My Trails into the Past

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, day trip to Berkeley, a movie, and garage sales. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked two afternoons at the History Center again this week, working with the library database on Tuesday and attending a meeting about processing the Maffei collection. I did a birth certificate pull for my long-standing client. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I had meetings with Jacqueline, the CGS education committee, APG Golden State Chapter, and the Labor SIG.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I did not write much this week, except for the homework in the Mastering Genealogical Proof class I’m taking and the 52 Ancestors & SNGF blog posts. I started working on the Johnston family and did a little research and writing during the one Level Up session I attended. Also, my daughter is visiting and we spent time together. Blog Posts Published: Can Samuel Johnston’s 1850 Mississippi Neighborhood Help Locate His Alabama &...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, hiking, a meet with fellow modelers, and a trip to Placerville for a family reunion. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked two afternoons at the History Center, working with accessions and putting away some donated items. I presented my Farming Ancestors talk to the North San Diego Genealogical Society. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I met with Jacqueline and we continued the discussion about the her trip to the Bay Area in September to visit National Parks. She had is all mapped out on a calendar. We also looked about her writing project and worked on some formatting issues. I also had a good conversation with Carol in the Renewal Accountability Group. Genealogy Writing/Research : I finished up the month with a final post about the tax records in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. With the new month starting on Saturday, I wrote my first Johnston family post on Sunday. I attended two sessions of Level Up Accountabil...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, and a memorial service. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: None this week. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I met with Jacqueline and we discussed the trip we made to GRIP and her trip to California in September. I met with the Kinseekers program committee to discuss the upcoming year’s programs. I attended the NARA SIG where we learned all about Jacqueline’s document she found at the Pitt Library about one of her ancestors. With no hike this week, I was able to attend the Certification Discussion Group meeting and the discussion was about AI. I later attended the RootsMagic SIG but my computer kept kicking me out. Genealogy Writing/Research : I continued writing and researching the Gorrell families in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, tackling the 40 years of tax records, trying to sort out the people. I listed out the tax and census records in chronological order. I then asked AI (in incognito mode) to reorganize the re...

Outside activities included a week at GRIP in Pittsburgh, the flight home, and train club show over the weekend. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work:  None this week. Genealogy Meetings:  None this week. Genealogy Writing/Research : I did work on Amos Gorrell, Sr. this week, writing the 52 Ancestors post and creating another about the platting I did in class at GRIP. Blog Posts Published: Trying to Understand a Tax Record in Beaver County, Pennsylvania For the theme of “A Source I Want to Understand Better,” I wrote about the tax records from Beaver County and how I found the law that explains them. Highlighted by Linda Stufflebean and 52 Ancestors. Land Platting Amos Gorrell’s Beaver County, Pennsylvania Land (12 for ’26) I wrote about the deeds I platted in Deedmapper concerning Amos’s land. SNGF: Your Farthest Flung Ancestor We had to figure out the ancestors that came from the farthest. Courses Attended :  Metes & Bounds: Land Platting at GRIP ...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, lunch with friends, and an airplane ride to Pittsburgh for GRIP. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered at the History Center, working on accessions by entering them into PastPerfect. I moved the CalTrans collection to the back hall shelves and the new books from the Board of Supervisors to the County room. I also entered some books into the library database. I sent out the BCG press release.   The Writer’s group met this week and we discussed Jacqueline and Margaret’s writing samples, as well as a chance to meet in person when Jacqueline comes down to visit in September. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met and discussed our trip to Pittsburgh. Genealogy Writing/Research : I worked on Amos (1804-1890), who lived in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. It was a bit of a struggle getting all the deeds recorded and working out the tax records in two different townships. Blog Posts Published: Mam-ma’...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center and a 4th of July parade. I was busy this week watching Wimbledon tennis and World Cup soccer. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered at the History Center, working on accessions until it was time to pick up books being donated to us from the Board of Supervisors. Also, a researcher came in looking for information about the prohibition period. The Veale collection has been helpful to them. I attended the BCG Communications committee and worked on the upcoming webinar press release to go out this week. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline came back from her vacation and we met on Zoom, discussing our trip to Pittsburgh. Genealogy Writing/Research : I finished off the Tierney writing and research and started on Gorrell for the month of July. I began with Amos (1837-1920) and am now working on his father, Amos (1804-1890). I have been thankful the images on FamilySearch have been unlocked, as I create updated cit...

