Sweden to the U.S. and Back Again
Do you have photographs in your collection that were taken overseas? That's Maria Benini's problem. Only she lives in Stockholm, Sweden. and her mystery photo was taken in Illinois. Benini found this boy's picture in a little brown box that her mother had in her family home in...
Read MoreOld Family Photos: Boys in Dresses
Anna Swinney's question doesn't have to do with the identity of the people in this picture. She knows who they are. She submitted it because of what the youngest child is wearing: a dress. Amanda Perryman Collins (1860-1930) and her husband Albert Buell Collins (1862-1942) posed with their three children...
Read More“Reading” a Family Photo Album
I love a good story, don't you? Every photo album tells one if you know where to look. The arrangement of the images is a key part of unraveling the threads of the tale. If you're like Daniel Gwinn, you probably inherited a family photo album with few (if any)...
Read MoreAncestral Occupations
Do you know what your ancestors did for work? My paternal grandfather painted houses and so did his father. My maternal grandmother worked in a cotton mill alongside the rest of her family. Their stories were passed down in the family and evidence in documents like city directories and census...
Read MoreThe Marsteller Old-Photo Mystery
Last week I outlined the mystery of the Ralph Marsteller photo. This week I'm back with more details. Let's start with some basics. What are they wearing?Clothing clues can be very helpful, BUT it's important to remember that there were lots of different styles every season and...
Read MoreLooking for a Pennsylvania Connection
Every week I search the submissions for this column looking for a mystery photo. Each photo is accompanied by some basic information and usually a story. My next steps are to contact the person who sent in the photo either by phone or email, then start digging for more information...
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A Family Portrait Photo Mystery
Lauren Hamilton submitted this photo with a few questions, but as soon as I saw it I thought, "uh oh, this might not be who Lauren and her cousin think it is."The cousins' great-great-grandfather John McCauley was a Mennonite minister in Ontario, and later an Evangelical minister in Iowa...
Read MoreA Multi-Mystery Historical Baby Photo
Jim Moses recently found himself with a perplexing family photo mystery. When going through a trunk from his great-grandfather Luther Abner Moses (1860-1905) , he found an intriguing photo. It's a wonderful photo of a baby laughing. Everything in the trunk is related to Abner, but this photo is a puzzle...
Read MoreFathers and Sons from Readers
Last week I wrote about two famous fathers and asked you to submit photos of fathers and sons in your family album. Thank you very much for sending in your photos!Geraldine Rudloff emailed this photograph of her immigrant ancestor Hans Christian S. Hegsted holding one of his...
Read MoreFamous Fathers: Happy Father’s Day
Father's Day wasn't official until 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation making it the third Sunday in June. President Richard Nixon made it a permanent holiday in 1972. Other presidents wanted to designate a day to honor fathers. President's Woodrow Wilson and Calvin...
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