My Trails into the Past

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 Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 4–Close to Home .  I wrote about Nana living across the street from us in Pittsburg, California. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your Favorite Toy or Games . I had written about my favorite toys and games back in 2014 so linked my post back to that one. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:     I attended the Thursday night study group and we discussed classes at SLIG and goals for the next year. Our Friday group was cancelled due to too many would be absent.  However, I met with Jacqueline at the Walnut Creek Library and we worked on genealogy and had lunch at The Silk Road. I attended webinars this week: “New Tools & Ideas for Research,” by Josh Taylor. His beginn...

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 Blog Writing : I was busy with other activities I didn’t get a post done this week. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I attended one webinar, entitled “Meaningful Tables and Graphs for Correlation in Family History” by Ruth W. Craig, CG. I attended the Thursday evening study group and we discussed a bit about the APG-PMC that three of us had attended. I attended the Sacramento German Genealogy Society meeting with Mike. Shirley Riemer was the host of a “game show” where we reviewed some concepts of German genealogy. Client Work : I had some court record retrievals to get in Solano County and additional ones in Contra Costa County. Own Work: I spent the day with my husband’s aunt and cousin on Monday. We interfiled m...

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. There are several members of my family who performed as actors and actresses, some in comedy plays. Elizabeth and Helena Gleeson, my paternal great-grandaunts, performed in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Engaged at the Evans Opera house in Anaconda, Montana in February 1892. They were school teachers at the time and the proceeds from the play were for the public school library. Helena played the role of Maggie, while Elizabeth played Parker Minnie’s maid. [1] My husband’s uncle, Leonard Nilsen, acted in plays while in high school. He performed in The Tin Hero with the junior class at Hilmar High School in February 1939.  He played Spike Ryder, a champion swimmer. [2] My daughter, Ma...

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 Education I taught the second class of  the 5-class session on Intermediate Skills for the California Genealogical Society, being held at the Oakland FamilySearch Library on Wednesday evenings. I covered probate records. I got an email from one of my students saying she finally found the land record for her ancestor on FamilySearch. She was so happy to learn how to use the online catalog. Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks   For week 23, the theme was “namesake” and I wrote about all the ancestors who had the name “Elizabeth” or “Margaret” the names of my two daughters. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun I wrote several tweets about my husband’s ancestors. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I d...