52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 38: Unusual Source - My Grandfather's Wallet

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

My unusual source this week is my grandfather, Tom J Johnston’s wallet. My grandmother kept it just the way it was left when he died in 1973. I think she probably looked through it for any important papers and removed what money was there, but otherwise it was left the same.

What an interesting look at what he was doing in 1972-73. I scanned all of the cards and returned the items to the wallet. What I didn’t do was take a photo of the wallet before storing it away, so I don’t have one to show.

His wallet was stuffed with cards and photos. You would expect to see his driver’s license.



His 1944 Navy Discharge card was pretty worn. It must have either been removed often or has been in every wallet he has owned since he was discharged.


There was a 1966 Hilti Qualified Operator Card, authorizing him to operate power-assisted drive tools. He was a carpenter for Diablo Valley College, part of the Contra Costa County Community College District.

His 1970 California Fishing License was there with stamps to allow for fishing in 1972. He probably hadn’t gotten around to updating the stamp. He liked to fish at Clear Lake.



He gave $15.00 to Bay Area United Crusade in 1971.



He had his auto insurance from State Farm for a 1967 Dodge van and the 1964 Mercury sedan.



His staff card from Diablo Valley College.



His Carpenters Union No. 2046 card. On a side note, the union hall had no records for him.



I am so glad my grandmother gave me the wallet and that she had saved most of the items in it. It’s a glimpse into what activities he was involved in at the time of his death.

Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, Mam-ma's Southern Family

Comments

  1. TeresaSeptember 22, 2018 at 6:04 PM

    Wow - that is so cool! I love that he carried his discharge card with him :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lisa S. GorrellSeptember 22, 2018 at 6:21 PM

      I know. It's what helped me get his service records. I needed his service no. and it was on the card! Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  2. barbSeptember 23, 2018 at 1:22 PM

    That is awesome! I wonder how many others have wallets from a loved one?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All comments on this blog will be previewed by the author to prevent spammers and unkind visitors to the site. The blog is open to other-than-just family members particularly those interested in family history and genealogy.

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Blogiversary & Happy 100th Blog Post!

Image
Today is a big milestone. This is the 100th blog post I have written and the 6th anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I began the blog on January 15, 2011, through a blog writing class I took at California Genealogical Society, taught by Craig Siulinski. It was something I wanted to do but wasn’t really sure what I would focus on. I finally settled on writing about my grandmother, Pansy Louise Lancaster’s family and this was my first post . In the beginning it was hard to get started. I learned from the Geneabloggers website, that there were blogging memes I could use and I have done that off and on, especially at the beginning. But I finally learned that what worked best was to write about my discoveries as I researched my grandmother’s family. So what have I written in six years? I discovered I have only written four posts specifically about my grandmother: “Mam-ma was a Tomboy” “Fearless Females – Day 12” “Mam-ma 1913-2013” “My Grandpar
Read more

John Coor of Copiah County Made an Agreement with Joel Hoggatt

Image
This week at RootsTech 2024, FamilySearch announced a new feature that an every-word search was available for U.S. deeds and probates. It is still in the trial mode and can be found at https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/ . This is the search screen. It clearly states it is for US land and probate records and Mexico notary records. You can do a keyword search or if you click on the “more options” you can add a name. My Find I immediately gave it a try and searched first for records of the COOR family using the keyword search. Up first came deeds from Wayne County, North Carolina.  At the top, you can filter using record year, record type, record place, and collection. For the past few days, I have mainly filtered by record place. I filtered down to Mississippi. You can even filter to the county. The first entry was a document I had not seen before. It was an 1826 agreement between John Coor and Joel Hoggatt to build a set of grist and sawmills. John Coor is my 4x-great-grandfath
Read more

Using the Attendees at Lela Ann (Loveless) Lancaster’s Funeral to Discover Residences

Image
Lela Ann Lancaster, my maternal great-grandmother, died on 17 May 1951. [1] She had died in Wichita Falls, Texas, at the state hospital. The doctor’s handwriting is nearly illegible so the cause of death is difficult to determine. She was conflicted with Parkinson’s Disease which probably contributed to her death. Her funeral was three days later. [2] Lela Ann (left) with Warren, daughter Pansy, granddaughter Lela Nell, and son Wayne, c. 1935 Obituary Tells Story of Life Two obituaries were published on the same day in the Stephenville Empire-Tribune on two different pages. One gave information about her life and the funeral, and the other was about who attended her funeral. The transcription of the first is here: "Mrs. Warren G. Lancaster"    Funeral services for Mrs. Warren G. Lancaster, 55, who died at 4:30 a.m. Thursday at a Wichita Falls Hospital, were at 3 p.m. Sunday at the First Baptist Church with the Rev. Felix Gresham and the Rev. Ernest Rippetoe officiating
Read more