Quarantine Quests: Jim Sorenson Tackles His Maternal Grandfather

Chris Pattillo is interviewing our members about some of the genealogical projects they are working on while sheltering at home. This Quarantine Quest story was shared by CGS President Jim Sorenson.

Earl Morgan 1899

Like many of us, Jim’s interest in family history began with a school assignment. It was in the 1960s, when he was in 11^th grade and one of his teachers asked each student to interview their oldest living relative and write about their heritage. At that time Jim’s mother’s mother and his father’s grandmother were still living, so he interviewed both of them and learned things about his family’s story that one would never find in written records. Jim still has his original notes from the class assignment.

In the back of his mind, Jim has thought, “Someday I’ll break my leg, I will be in a cast and unable to do anything–that is when I’ll tackle my writing.” Well, this is Jim’s break-a-leg event. If not now, while we are all housebound because of the Covid-19 shelter-in-place order, when?

Join the Break A Leg Club and write a bio for one of your Ancestors

So Jim has decided to write biographies for each of his four grandparents. He decided to start with his maternal grandfather, Earl Wright Morgan, whose work for the Standard Oil Company brought him from Pennsylvania across the country to California. During our interview, Jim shared several stories about Earl. I am not going to write about that because it is Jim’s story to tell, but I can tell you that when he is finished, it is going to be a fascinating read–something that deserves to be added to the Richmond History Museum and Standard Oil archives. Currently, Jim only plans to share Earl’s story with his family but I hope he will agree to have it published in the Nugget at some point.

Earl Morgan with his mother,  Julia Sweney Morgan, 1910

Over the years Jim has visited over 30 courthouses and at least that number of libraries to research his family and collect documentation that proves and expands upon the stories he has heard. He has done research in newspapers, city directories, at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City and of course, he has done a lot of research online and at the CGS library.

At this point, Jim has collected a lot of material about his ancestors. Originally, he made paper copies of everything he found. Jim explained, “I use to measure my research success by how many pieces of paper I had at the end of the day–one hundred pages was a real good day.” Now Jim is proud to say that for the past several years when he leaves Salt Lake City, he isn’t carrying paper copies – everything is digital on a thumb drive. Early on Jim decided on a file naming system that works well for him. Each document starts with the year, month and date. That way all his files are in chronological order. He has over 20,000 items in his family history files. He is still using an old version of Family Tree Maker from 2000 as his primary organizer for the information he has collected.

For many years Jim has been a member of our CGS Research Committee. He admits that he prefers to do research rather than write. But he wants to share what he has learned from his research with his family members. Like me, Jim has a small family–one living child and two grandchildren, who are only mildly interested in family history. Like me, we both write hoping that some future descendant will discover our writings and be thrilled to learn what we have to share. As of now much of what Jim has pieced together about his family is still in his head. He understands that he needs to get it written down so that others will not need to repeat the process he has gone through to find and put together the pieces of the puzzle.

While the process of researching has always been enjoyable, Jim has not gotten the same pleasure from writing. In recent years he has been doing more writing, including working on an article for The California Nugget. Jim shared that serving as president of CGS has actually helped in this regard. Having to communicate regularly with the CGS board and membership has caused Jim to do more writing and doing so has made him more comfortable with the process. 

Jim shared a tip for writers. He feels, and I think most would agree, that telling the story in chronological order is the best approach. But one should not feel bound to rigidly record every part of the story in precise chronological order. While Jim’s piece is about his grandfather Earl Morgan, for the story to make sense it needs to include information about Earl’s parents, and about his boss at Standard Oil. Jim does this by devoting separate paragraphs to each of these sidebar subjects. This is how “I try to contain the detours so they don’t break up the flow of the story,” says Jim. It works for him and may help others tell their family stories. 

If you have a Quarantine Quest story you'd like to share please get in touch with Chris Pattillo or Jennifer Dix.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Our first online class: "Blogging to share family history"

A recent blog post by Chris Pattillo

We recently shared a list of online webinars and related genealogical activities that can be accessed from home. Now CGS is joining the online learning community with our first class: "Blogging to share family history" with Chris Pattillo on Thursday, April 9. This presentation is free to all.

Chris, who blogs about her family at Pattillo Thornally Ancestors, will talk about using the easy platform Blogger.com and offer tips and tricks for tackling family stories and putting them into words. The presentation starts at 10 am. If you join, please sign in by 9:45 to make sure you are able to see the program. We will send you a link the night before the class, which will get you right into our class.

