My Trails into the Past

I watched a webinar this week called “Creating Your Ancestor’s Resume.” It was presented at Kinseekers in November by Karen Molohon. This topic intrigued me as another way to get information about my ancestors and family members onto paper (figuratively speaking). Creating a resume about an ancestor can have two purposes. If this is all you do, then you have written something about their life. A collection of these could be shared with your family. The other purpose is that it can serve as a starting point for further writing, such as adding historical and social context about their work. I thought I would create a resume for one of the ancestors I am working on. I will use these headings: genealogical summary, parents' names, spouse’s name, children’s names, skills, education, hobbies, and work history, starting with the most recent job down to their first job. My grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, saved some of the letters of recommendation he had five men write, who knew him we...

W illiam Joseph Hork and Lela Nell Johnston were married at Queen of All Saints Church in Concord, California, on 19 April 1953.[1] Lea’s friend, Barbara Boyenger, was her maid of honor and Bill’s brother-in-law, Gene Soares, was his best man. Before the ceremony, Ken Harvey, Barbara’s future husband, took photos of the preparation at Lea’s house. Barbara must have spent the night as we see the two of them having breakfast still in their night clothes.  The marriage news was written about in the Contra Costa Times and the Concord Transcript . The article in the Times is very detailed about the clothing the participants wore during the wedding and afterward for their wedding trip. They married on a Sunday afternoon at Queen of All Saints Church in Concord. Father Adrian McKenna presided over the ceremony attended by immediate family members and close friends. Because Lea was not Catholic, the ceremony was likely not a full Mass. The photo below shows the couple just at the alt...

In the years I knew my aunt, Bev, she wore what I considered drab clothing. She came to our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners wearing black, white, or silver outfits. I could never understand why she had to be so uncolorful. These colors did match her silver-gray hair, and she always wore bright red lipstick to brighten up her face. Beryl on the right, her sister-in-law, Pansy on the left Pansy (left) & Beryl (right) It wasn’t until later that I learned that black and other dark, solid colors have a slimming effect, and that was likely why she dressed that way.  I have a collection of color slides of my aunt. These images delight my sisters and me. They are of her posing in various outfits probably in her home so that she could change into them easily. I have no idea who took the images, but as we can see, she was very photogenic. These images prove she wore lots of color in her younger years. #52Ancestors-Week 45: Colorful This is my seventh year working on this year-long pro...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)   Which ancestor of yours married the most times?  [This may be interesting for some GeneaBloggers!]  [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!] Here's mine: The question asked about ancestors, so I will focus only on direct ancestors, as it is easier to browse looking for the number of known marriages. There was no need to look on my father’s side, as they were all Roman Catholics and married only once. On my mother’s side, her grandfather, Thomas Newton Johnston, married three times. The first marriage was to her grandmother, Nell Hutson , on 6 June 1907 in Comanche County, Texas. [1] Nell died on 14 July 1919. [2] He married next, Zilpha E. Buford (nee Morris ) on 12 December 1931 at Stephenville, Erath County, Texas. [3] This was the grandmother my mother remembered. She was ca...

Last week I wrote about a research trip to Texas and the many cemeteries I visited in Comanche County. One such cemetery, Union Cemetery, has the tombstone of my great-grandmother, Nell L. (Hutson) Johnston. It is an unusual tombstone. It is shaped like a tree trunk and has these words around a symbol: In Memoriam Woodmen Circle.” Nell L. Johnston was born on 8 February 1888 to Sarah H Selman and Peter H Hutson. [1] She married Thomas N. Johnston on 6 June 1907 in Comanche County, Texas. [2] They had six known children. She died after a sudden illness on 14 July 1919. [3] She was only thirty-one years old and left two children under five and three children six to ten years old. My grandfather was only 6. Tom would not remarry until twelve years later. Her obituary says very little. She died on a Monday at home and was buried on Tuesday in Union Cemetery. “The many friends of the family will learn with keen regret of Mrs. Johnson’s untimely death, passing away as she did in the p...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again -  Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings :  1)  Which of your ancestors lived a life of hardship or sadness?  Who had few possessions or resources, was involved in violence or war, lived through a famine, or suffered forced immigration?   Here's mine: I have a story from an interview with a great uncle, O.D. “Pig” Johnston. Yes, that’s his name and what he had been called since a toddler. The interview was conducted by Jewell Dukes Huddleston and published in two installments in the Comanche Chief in her column called “Wagon Wheels keep on turnin’” on 29 November 1979 and 6 December 1979. He was 81 at the time of the interview. Here is the transcript of what he said about his maternal grandmother, Amanda A. (Haley) Jones. “. . . a twice-told tale recalls the trials experienced by Johnston’s maternal gran...