My Trails into the Past

Outside activities included a hike at Lafayette Community Park, visiting Linda’s garden, volunteering at the History Center, phenology, lunch with friends, and Beaver Festival.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center, John and I finished boxing up the studies and loaded them into the U-Haul truck on Monday, and on Tuesday, LeighAnn and I took them up to Fairfield to drop them off and pick up some books for sale. I worked on the PH Hist. Soc. clipping files some more. Monday, I gave a presentation to the Livermore-Amador Genealogical Society on Research Plans. Thursday, I led the writing group and we discussed Lynn’s and Jacqueline’s work, both making great progress. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Recert Accountibility group and the Military SIG on Monday, and the Sonoma County Genealogical Society’s board meeting on Tuesday. This was my last board meeting as I’m off the board as of July. Sunday was book club where we highlighted books we had ...

I posted this photo on Facebook this morning. This is a daily ritual at Diablo Day Camp, a volunteer-run Girl Scout Camp in the Girl Scouts of Northern California Council. Each day, one unit put up the flag with the help of an Elf, and at the end of the day, another unit took town the flag. In the morning, the Pledge of Allegiance was said and then a patriotic song was sang. Most often, it was "You're a Grand Old Flag." At the flag down, the song often was Taps. Funny, before being a volunteer adult and later a camp director, I had never heard this song, but when I just searched online for the words, the first return was from a scouts page. Who knew? Here are the lyrics, appropriate for June 14, Flag Day. You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan You're a grand old flag, You're a high flying flag And forever in peace may you wave. You're the emblem of The land I love. The home of the free and the brave. Ev'ry heart beats true 'neath the Red, White...

We last left off with the John Gleeson family packing up and moving to Portland, Oregon, from Mitchell, South Dakota, in November 1900. The last news article said they would stop off in Montana to visit some of their children. The following records are from prior research, full-text search at FamilySearch , and newspaper search at Newspapers.com . Portland, Multnomah Co, Oregon Supposedly, some of John’s children already lived in Oregon prior to John and Margaret moving there, however, I did not locate any of the Gleeson children in 1890-1900 city directories. [1] A John Gleeson and Mrs. Gleeson from Oltane, were staying at The Imperial Hotel on 15 January 1901, but Oltane doesn’t seem to exist. [2] However, since they left in late November, it is possible in early January, that they may have stayed at a hotel until locating a place to live. The 1901 Portland city directories listed several Gleasons and one Gleeson, but none of the Gleasons were his family, and the one Gleeson, a...

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-Musings : 1)  Were you lucky enough to receive or find artifacts from your ancestors (parents, grandparents, or others) as you pursued your genealogy research?   2)  Describe one or more of the artifacts you found or received and where you obtained them? Thank you to Marian B. Wood for this SNGF suggestion. Here's mine: I have written about many artifacts or heirlooms that have passed down to me, and it took a while to locate something I have not yet written about. Front side Rear Side These are medals that were given to me from my Nana (Anna Marie Sullivan Hork) along with a rosary of hers. I photographed them many years ago, but never really looked at them until today. The cross at the bottom likely came from a rosary that perhaps broke. The other items I will research some and explain them. No....

We left off last time with John’s move to Ottawa, Carleton County, Ontario, Canada, where the youngest child, Francis, was born and baptized. No further records of the family in Canada have been found. They eventually emigrated to the United States. We’ll continue the timeline in the first record found for the family. I will be starting with the documents I already have from census records, deeds, federal land records, directories, and in fill will newspaper articles that I found recently, as the newspaper database at NewspaperArchive has grown since the last time I searched. Newspapers add a lot to their story. However, some articles found had the spelling of Gleason, and one cannot be sure if they refer to our Gleeson family. Below are those that have been found at NewspaperArchive specifically for John or Margaret Gleeson. There are many articles about some of their children, though I did not include them unless John or Margaret were named, too. Timeline in South Dakota When th...