It’s a Family Tree Reunion!

Last week I wrote about June Thomazin’s search for information on a picture, featured in my Research Rewards post. A relative had identified the subjects, but June thought the photo depicted someone else. All her digging finally paid off.

One of the readers of this blog contacted me to say that she owned a copy of the picture and had additional details. She said that the photo was identified as Wesley and Catherine Newman by Catherine’s great-great- granddaughter, who’d received it from her mother. She added, “Wesley was indeed a veteran of the Civil War and died in the Old Soldier’s Home.”

One of the basic rules of photo research is to seek out distant family members to see if they have identifications for your unidentified images. It happens all the time. I’m so happy that June has a “new” cousin to contact.

When I forwarded the e-mail, she quickly wrote back that she hadn’t research that collateral line yet and was really excited to have someone to share information with. June wrote, “I’m on cloud nine.”

June found her connection through this blog. It’s one of those serendipitous genealogical moments. Don’t forget to check photo-reunion sites. Thousands of people a week use DeadFred.com and AncientFaces.com looking for family photos. More and more genealogists are also looking for family on Flickr.com.

Who knows what you might find?