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. I have completed seven weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow, walks to the mailbox, and a trip to a drug store and the History Center. Genealogy Blog Writing : My blog post from last week was spotlighted again by Amy Crow Johnson in this week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks email. Two weeks in a row; that’s pretty exciting and certainly brought some traffic to my blog. I posted this first on one Sunday and forgot to add it to last week’s tally:   Letters Home, Using V-Mail . I have been scanning papers and letters of my father-in-law, George J. Gorrell and wrote about the system of V-Mail, using examples of letters he wrote. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 18: Will: Vincent Sievert’s Will . I...

This is my third 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. Vincent Sievert died 23 January 1890 in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. [1] Vincent is my paternal 2x-great-grandfather. He was born 24 January 1823 in Schneidemuhl, Posen, which is in present day Poland. [2]  He, his wife, Susanna Raduntz, and their oldest child, August, came to America 23 June 1852. [3] Vincent was a stone mason. [4] They lived on North Hickory in Joliet at the time of his death at 1146 No. Hickory. [5] To them were born eleven children, eight of which grew to adulthood. Their daughter, Susanna, who married Johan Anton Hork, was my great-grandmother. At his death, Vincent had written a will. His son, John Sievert, brought the will to the Will County, County Court on 7 February 18...

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. I have completed six weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow, walks to the mailbox, and a trip to a friend’s driveway to pick up some plants. Genealogy Blog Writing : My blog post from last week was spotlighted by Amy Crow Johnson in this week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks email. That’s pretty exciting and certainly brought some traffic to my blog. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 17: Land: Tom & Pansy Johnston Purchase a House in 1949. I wrote about my grandparents buying their house in Pleasant Hill in Gregory Gardens. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – What is Your Birth Surname Henry Number .   Randy had us figure out our Henry number, a different kind of numbering system for families in our t...

This is the continuing story of George J. Gorrell's service during World War II in the Army Air Force, stationed in England, and later in Germany. George J. Gorrell wrote many letters to his family while in the service in England and Germany during World War II. Some of his letters have been saved and I am in the process of scanning them. [1] Most of the saved letters were written to his sister, Ada May. These were written on all different kinds of paper from newsprint to tissue-like paper.  Letter to his sister, Ada Other saved letters written to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. N. Gorrell, and to his sisters, were written as V-Mail. These are small photographs of the letter he wrote. V-Mail sent to his father This style of mail service was inaugurated by the Post Office Department on June 15, 1942. Letters of service men were microfilmed, shipped, and then printed out for the recipient. It saved a lot of weight and space, so other things could be shipped. [2...

It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!     Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1)  Do you know what a "Henry Number" is?  It is a descendant numbering system from a specific person.  The Wikipedia article for Genealogical Numbering Systems describes it as: "The Henry System is a descending system created by Reginald Buchanan Henry for a genealogy of the families of the presidents of the United States that he wrote in 1935.[3] It can be organized either by generation or not. The system begins with 1. The oldest child becomes 11, the next child is 12, and so on. The oldest child of 11 is 111, the next 112, and so on. The system allows one to derive an ancestor's relationship based on their number. For example, 621 is the first child of 62, who is the second child of 6, who is the sixth child of his parents.  In the Henry System, when there are more than nine children, X is...

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. I have completed five weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow,   Genealogy Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 16: Air: George J Gorrell Served in the Army Air Corps During WWII . I wrote about my father-in-law’s service as a mechanic in the air corps by using his diaries for information. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Which Ancestors Would You Like to Talk To? .   I mentioned Samuel Johnston of South Carolina and Jeremiah Sullivan of Cork County, Ireland. US Army Air Corps Base In England Where George J Gorrell Served . I wrote about discovering where his base was located near Liverpool, England and what is there now. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:     Many mor...

After my last post about the military career of George J. Gorrell during World War II, I worked at discovering where specifically he was stationed in England. He was a landing gear specialist and worked in maintenance of many types of planes.  George is on the right with his buddies It helped to re-read and type out his diary entries to see if I could gather any clues. On August 25, 1943, he wrote: Aug 25 (1943): Land sighted. Birds seen, convoy sighted. Land is rather mountainous....Ship now flying British flag. 5pm: Ship's first stop. Entering strait or bay. Beautiful country each side. Sub, also aircraft carrier and gunboats escorting. Passed through chain of mines opened for our ship. Gourock first, then to Greenock, Scotland, shipping center. [1] So the ship, Queen Elizabeth, sailed to Scotland. Checking maps online, I found Greenock in Scotland. The ship had to sail around the islands on the western side of Scotland and sail into the Firth of Clyde. Whe...