the History Center this week, the first my regular stint, the second for the board meeting where I took the minutes, and the third on Saturday. I brought home work and spent most of Sunday updating the library database. Two members of my writing group came to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and I helped with their issues with the Family Tree, but we also discussed other items.  Genealogy Meetings:    I attended meetings this week with the CDG renewal accountability group, the Kinseekers Military SIG, the CDG meeting, and the OFSC staff meeting on Friday. Genealogy Writing/Research: I conducted some research on my great-uncle, RD Lancaster after getting a hint from the NARA catalog. I also did some research on Amos Gorrell for my SLIG class presentation. I used ChatGPT to summarize a ...

It’s been 5 years since the first lockdown due to Covid-19. Although I am still as cautious as we should be for any illness, I won’t count down the time anymore.  The only reason to make note of my outside activities is to show that I do more than sit at a computer all day. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    Since this was the second week of the month, I had several meetings on Monday, first starting with my renewal accountability group at 8 am. Our NGS convention meeting was canceled, so I was able to attend the Kinseekers military SIG meeting. Jacqueline and I met later in the afternoon. Sunday, I attended book club and our group discussed Wanderers: A History of Women Walking. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered twice at the History Center. On Tuesday, I was there from 1 to 4 pm and closed the center, since our director was ill. I opened the next day and worked until 2. I worked on accessions, recording them in our notebook and on PastPerfect. I also worked on proces...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has our assignment for tonight: 1) Marie Cooke Beckman on her blog, MarieB's Genealogy Blog--Southeastern USA , asked and answered this question, and it is right up the SNGF alley: Did your grandparents know their grandparents? Thank you for the idea, Marie! Here's mine: My paternal grandparents are William Cyril Hork (1899-1967) and Anna Marie Sullivan (1892-1979).  Cyril never met his paternal grandparents Joseph Heinrich Horoch (1804-1857) and Maria Catharine Trösster (1813-1874), as they lived and died in Germany.  He didn't know his maternal grandparents Vincent Sievert (1823-1892) and Susanna Radunz (1832-1911), though Susanna lived long enough for him to. Susanna lived in Joliet, Illinois, while Cyril lived in Montana. His mother did visit her mother sometime before her mother died. Anna could have known her maternal grandparents John ...

I have completed two hundred and forty-four (244) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My only outside activities were trips to the History Center, Oakland FamilySearch Center, the Social Security Office, and three weekend days at Train Club for our public shows.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:     The only meetings this week were an NGS conference meeting and an hour meeting with Jacqueline.   Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered at the History Center continuing my work on the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Collection. I taught my third session of the Probate class for AppGen. I got the recording done correctly this week. The Contra Costa County Genealogical Society’s board meeting was Thursday and I took minutes. Genealogy Writing/Research: I received images of WWI draft classification records and decided to try Elizabeth Shown Mills’s method for writing and analyzing a research session with these documents. I did manage to work on half of the ele...

I have completed two hundred and twenty-seven (227) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I went out to an eye appointment (masked), the History Center, the lab for a blood draw (masked), phenology (outdoors), Roseville to see a steam engine (outdoors), and Mill Valley to give a genealogy presentation. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Monday was Kinseekers Military SIG and I shared a WWII Classification list. I met with Jacqueline on Tuesday afternoon via Zoom and we discussed the CGS trip to the FamilySearch Library. During Amigos, Jacqueline and I discussed Family Tree Notebooks. At Roundtable on Wednesday, the group talked about writing. It was a very good discussion. At book club on Sunday, we all shared books we had read during the past few months since the last BYOB (bring your own book). Genealogy Writing/Research: I did not do any writing or research this week. I had too many meetings that took up my spare time, especially those meetings where I took minutes. ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  Again -  Time For Some More  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings tonight is to:  1)  It's Father's Day on Sunday.  Tell us three things about your father, or one of your grandfathers (or another male ancestor), that have influenced you in your life. Here’s mine: 1) I am a San Francisco Giants baseball fan because of my father and his mother, my Nana. I remember one spring day when he took us from school and we drove over to Candlestick Park for a Giants game. However, it started to rain before we got to the Bay Bridge and the game was called a rainout. We were so disappointed. We got a rain check and went later in the season. 2) For a few years in the 1970s I was an Oakland Raiders fan. Dad had season tickets and he took me a few times. I didn’t understand all the nuances of the game, but he patiently explained them to me. What I didn’t like was ...

I have completed two hundred and fifteen (215) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. This week besides the History Center, I attended a History Fair at DVC, researched at the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and worked a booth at the John Muir NP Earth Day Birthday event. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   The only meeting this week was our Monday meeting and Jacqueline and I worked on looking for her Griffin family without much luck. Genealogy Writing/Research: This week, I worked on several projects. One project was researching and writing about May Mansfield Sayre, the stepson of Amos Gorrell. Another was doing some more research in Ida Hork Colmann, my grandfather’s sister. Finally, I worked on creating a timeline of Nathan H.O. Polly’s life. I downloaded many deed documents from Rockwall County, Texas, from the FS website, however, I somehow did not make sure they were downloaded to the thumb drive. So if they were downloaded to the computer, they were wiped clean that ...

I have completed two hundred and fourteen (214) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. This week besides the History Center, I went on a bird/wildflower outing, a hike, and to the train club meeting. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   Jacqueline and I continued our discussion about our upcoming trip to do research in Texas. Amigos met and we discussed citations and Legos. The Roundtable meeting was full of discussion that the time just flew on by. At Kinseekers Military SIG, we talked about WWI classification records, pensions, and claim files, and collected a few good websites for Army sources. Finally, book club discussed the book Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Willson. Genealogy Writing/Research: In the process of filing digital documents I had downloaded, I entered them into RootsMagic and decided to write a short bio about Michael J. Sullivan, my great-grandfather’s youngest brother. Of course, in that process, more research had to be done, and to update the sourc...