My Trails into the Past

This is my third 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 mother’s ancestors lived in the south. My father’s lived in Joliet, Illinois and in Hamilton and Anaconda, Montana. My immediate family has lived in California the past 75-100 years. Photos I have of family in Montana portray them in nice weather, probably in the summer. Of course, all of the photos of family in Texas and California also show nice weather, except this one.  This photo shows my father’s older sister, Virginia Hork, on her fifth birthday, January 11, 1930. The family was living in Ontario, California. The three girls, Virginia’s older sister, Lorene, and younger sister, June, are building a snowman from the snow that had fallen in the area.  They managed to get quite a bit of snow togeth...

I am 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’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Joseph Norman Gorrell was born in the last days of Winter on 9 March 1869 in Blackwater, Cooper County, Missouri. His father, Amos Gorrell, kept a daily journal and recorded the following on his birthday: “Weather cloudy at intervals with some rain. I go up to the Clarks in the morning and grind my axes. Jimmy helps me. Geo. works in the clearing. Both of the boys work there in the P.M. Wife is unwell – (labor) takes suddenly ill at noon and a child (a boy) is soon born. Before any person gets here. I am all alone at the time go immediately for Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Hill. they come and attend to everything all right. I go and bring Mrs. Oneal. but all is over before she gets here. She stays all night. Wife appear...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another challenge for our Saturday night.  Our assignment is: 1)  Winter arrives this month all over the northern hemisphere, and the daily routines of work, education and play change along with the seasons.  2)  What were your favorite winter activities when you were a child and teenager and young adult? 3)  Share your memories on your own blog post, in a Facebook post, or in a comment on this post.  Please leave a link as a comment on this post if you write your own blog post so that everyone can read all about it. Living in sunny California, we had few days of really cold weather or even rainy weather, though I remember it raining a lot more when I was in elementary school than it does now. Winter days meant wearing sweaters or sweatshirts to keep warm and maybe a windbreaker to keep the rain off. We didn’t have heavy winter coats or even umbrellas.  I do have some memories of winter activitie...