Outside activities included phenology, and two short trips to the History Center and library. I was busy this week with GRIP. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered at the History Center for a couple of hours on Tuesday and Wednesday after my GRIP class. Basically, I had time to just catch up with what is needed and answering a couple of queries. I was the Zoom host on Saturday for the CGS webinar on newspaper research. They held it live at the new site, so it was a hybrid presentation. Genealogy Meetings:  I hosted the RootsMagic SIG but only one person came. Genealogy Writing/Research : In my free time this week, I searched for deeds for Denis and John Tierney in Nepean Township, Carleton County, Ontario (or Upper Canada). Blog Posts Published: When Circumstances Forces Father Hork to Leave For the theme of “a hard choice” I wrote about Father Albert Hork having to choose to leave a parish that was too poor to care for him. Checking the California Vote...

Outside activities included a trip on the weekend to Santa Rosa to babysit the granddog and give a genealogy presentation. Otherwise, I was sick the early part of the week and stayed home.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: The only work I did was to give a presentation about research plans to the Sonoma County Genealogical Society, an in-person seminar. This was my last event with the group. I turned my secretary binders over to the new secretary. The seminar went well and many people came up to me at the break thanking me for the talk. I think they enjoyed how I involved the audience during the presentation. They all seemed to enjoy the second presentation on railroad records, too, which was very good. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Kinseekers NARA SIG on Monday but didn’t participate much as I was not feeling well. I shared that I am getting a bankruptcy file from NARA Kansas City soon. Genealogy Writing/Research : I attended two session of Level Up writin...

Outside activities included a hike at Lafayette Community Park, visiting Linda’s garden, volunteering at the History Center, phenology, lunch with friends, and Beaver Festival.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center, John and I finished boxing up the studies and loaded them into the U-Haul truck on Monday, and on Tuesday, LeighAnn and I took them up to Fairfield to drop them off and pick up some books for sale. I worked on the PH Hist. Soc. clipping files some more. Monday, I gave a presentation to the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society on Research Plans. Thursday, I led the writing group and we discussed Lynn’s and Jacqueline’s work, both making great progress. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Recert Accountibility group and the Military SIG on Monday, and the Sonoma County Genealogical Society’s board meeting on Tuesday. This was my last board meeting as I’m off the board as of July. Sunday was book club where we highlighted books we had ...

Outside activities included a hike at Tilden Park Botanical Garden, volunteering at the History Center, phenology, voting in person, and attending a patriotic concert.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center, John and I boxed up some of the studies to put into long-term storage. On Saturday, I worked on the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Collection refiling their clipping files into new archival folders. I also caught Maxine up with what’s happening in the archives. I prepared the monthly press release for the BCG-sponsored webinar. I also prepared a draft of the Sonoma County Genealogical Society board meeting next week. I worked on the PowerPoint and handouts for the upcoming presentation of Focused Research: Using Research Plans that I’m giving twice this coming week. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Labor SIG on Monday, and the AirTable session on Friday. Genealogy Writing/Research : I worked on researching and writing about John...

Outside activities included a hike at Castle Rock, volunteering at the History Center, phenology, dentist for a cleaning, meeting at the Board of Supervisors, and train club show.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center, I worked on the Pleasant Hill Historical Society Collection refiling their clipping files into new archival folders. I also pulled deed records at the County Recorder’s Office for a research request. Friday, Tara, John, and I met with a clerk for the Board of Supervisors about a donation of old records they have. Genealogy Meetings:  None of my accountability members came to the Zoom meeting, probably because it was a holiday. We had a good group in the Roundtable, though. Rootsmagic SIG was interesting with Keith demonstrating using it to create a book. I will be hosting the SIG next month. Genealogy Writing/Research : I didn’t write as much this week, though I continued researching the Loveless family, finishing up with James Lo...

Outside activities included a hike at Briones, volunteering at the History Center and the Oakland FamilySearch Center, yearly physical with my doctor, and lunch with Nancy and Terry.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: Monday, John and I met at the History Center to roughly inventory and clear a space for the Betty Maffei collection. That involved moving boxes around to make room and rehousing some of the collection into banker boxes for better stacking. I opened the History Center on Tuesday again. I started work on the extra boxes of Pleasant Historical Society Collection we found the day before. Our board meeting was canceled due to lack of members available. At the Oakland FamilySearch Center, I showed Laura how to find baptismal and marriage records when she had the old microfilm number. I attended Linda’s presentation on writing. Genealogy Meetings:  On Monday, I attended the NARA SIG meeting. We ended up talking a lot about military records and why there are...