Jacqueline’s Jaunts

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 construction company

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 by documen