My Trails into the Past

This is my first time posting for Sepia Saturday . The theme is school days. Here is a photo of my mother-in-law, Thelma Nilsen, in the first-grade class at school in Hilmar, Merced County, California. The only way I got the photo of her class is because her cousin, Ken Lundquist, was also in the class and this photo came from his family records. The reason her family did not purchase this photo is the little girl whose head is bent down is Thelma (see the middle row). So a lesson learned--seek out others in the class to locate photos you don't have. I'm not sure which boy is Ken--definitely one of the blond-haired boys. Copyright © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Calling all Genea-Musing Fans: It’s Saturday Night again -- Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is: 1) Ellen Thompson-Jennings wrote Who Has Helped You the Most with Your Family History? On her Hound on the Hunt blog this week. That is a great prompt for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. Thank you, Ellen! Here is mine: I started thinking about genealogy after my first daughter was born in 1988. I started the tree by recording what my mother had written in my baby book of my grandparents and great-grandparents’ names (at least what she knew). For my mother’s side of the family, I asked my maternal grandmother for names and dates to fill in the paper pedigree chart and family group sheets. These days, I just recorded information without noting the source. The best one could say about the source of this information is “personal knowledge” as my grandmother knew these people. For my father’s side, I asked my dad’s three sisters. M...

Newspaper articles often add context to family events. In 1882, John T. Flynn married Flora I. Boggs in Marion County, Indiana. However, his mother did not seem to like the idea of the marriage. "On Saturday Mrs. Elizabeth Flynn, of this city, called on Mr. Raksdell, Clerk of Marion county at Indianapolis, to prevent the issue of marriage license to her nineteen-year-old son, John T. who she says ran away with a woman who is not worthy to be his wife.  She says she will communicate with every County Clerk in the State if necessary, and prevent the marriage." [1] Either her efforts did not work, or he wore her down to agree to the marriage. In Indiana, males were to be twenty-one to marry without parental consent. [2] This was in October. However, John did marry in November.  The marriage return gave more details and shows he stated he was twenty-two and that Flora Boggs was eighteen, clearly to avoid needing parental consent. [3] John and Flora had one child, Char...

I have completed one hundred seventy-seven (177) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I left the house only twice this week, once to the bank and to operate at the train club. Genealogy   This week, I attended virtually, the course “For Land's Sake--Advanced Analysis and Platting” at IGHR. The class met from 7:30-3:30 Pacific time and pretty much took up most of my time during the weekdays. This was a great class, with some lectures, but mostly time in breakout rooms to work on multiple practical problems, where we studied deeds, platted the calls, and tried to answer the research questions. I especially liked learning how to import USGS maps into DeedMapper software. I have ancestors who lived in states with metes and bounds: North and South Carolina, and Kentucky. I have started platting some deeds of my Loveless family in Newberry County, South Carolina. Genealogy Meetings Because of the institute class, there were fewer meetings this week. Jacqueline and I met late Mo...

Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to report on what genealogy search/research we did this past week. Did we have a research goal or plan? Did we make any breakthroughs in your research? Here's mine: I spent all week at IGHR (Institute of Genealogy and History Research) taking an advanced land platting class, where we had multiple platting problems to solve. It was fun and I got much better using the platting program called DeedMapper. Once class was over, I returned to my research on Warren E. Gilbert, husband of my great-grandaunt, Mary Martha Gleeson. I am working on a Kinship Determination Project for my BCG renewal due later this year. In doing newspaper research in the towns in South Dakota (actually, it was Dakota Territory at this time), I came across a newspaper article published on 20 April 1886 about Warren being indicted by the United States for perjury. “Warren E. Gilbert, indicted by the late United States grand jury for perjury in a land case...

I have completed one hundred seventy-six (176) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. I attended a family reunion on Saturday and hugged everyone – the first time since Covid started. Maybe this is a sign I’m ready to end my semi-lockdown. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings Jacqueline and I met on Monday afternoon. We talked about diets, cemeteries, ordering death certificates, and the court records I got from NARA-KC. My mentee and I met for the first time in nearly two months. I was on vacation in June and she was gone most of July. She is so close to submitting so I gave lots of encouragement. Our Contra Costa County Historical Society board of directors met on Thursday and I took the minutes via Zoom. We got an Owl but there were some audio problems we still need to solve, but the sound and visual worked great when it worked. Lastly, I attended the orientation for the IGHR (Institute of Genealogy and History Research). The classes start on Monday and I’m taking an advanced co...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) Which of your ancestors was the LAST immigrant to your current country?  When did they arrive?  Where did they arrive?  Why did they migrate?    Here’s mine: The last ancestor of mine to arrive in the United States would be my paternal great-grandmother, Anna Maria Gleeson , who came to the United States perhaps in 1879 from Canada with her parents, John Gleeson and Margaret Tierney, and her nine siblings. They settled in Dakota Territory in Davison County. Now, where they came in is a mystery. Four of the family filed Intent to Naturalize and gave conflicting dates and places of immigration. Name Immigration  Date Immigration  Place Date of  Intent Age at  immigration Age at  1 st paper ...