My Trails into the Past

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. My husband’s mother was a Nilsen before her marriage. When I first met my husband, I found out about the yearly Nilsen Family Reunion. Because there were many families living in Southern California, the reunion in the 1960s through 90s were held in alternately in Southern California and Northern California. The Nilsen family first lived in Hilmar, Merced County, California, when the Rev. Nils Malkom Nilsen came in 1906 to be the first pastor at the Hilmar Mission Church. [1] Later in November 1920, he moved his family to Los Angeles to be the pastor at the First Covenant Church in San Pedro. [2] Three of his children continued to live in Southern California after he moved back north. The first reunion...

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. Genealogy Presented at the Sacramento German Genealogical Society on the topic of Focused Research: Using Research Plans. I was a little nervous at first but then got right into it. The recording is available at their website for thirty days. Presenters also come in early for their study group and a couple of people sat at my table. When we have big name speakers, the table is usually over-flowing. Participated in the Certification Peer Group on our way down to L.A. using my phone. I like meeting better on the computer. We continued talking about case studies, using the tips from the BCG Action Group mailing list. Participated in the DearMyrtle study group, AmericanGen on Wednesday. These are now twice a month and we finished up chapter 7. I also we...