My Trails into the Past

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 not many well-to-do ancestors in either my family nor my husband’s family. One person who could qualify would be the Thomas Nicholas Davey, who was the brother of Frederick N Davey, my husband’s great-grandfather. Thomas N. Davey was a mine owner in Carthage, Missouri. [1] He was also a vice president of the Empire Electric Power and Supply Company. [2] He built a large Queen Anne house in 1888. [3] All of those things could qualify him as a rich man to me. He had enough money to travel to England at least five times, in 1896, 1908, 1909, 1911, and 1921. [4] In the 1890s, Thomas N Davey donated land at Jefferson and First Streets in Carterville, Missouri for the building of a new scho...

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 44--Halloween . I put photos of my children’s Halloween Costumes. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Favorite Hallowe’en Memory . I wrote about several memories and posted photos of a 1983 party of my parents’. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I was a little under the weather, so I spent most of the week at home resting. I attended part of the Virtual Genealogical Association’s 2019 Conference. On Friday, I viewed: “Identifying Your DNA Matches’ Secret Identity” by Blaine Bettinger “Preserving the Past: Archiving & Digitizing Your Family Keepsakes,” by Denise May Levenick “Incorporating Oral History into Your Research” by Ari Wilkins On Sunday, I viewed: “Eastern Euro...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Randy Seaver of GeneaMusing has our assignment today: Hey boys and girls, it's only two days after Hallowe'en, and time for some Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! Here is your assignment, should you decide to accept it (you ARE reading this, so I assume that you really want to play along - cue the Mission Impossible music!): 1) Think about your most memorable Hallowe'en - was it when you were a child (candy, games, carnivals), a teenager (tricks and treats), or an adult (perhaps a party)?   2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post of mine, or in a comment on Twitter or Facebook in response to this post.   3) Have fun! I have no photos of me in a Halloween costume. I do remember Trick or Treating. We would do the few houses on our block first, then either walk over to Alpine Road and hit those houses, or our parents dro...

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. This week for Halloween, I decided to feature some of the costumes my daughters wore for Halloween. Most years, I made their costumes, though sometimes they were borrowed or bought, and often handed down. Store-bought costumes One costume borrowed was the pumpkin costume Elizabeth wore her first year at the Creative Play Cooperative Pre-school. It was a surprise that she matched her teacher. The following year, she was a bride. We often attended the Halloween party given by Margaret’s friend, Sam. They carved pumpkins and played games. Parents sat around visiting while eating potluck food. It was always a fun time. Here is a shot from a party given by their babysitter’s daughter. ...

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 43--Travel . I wrote the third installment of the adventure of my aunt, Lorene Hork and her travels around the world in 1953 with three other friends. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Photographs of Heirlooms . I had five heirlooms that I wrote about and included photos of. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I attended my Thursday evening  online study group, and Kim, Linda, and I had a very engaging conversation about the KDP. In my Friday group, after everyone checked in, we discussed DNA standards. I attended the Sacramento German Genealogy Society to listen to Dr. Roger Minert speak about his project, German Immigrants in American Church Records. He spoke about the start of th...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing: 1)  Last week we shared the heirlooms that we inherited or obtained from our families. 2)  This week, please show a photograph of one or two of them. 3)  Share your cherished heirloom(s) in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments. Last week, I shared two blog posts that I wrote about some heirlooms I have. I also mentioned some others that I will now show here. Glass-domed clock . This clock was passed down to me by my grandmother, Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston in 2005. I always loved watching this clock when I was a young child and am glad I now have it. It is not working now, so I need to find a clock repair shop. This clock was made in Germany.  I searched for these clocks and Google and found they are called Anniversary Clocks.  I found on sale at...

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. I have previously written about my father’s sister, Lorene E. Hork, who worked for the U.S. Army in Tokyo before she and three other gals left for a trip around the world in the fall of 1953. Check out Part I and Part II . I left off the last post with the gals in Taipei, Formosa (now known as Taiwan). They next continued their travels aboard the ship to Hong Kong for a few hours, where they shopped and took a cab to Repulse Bay where they drove “on beautiful winding roads high up in the hills overlooking the City.”  The ship continued onto Manila in The Philippines. There they took a three-hour cab ride around the city, visiting the Malacañang Palace, where the President resides, and viewing the...