I spent some time over the long weekend working on my heritage scrapbook albums. I have been slogging through a pile of unidentified photos from my dad's side of the family, trying to figure out who the people are. After studying them closely with a magnifying glass and comparing them to "known" photos, I ended up with fewer than 20 which are still a mystery, so I put them in an envelope and tucked them away for the time being. I know that as I learn more information, those pictures may be identifiable and important so I'm not getting rid of them.
In going through the photos, I found a few more to add to my scrapbooks. It was a great feeling to be able to fill in a few more pieces of the family tree puzzle!
I finally figured out the identity of the man in front of the tree below: My 2nd great grandfather on my dad's side of the family. My grandma (whose pictures I've been sorting through) had several copies (or photocopies) of photos and I stumbled upon one with a label on the back - yay! From that photo, I was able to identify several more - enough for a scrapbook page for this family! Since these photos include only my grandfather, I'm hoping I'll be able to find a picture of my 2nd great grandma through Ancestry.
I also found two photos of my other 2nd great grandparents on my dad's side of the family. Their families came from France and settled in Ohio, eventually moving on to Iowa.
In researching my great grandfather (their son), I
learned that he raised chickens. At the time I discovered this, I made a page
for the album using some old county biography information about him.
So when I ran across a picture of chickens in what I knew to be his front yard, I added it to the next page. If I hadn't read that biography, I wouldn't have known he raised chickens and that photo wouldn't have seemed significant to me!
At the same time, I included two photos of keepsakes I have that belonged to these great grandparents. I will probably re-do these pages to put the chicken picture with the biography. I've had to do a fair amount of re-doing, which is the downside to discovering new information.
I also stumbled upon another small school picture of my dad, so I added it to a page I'd already created. I will say that I probably should have done all of my photo sorting before making pages. But then I wouldn't have felt like I was accomplishing anything at all! LOL
One of the best things I ran across in my sorting was this unmarked, torn picture. As soon as I saw it, I was pretty sure I recognized the shorts. Back when I was clearing out my parents' house after my dad passed away, I discovered a small pair of wool shorts in a plastic bag. I assumed they had belonged to Dad but they were not marked so I just packed them away -- something to figure out later. When I saw the photo, I knew that it must be my dad wearing those shorts. This was a very special find! It remains a mystery as to why the woman's head was torn off. It looks like the photo was intentionally torn.
In this stack of photos, there were very few with writing on the back, but one was written on by my grandma (whose genealogy books I have). I cut a small sleeve from a pocket page and adhered it to the background, then slipped the photo in from the side. Now it can be removed to read Grandma's notes on the back. Her handwriting was always beautiful and I'm told that in her younger days she won some penmanship contests! Her handwriting remained nearly perfect throughout her life.
So after making a few more pages this weekend, I think I've made good progress with this side of the family. Next I hope to create an overview page for each branch of the family with a family tree, country of origin and their path from the homeland to Iowa or wherever they ended up. I still have a lot more research to do before I'm ready to make those pages. Onward!
jp
