Jacqueline’s Jaunts

29 March 2025, Santa Nella, California I did not fall asleep until 4:00 AM, but Barry let me sleep until about 8:30 this morning. I wish I knew why I cannot sleep. I am turning into my mother. I walked out to see birds while Barry did his thing with the RV. I saw a Turkey Vulture, hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds and about eight Rock Pigeons. We packed up after breakfast and headed down I-5.  We do not miss the road conditions in California. Not much has changed on I-5, other than more housing. We made it to Santa Nella around 2:30 PM. Uncle Richard and Aunt Laura met us at our RV park around 3:00 PM. They came from Uncle Richard's seventy-first Turlock High School reunion in Turlock, California. Aunt Laura and I took off to the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery in her new car. It is only about ten minutes west of the RV park. The whole reason we camped here is to visit this cemetery. My Uncle Sam Threet, Aunt Florence and Laura’s first husband, George Heiser, are buried there....

This week I’m combining a research trip and the “At the Library” theme into one blog post.  Research Trip to Turlock, California I have been planning a research trip to Turlock with my friend Lisa for a few years. We found out right before Covid we both have family that lived in the Turlock area at different times. We decided then to plan a trip together.  We used Trello for planning and this way we could share Trello. We could see where and what each was planning. This enabled us to plan our trip in a logical manner and “kill two birds with one stone.” Below is a snapshot of our Trello board for our research in Turlock.  California State University Stanislaus We left on Wednesday and our first stop was the Archives and Special Collections at California State University Stanislaus. We both had contacted archivist Mary Weppler with a wish list of items we would like to view. Lisa's list was longer than mine. I mainly wanted to see any information about my dad’s constructio...

In the 1990’s my Uncle Jimmie Griffin was ready to pass on the family genealogy research he was working on. I inherited the binder he had, and it was full of family group sheets. This was during the time when the internet had just begun. I started collecting documents; birth, death, funeral, funeral programs, graduation information and any other documents I could get from family members. I kept anything that marked a family event. I put these items in that binder or file folders I created, then forgot about them.  At some point I purchased the genealogy software Family Tree Maker. I started inputting the vital records information I had gathered and scanning items into Family Tree Maker. I still kept the paper versions if I had one. As of writing this post I still have A TON of documents I need to scan and update to Family Tree Maker. It’s a never-ending project.  Since I retired in August 2019, I have been working on my genealogy research and writing skills b...