To register and for more details, go to our EventBrite listing.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

Quarantine Quests: A Hobby With Infinite Possibilities

Chris Pattillo writes:

It’s times like these when I most appreciate being interested in family history research because I can do it from anywhere and the possibilities of how to spend my time are infinite. Now that I have so much extra time while I shelter-at-home, it is nice to enjoy a hobby that keeps me engaged endlessly. There’s no fear of feeling lonely when I am able to find new ancestors and share my discoveries with my siblings and cousins.

From your Ancestry account, look for ThruLines
on the DNA tab, then select "Filters" to view matches.

Two days ago, I was poking around on my Ancestry account on the ThruLines page, which is under the DNA tab, and I noticed for the first time a button labeled “Filters.” I clicked on that and saw a category for “Potential Ancestors.” What I found when I clicked on that choice is something I’ve been pursuing fervently for the past three years – ever since I nailed down my third-great-grandparents Hiram W. Gaines and Hulda Waller, while I was on my 2017 Genealogy Journey and traveling in the Southern United States–South Carolina to be exact.

Ever since that find, I’ve been seeking Hiram’s parents. I have worked pretty hard on this. Various searches led me to well-documented trees for Hiram Gaines (1725-1805) married to Margaret Teliaferro (1775-1783), but no matter how hard I tried I could not prove a connection to this family. These trees included several Hiram Gaineses. As it's a somewhat unusual name, I felt certain this was my family, but I could find no proof and did find negative clues that showed that I was wrong. Has this ever happened to you?

This screenshot shows me with a DNA connection to William S. Gaines

But the beauty of DNA is that it does not lie. ThruLines told me I have a DNA connection to William Shanklin Gaines (1757-1851) and that he is my fourth-great-grandfather: the man I have most wanted to find for three years. As a bonus, it also showed a DNA connection to his father, Hiram T. Gaines, my fifth-great-grandfather! Needless to say, I was pretty excited to find this but before I shared my discovery with others I thought I should make sure it was right, so I called CGS member Vinnie Schwarz and asked her about it. She confirmed that I could trust ThruLines. This is something I appreciate about CGS. I am grateful to be able to reach out to other CGS members, who are more knowledgeable than I am, and to be able to ask for guidance and confirmation. It is one of the best and most valuable things about being a member of our society–especially at times like these.

Have you made any big discoveries while you have been staying at home? Let us know and we will share your story.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

COVID-19 update: Library closed through May 6, Salt Lake City trip canceled

President Jim Sorenson has issued this update:

"The closure of the CGS library has been extended through May 6. All CGS classes and events have been canceled through the end of May. However, we are working on having some classes conducted via remote access; the first of these will be on April 9. Among the events canceled are the CGS research trip to Salt Lake City. Refunds are being issued for all canceled classes and events. 

I'm sure everyone knows that the closure and cancellations are a dynamic process and we can not say for sure when CGS will be able to resume normal operations at either the CGS library or the Oakland FamilySearch Library. The health of our patrons and volunteers is of paramount importance to us."

 
Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society

The Census: It Ain't What it Used to Be

image: United States Census Bureau

Wednesday, April 1, is the deadline for all U.S. households to respond to the 2020 census.  If you somehow haven't gotten around to it, Uncle Sam will soon be in contact (though the current pandemic situation will have an impact on operations). Of course, you really want to respond to this once-in-a-decade survey, because it's essential to get an accurate count of residents in each of the 50 United States and its five territories: population determines how much funding local communities receive and how many seats each state gets in Congress.

It's super easy to fill out your census questionnaire this year: you can do it either online, by mail, or by phone. If you've already filled out your form, you probably noticed how short it is. The 2020 census consists of just 9 questions. It asks the name, sex, and birth date of every person in the household, whether the home is owned or rented, and the relationship of household members to one another. There are two questions about race and ethnicity: one for those of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin, and another for all other races, with a subcategory for the respondent's self-identified ethnic origin(s). This is likely to produce a huge variety of responses. For a fascinating look at the country's history of recording race, see this article from the Pew Research Center: "The changing categories the U.S. census has used to measure race."

Genealogists who've scoured earlier censuses for clues to an ancestor's place of birth, education, occupation, or date of immigration may find the current census sadly lacking in detail. Genealogist Judy Russell recently mused about this in a post at her Legal Genealogist blog. In fact, this is nothing new: the 2010 census was similarly brief. The government ditched the long-form questionnaire after 2000, opting instead for the American Community Survey, which is sent out every year to a small percentage of the population. It's a safe bet that most of us who are counted in this year's census won't be around when those records are unsealed in 2092. By then, genealogists will surely rely on different sources and records for their research.

Copyright © 2020 by California Genealogical Society