My Trails into the Past

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has a new mission for us: 1) Which of your ancestors were born on this day, 31 March? How can you find out? Tell us how you did it. 2) If you don't have an ancestor born on this date, then select another date in March and list those. 3) Share your findings in your own blog post, or in comments on this blog post, on Facebook or Google+. I have no direct ancestors with a 31 March birthdate, but there were quite a few people in my RootsMagic database who were born on this date. I left off those who are still alive. My Husband's Line Elizabeth Bishop was born in 1769 to Heinrich Bischof and Catherine Schreyer and the sister to  Norman's direct ancestor, Frederick Bishop. She was likely born in Pennsylvania or Maryland. She was his third great grandaunt. Carolina Samuelsdotter was born in 1826 in Tidersrum, Östergötland län, Sweden to Samuel Persson and Maja Stina Jonasdotter. She was the sister of Norman'...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. 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. Genealogy Intermediate Class . The third class in this six-week series was about land records. I covered both federal and local land records and created a couple of exercises. It took nearly 2.5 hours. I don’t think I have that much time at the Oakland class. I’ll have to cut something, I’m sure. History Center . Had a busy week at the History Center. Tuesday, I spent time working on the client’s work, and making copies for the high school event on Thursday. Sixty-plus students from Deer Valley H.S. came to the center as one of three stops (they also visited Alhambra Cemetery and the John Muir house). At the center there were five groups they rotated through and my station was in the county room. I spoke about the tax assessment books, showing them Mrs. Louie ...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. 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. Genealogy Intermediate Class . I presented the second class on Naturalization and Immigration. This is a great group of students. They stay very focused and all of them attempted last week’s homework. I still need to add some kind of exercise for this class before I teach it again in May. History Center . Tuesday, I got started on the gentleman who queried the historical society about men who owned land in east county in the swamp and overflow lands. Lots of land and tax records about them. Wednesday, I attended the monthly board meeting. On Saturday, I worked again for four hours, working primarily on the finding aid. It was good having some un-interrupted time to work on it. Presentation . I presented about German Genealogy at the Mt. Diablo G...

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. One pleasant memory I have of childhood was playing games. My mother loved to play games and loved playing them with us. A favorite location where we played was the kitchen table. Board Games When we were young, we played board games such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and Sorry. As we got older, we played other board games such as Scrabble, Monopoly, and Clue. I never got the feeling that my mother or father let us win. I was always pretty competitive. I liked to win but when I didn't, I just tried harder the next time. Card Games Card games started out with young children’s games of Go Fish, Old Maid, and Crazy Eights. We had a special deck of cards to play Old Maid, but w...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing started this meme and I loved the idea. 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. Genealogy Monday, I started the 6-week Intermediate Class sponsored by Contra Costa County Genealogical Society and the Concord Family History Center. The class is two hours long and held at the Concord FHC. There are six participants and the first lesson was about forming good research questions, creating a research plan, and then completing a research report after the research. Tuesday, I worked at the Contra Costa County Historical Society’s History Center . I’d been gone over six weeks, so there was a lot of work to catch up on. One query looks very interesting and I look forward to working on it next week. Wednesday, I began a new volunteer position at the Oakland FamilySearch Library . A bunch of members of the California Genealogical Society have v...

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 1)  Judy Russell asked six questions in her 2014 Keynote address at RootsTech to determine if audience members knew certain family stories about their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.  She demonstrated very well that family stories are lost within three generations if they are not recorded and passed on to later generations. 2)  This week, I want you to answer Judy's six questions, but about YOUR own life story, not your ancestors.  Here are the questions: a)  What was your first illness as a child? b)  What was the first funeral you attended? c)  What was your favorite book as a child? d)  What was your favorite class in elementary school? e)  What was your favorite toy as a child? f)  Did you learn how to swim, and where did you learn?   3)   Tell us in your own blog post, or in a comment to this post, or in a F...

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. One of the strongest women I know in my family was my grandmother, Anne Marie Sullivan Hork. When Anna was twenty years old, her mother died. [1]   She was attending the Montana State Normal College in Dillon, Montana, where she played basketball, volleyball, and sang in the Glee Club. [2]   She then spent her time teaching. Anna is the front row on the far left (in sepia tone) I don't know how she met her future husband, William Cyril Hork, but they married 22 November 1922 in Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana. [3]   They then moved to southern California.  William Cyril had been stationed in Long Beach during World War I and probably found the climate better th...