How to Find Photos of Your Ancestors
Find out as much as possible about your ancestors before searching for old family photos. At least know the full name, the person's date of birth, the area he lived in, and the job he performed. All of this information helps narrow a broad search. Additional information, such as date of marriage, children's births and names, can only help the search.
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Instructions
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Visit one of the many websites that cater to genealogy searches. Some of them have rounded up unidentified photos and want visitors to claim them. Others just post old photos. The sites are searchable by name or location. Some list the owners of the photo and how to contact them. Check the resources section for some of the websites.
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Do an eBay search of all your known ancestors, using the family surname and "family photos" or "family diaries" or "family bibles." This is a long shot, but someone might have the photos up for auction.
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Search the photo collections of any historical society in the city or area where the ancestor lived. Most people took and kept photos in the early days of photography, and a lot of those were passed on to historical societies. Some collections may yield other information such as articles about and the possessions of the ancestor. Do a quick search of any antique shops in the area. Some old photos turn up at those shops.
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Tips & Warnings
Find out as much as possible about your ancestors before searching for old family photos. At least know the full name, and date of birth, as well as the area where they lived. All this information helps to narrow down where to search.
Any additional information, such as date of marriage, children's births and names, etc. can only help you in your search for family photos.
References
Resources
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Comments
View all 17 Comments-
JasneJ
Feb 25, 2009
Great resources for hunting the ancestors I want to go and review.Thanks -
Practicalnature
Dec 03, 2008
Great suggestions! I'm working on researching my fiancee's family right now after receiving a box of old photographs from his mother. What a great, interesting endeavor, your tips will definitely be of help! :)
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Wasatch
Oct 21, 2008
Good article. If they died in the last 75 years and did anything of note a local newspaper may have an obituary photo. Look at newspaper archives in the town they lived around the week they passed away. You can do this online with larger papers that now have an online archive. Thanks for a good article.
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TheMelonHeads
Sep 21, 2008
Very cool info, thank you.
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David Sarokin
Aug 16, 2008
Very cool stuff. I have a great grandfather (or maybe great-great) who looks a lot like me. It's a bit of shock to see it.
