My Trails into the Past

Many years ago, when I first started genealogy research, I wrote a letter to St. John the Baptist Church in Joliet asking if they had a marriage record for my great-grandfather, John (Johan) Hork to Julia Sievert in 1872. I knew that my grandfather, William Cyril Hork, was Catholic and hoped they were married in the church. What I had for the marriage date and place was from an Illinois marriage index. Images of records weren’t online yet. I also asked about any baptisms held there for any of their children. What I got back was a taped-together page of a two-page spread from the church book. They married in 1872 and were listed on line number 9. [1] Because this was a German Catholic Church, I got more than the groom and bride’s names and the date of the marriage. I also got their parent's names and the places they came from. But I did not get the column headings and had to guess what they were. Fortunately, the priest did not write in the Fractur script, so I was able to read i...

In many older Catholic churches, stands of small votive candles can be seen on the side of the church or in alcoves. The ones I remember were red and when lit, glow dimly. I have not seen these candles in other kinds of churches. This seems to be a Catholic tradition. One article explained that Catholics light a candle for a loved one, either deceased or perhaps ill. They wish for some divine intervention to solve a problem, so light a candle, and make their intention known through prayer. [1]   I remember the candles in St. Peter Martyr’s Church in Pittsburg, California. Nana took me many times to Mass and after I had my First Communion, to confession on Saturdays. She would give me a coin, maybe it was a nickel or a dime, so I could light a candle and say a prayer. What I do not remember is whom I said the prayer for. Nana said prayers for many people. I guess because she was so much older, she knew many people who had died, like her mother, who died when she was twenty, and h...

My father's side of the family were Roman Catholic. I’ve collected some photos of churches my families have attended, and some were captured from Google street view. St. Mary's Church, Walnut Creek I was confirmed and married here. Two of my siblings were baptized here. St. Peter Martyr Church, Pittsburg My first communion was here and three of my siblings were baptized here. Queen of All Saints, Concord My parents were married here and I was baptized here. St. Patrick's Church, Butte, MT My grandparents, Wm Cyril Hork & Anna M. Sullivan were married here. St. Paul's Church, Anaconda, MT This is where the Sullivans attended St. Philip Church, Richmond, Ontario, Canada The Gleesons attended church here and their children were baptized here. St. John the Baptist Church, Joliet, IL Where the Sieverts attended. Kirche St Peter und Paul, Kirchhundem, Germany My Horks attended this church photo by Wolfgang Poguntke , Creative Commons These are just some of the churches I...

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. This is a tough meme. I can’t think of any tradition that we have in our family. It seems that each generation tried to make holidays and other events “their own” and did not necessarily pass on old traditions. On my father’s side, his parents were Roman Catholic, and maybe that was a tradition passed down. When we were children, our father took us to church (our mother wasn’t Catholic), and later I took my younger siblings. But none of my siblings carried on being Catholic. I was the only one who married in the Church. On my mother’s side, I would say some food items we ate were passed down. We always had cornbread dressing in our turkey at Thanksgiving. But most of us kids resisted eating greens and...