My Trails into the Past

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...

Outside activities included a hike at Mt. Diablo again, volunteering at OFSC, a bird count on Mt. Wanda, and a train club meeting.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked on the BCG webinar press release and will send it out this coming week. At the History Center, I got there after lunch and worked on entering books into the library database. On Wednesday, I volunteered at the Oakland FamilySearch Center. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I did not meet this week. I attended the APG NorCal meeting and we merged with the Southern California group and selected a new logo. The Labor SIG met on Thursday this week and we had a great discussion in the 90 minutes about lots of different topics. Genealogy Writing/Research : I started a new surname for 12 for ‘26, beginning with my 2x-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Loveless. As I have done in past months, I first created a timeline with what records I already have collected. This week, I’ll finalize the full-text and n...

Outside activities included a hike at Mt. Diablo and a trip to a model railroad convention in Rohnert Park.     Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I inventoried and rehoused the current items in Dean’s collection and spoke to the volunteer who is working on Betty’s collection. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met and we discussed her updated work on the book about her dad. I hosted Roundtable and also met up with the renewal accountability group, where Carol and I talked about my Wollenwebers. Genealogy Writing/Research : I continued working on the Voehringer family this week, finishing up the last post about Philippina’s siblings, who also immigrated. Blog Posts Published: The Tradition of Pancake Breakfast For the theme of “tradition,” I wrote about my childhood breakfast of pancakes and what we did with our children. 12 for ’26: The Family of Philippina Wollenweber geb. Voehringer I focused the last post of April on Philippina’s siblings and mothe...

Outside activities included an eye doctor appointment, train club show, and phenology. I spent much of the days researching and writing.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked Dean at the History Center and entered entered more books into the library database from his donation. Genealogy Meetings:  Jacqueline and I met while she was on the road heading back up to Oregon and I enjoyed hearing about Stewart’s birthday party. The only other meeting this week was the CCCGS’ Genealogy Café. Genealogy Writing/Research : I continued working on the Wollenweber family, this week writing and researching about his wife, Philippina Voehringer and her family. I submitted a piece about Louis W. Wollenweber for peer review in the Writing for Discovery course, and I gave feedback on two other pieces. Blog Posts Published: Working as a Baker: What Louis W. Wollenweber did in Cleveland For the theme of “working for a living,” I wrote about my husband’s 2x-great-grandfather...

Outside activities included a trip to Sacramento, phenology, John Muir Earth Day Birthday, and a concert.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I drove up to Sacramento to present "How to Leave Your Genealogy" to the Sacramento Association of Genealogy. They were very receptive to the talk, asked lots of questions, and share additional suggestions. Then I drove to the Oakland FamilySearch Center and gave the presentation "Probate Records: More Than Wills." I worked on accessions at the History Center, entering them into PastPerfect. I got the new login and password for the Online Archive of California and will work on updating collections next. On Thursday, I took minutes of the board meeting. I turned in my press release committee report for the upcoming BCG board meeting.    I also attended the Sonoma County Genealogical Society’s board meeting and took minutes. Yeah, we have a member who will take over the secretary position in July. I’m retiring from...

This week I pulled records from the Contra Costa County court office and county recorder’s office for a client, hiked in Tilden Park, attended Train Club meeting, and picked up trash at McNabney Marsh in the rain for the Mt View Sanitary District and the Contra Costa County Resource Conservation District. I also pulled weeds in my own garden and this week’s weed pulling will be easier due to the rain we got the past three days.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I got to visit the new county court records office this week though I went to the wrong courthouse at first. Their system of retrieval is so much faster now with multiple windows, numbered tickets, and records that are digitized. I took care of some queries at the History Center, focusing mostly on court records. I also entered the new donations into the accession book. Next, I’ll enter them into PastPerfect. I have a stack of items to file the next time I’m in.    Genealogy Meetings:  I attended...