Here’s a document you don’t normally see unless you go through someone’s personal files. Anna E. (Jackson) Shellabarger is my grandmother. This is her performance evaluation when she worked as a Accounts Maintenance Clerk for the US Naval Air Station in Alameda, CA in 1967-68. This job evaluation says a lot about her determination. She…
Category: California Genealogy
52 Ancestors: Martin Kelly, Political Influencer
The Martin Kelly saga continues. We’ve gone from simple boardinghouse owner to prosperous land owner. And now, political operative? It appears so. It all started with the mention of a divorce First, I had no idea my Martin Kelly remarried after his first wife died 1872. After learning that he lived in Colma not San…
52 Ancestors: The Depression and the Lettuce Workers Strikes
My grandma sent me a few letters in the 1990s detailing different times in her life. The snippets I am sharing here happened during the few years they lived in Salinas, California during the Depression. Better jobs in Salinas My grandparents, Joao Pacheco Smith and Anna Jackson, married in 1929 days before the stock market…
52 Ancestors: Martin Kelly’s Will
From day one, I was told that my ancestor, Martin Kelly, owned a boardinghouse, maybe two. Family lore was that he and his wife made a living renting rooms to people coming up to the city of San Francisco. They owned a “mile” house which marked how many miles the traveler had to go to…
52 Ancestors: One Husband Two Names
It’s funny how things happen in genealogy. Recently I sat in on the webinar “Proving Identity: Not Matching Names” at Legacy Family Tree Webinars, and then, found myself researching a similar situation. This research involved my great aunt, Margaret (Jackson) Fafri, and her bag full of husbands. Four husbands in 20 years–or so I thought. …