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. Although I do not have many rich people in my family, no one is really very poor either. So I settled on writing about poor health. Throughout his life, my great-granduncle, Rev. Albert M. Hork, had poor health. He died of interstitial nephritis, which is an inflammation in the kidney. The attending doctor did not know how long Albert had this condition. Contributory to this was gastritis (an inflammation of the protective lining of the stomach) and anemia. He was only fifty-eight years old. [1] My great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork, came to the U.S. in 1870 aboard the SS Idaho. [2] For the longest time I had thought he was the only one who came to America. However, a news article about his death in She...

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 45—Rich Man . I wrote about Thomas N. Davey who was a mine owner. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: A Veteran’s Service & Gravesite . I wrote about my great uncle, John Cyril “Jack” Sullivan, who served with the 4th Engineers in WWI. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:    I watched one of the VGA Seminar’s presentation: The Seanachie: Linking Life and Law Through Storytelling, by Judy G Russell There was no Thursday evening  nor Friday afternoon online study group meetings this week. Client Work : No client work this week. Volunteer Work : At the History Center this week, I continued working on special collections that need to be processed, written up as a findi...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our assignment for this week: 1)  To celebrate Veterans Day, pick one of your ancestors or relatives with a military record and a gravestone.   2)  Tell us about your ancestor's military service. 3)  Tell us about your ancestor's gravestone - where is it, what is the inscription, when were you last there?  Show us a picture of it if you have one available. 4)  Write your own blog post about this ancestor and his gravestone, or share it in a Comment to this blog post, or in a  Facebook post . Here is mine: I have written about my grandfather, William C. Hork, who served in the Navy during World War I on a submarine tender. Check it out here . Today, I’d like to focus on my grandmother’s brother, John Cyril Sullivan, or as we knew him, Uncle Jack. I wrote about his early life in this post ...

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. ...