My Trails into the Past

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another great task for us tonight. Here it is: 1)  Answer these questions in my survey about your genealogy resources and usage: a)  Which genealogy software programs for your computer do you use (e.g., Family Tree Maker, Reunion, GRAMPS, etc.)? I use RootsMagic as my genealogy software. I started out using PAF. I switched to Legacy Family Tree sometime around 2005. A few years later, I read a posting by Elizabeth Shown Mills about the Research report capability of RootsMagic and gave that a try. I’ve been using it ever since. I liked many of the features of Legacy Family Tree and miss them but one program is enough for me. b)  Which online family trees have information submitted by you - in either a separate online tree (e.g., Ancestry Member Tree) or a universal (collaborative) online tree (e.g., WikiTree)? I have a tree at Ancestry.com and at Family Tree DNA both for the purpose of DNA matching with others. I do not ha...

Randy Seaver of Genea–Musing has another great adventure for us. Our assignment is: 1) Review your Pedigree Chart (either on paper or in your genealogy management software program) and determine the age at death of your male ancestors back at least five generations (and more if you want to). 2)  Tell us the lifespan years for each of these ancestors.  Which of your male ancestors in this group lived the longest?  Which lived the shortest?  Here’s mine: Father: William Joseph Hork (1930–2007) – 77 years Grandfathers: William Cyril Hork (1899–1967) – 68 years Tom J. Johnston (1912–1973) – 60 years Great–grandmothers: Johan Anton Hork (1843–1906) – 62 years John H. Sullivan (1854–1932) – 77 years Thomas Newton Johnston (1885–1951) – 65 years George Warren Lancaster (1893–1964) – 71 years 2nd Great–grandmothers: Joseph Heinrich Horoch (1804–1857) – 53 years Vincent Sievert (1823–1890) – 66 years Jeremiah Sullivan (1811–...

Randy Seaver of Genea–Musing has another great adventure for us. Our assignment is: 1) Review your Pedigree Chart (either on paper or in your genealogy management software program) and determine the age at death of your female ancestors back at least five generations (and more if you want to). 2)  Tell us the lifespan years for each of these ancestors.  Which of your female ancestors in this group lived the longest?  Which lived the shortest?  Here’s mine: Mother: Lela Nell (Johnston) Hork (1934–1992) – 57 years Grandmothers: Anna Marie (Sullivan) Hork (1892–1979) – 86 years Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston (1913–2013) – 99 years Great–grandmothers: Julia Ann (Sievert) Hork (1854–1928) – 73 years Anna Marie (Gleeson) Sullivan (1860–1912) – 52 years Nell L. (Hutson) Johnston (1888–1919) – 31 years Lela Ann (Loveless) Lancaster (1896–1951) – 55 years 2nd Great–grandmothers: Maria Catharine (Trösster) Hork (1813–1874) – 60...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing , has another great SNGF: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) Do you know which of your ancestors appears the most times in the Census records? How many years? Are there duplicate entries? 2) Describe that ancestor's entries in the records in a blog post of your own, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook or Google+. I am traveling around Ohio this week and am working on some research for my husband's Gorrell, Bishop, and Shotts families. That's why I've chosen Amos Gorrell Jr. as the ancestor with the most census records. He was in 9 census enumerations. 1840: as a tick mark in his father's Beaver Co, Pennsylvania household. He was one of the males under 5. 1850: Amos was 13 years old in his father's Jackson Co, Ohio household. 1860: Amos, 23 years old, was still living in his father, Amos Sr's household in Ross Co, Ohio. He had $850 worth...

Better a little late. This is my blog's 5th Anniversary which started in 2011. I'm busy this week at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) and completely forgot about the anniversary! However, I am learning a lot about records for women and children and hope to report on successes in this blog in the future. Copyright © 2016 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings, has a wonderful meme called Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Mostly I get to it on Sunday morning. My mission is to: 1) Determine where my ancestral families were on 25 June 1866 - 150 years ago. 2) List my ancestors, their family members, their birth and death years, and their residence location (as close as possible). Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist? 3) Tell all about it in my own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status or Google+ Stream post. Well, I created a table with the list of ancestors. The ones shaded in blue are my paternal ancestors and the ones shaded in pink are my maternal ancestors. Interesting that the generations are so different between my maternal vs. paternal. My paternal grandmother was old enough to be the mother of my maternal grandmother. I have no information about houses these ancestors lived in during 1866. For some, I hav...

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is timely. We’re writing about our father’s for Father’s Day. Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is: 1) Sunday, 19 June, is Father's Day. Let's celebrate by writing a blog post about your father, or another significant male ancestor (e.g., a grandfather). 2) What are three things about your father (or significant male ancestor) that you vividly remember about him? 3) Tell us all about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook status or Google+ stream post. My father, William Joseph Hork was born 23 April 1930,  just days after the 1930 census was taken and thus was not on it. His parents were William Cyril Hork and Anna Marie Sullivan . He married Lela Nell Johnston (1934-1992) on 19 April 1953 and they had 6 children. I’m the oldest. He died 13 Oct 2007. SPORTS . He kept track of all the football teams My father loved sports. He pl...