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 Education I taught the last class of  the 5-class session on Intermediate Skills for the California Genealogical Society, being held at the Oakland FamilySearch Library on Wednesday evenings. This last class was about planning a research trip. Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks  For week 26 (the half-way point), the theme was “legend” and my post was about the legend of my maternal grandmother’s family having Native American ancestry. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun We started a series of questions posed by Ellen Thompson-Jennings and completed the first five. They are very interesting questions and I look forward to the next five. 8th Blogiversary! I have completed eight years of writing b...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of  Genea-Musing  has a new assignment for us: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her blog this week - see  Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You  (posted 27 June). 2)  We will do these five at a time - Questions 1 to 5 tonight. 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post. Here are my answers: 1.  Which ancestor had the most children? It can be a couple or a single person. I only checked my direct lines. The person with the most is highlighted in blue. My paternal side: Vincent Siewert & Susanna Raduntz had eleven children Johan Anton Hork & Julia Ann Siev...

Well, it's now been eight years since I started this blog to document my family stories and to discuss my research. This past year I have written 121 posts! The three main memes I participate in are 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, that accounts for a weekly post; a weekly post documenting my genealogy and other activities, called Geneapouri; and Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun if the task looks doable. Occasionally I write an extra post during the week if I find an interesting genealogical find. Some of the popular posts during the past year were: I attended SLIG and wrote two posts about my class here and here . I was trying to win a contest to get priority registration for next year. I wrote about my mother meeting Louis Armstrong as a member of the Pittsburg Junior Woman's Club . I wrote three posts about my Aunt, Lorene Hork and her working for the US Navy during WWII, the US Army in Japan after the war, and her trip around the world. The most po...

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 fourth 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 religious records. There is only one more class left. Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks  For week 25, the theme was “earliest” and my post was about the earliest family to come to California. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun We were assigned the task of showing our graduation photos. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I didn’t view any webinars this week, though I participated in the NGSQ study group on Tuesday morning. I also participated in the Thursday evening Cert group chat. Volunteer Wo...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Most of us graduated from elementary school, junior high school, high school, and perhaps college. 2)  What schools did you graduate from (and when, if you dare!) - and do you have a photograph? 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post. I attended Pittsburg (California) Primary School for Kindergarten. I don’t remember whether there was some kind of graduation or promotion ceremony. Next I attended St. Peter Martyr School in Pittsburg until the middle of third grade. We moved to Walnut Creek and I attended Parkmead Elementary School until sixth grade. I don’t think there was any ceremony. I did graduate from Parkmead Intermediate School , from the 8th grade, June 12, 1968. [1] I th...

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 third 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 immigration and naturalization records, and discussed migration. Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks  For week 24, the theme was “dear diary” and my post was a continuation of my aunt’s trip around the world based on her letters she had written home. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun I posted a favorite photo of my father, mother, my brother, and me, taken on Easter 1957. Eight Surnames . A meme went around in Facebook asking genealogists if they could name their eight great-grandparents. I deci...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of GeneaMusing has a new assignment for us this week: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) It's Father's Day in the USA on Sunday, so let's talk about our fathers.  2)  Show us your favorite photograph of your father - the one that shows him in the best light possible.  Describe the occasion, the setting, and the people in the photograph. 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post. I am the first born child of my parents, William “Bill” J. Hork and Lela “Lea” Nell Johnston.   My next brother was born just two years and five months later.  This photo, one of my favorites, shows my dad, my mother, my brother, Steve, and myself on Easter Sunday in 1957, just outside the house of mother’s parent’s, who lived at 30...