Photo Detective with Maureen A. Taylor

Backyard Snapshots
Posted by Maureen

Studio portraits are lovely and very formal, but to find signs of everyday life, there's nothing like a snapshot. Ever since George Eastman introduced the amateur camera in the late 1880s, our ancestors have taken informal pictures.

Dennis Rodgers sent in this picture of a known relative—his great-uncle Francis Q. Donnelly who lived in Washington, D.C.

When I see photographs like this, I ask, "Where's the rest of the pictures from the roll of film?" This is just one of the pictures that the unknown photographer would have taken. Perhaps they were given to other family members or even tossed.

This backyard snapshot shows us details of Donnelly's life (providing this is where he lived).

It's a brick row house with high wooden fences separating the yards.
There are well-worn paving stones instead of a grass yard.
Wooden steps provide an entry through the back door.
Laundry or blankets being aired outside hang out the second-story window.
The family dog is off to the right.

To the left is a shelf with large cans. A shovel placed near a basement door looks like a small coal shovel.

These items provide details about Connelly's life in the first half of the 20th century.

I'll be back next week to discuss his clothes. In the meantime, what's the oddest thing you've ever seen in a family snapshot?

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

men | occupational | photo backgrounds | props in photos | unusual photos

Sunday, December 09, 2012 7:32:33 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Monday, July 23, 2012

Scenes of Moving Day
Posted by Maureen

I've been packing boxes for weeks getting ready to move houses. So how did our ancestors move their belongings in the past? They employed wagons and later, vans similar to the ones companies use today.

Piketruck moving2.jpg

Sharon Pike sent in this picture of her father-in-law's Greyhound Van Lines Truck that he drove. It was taken in the 1940s. When he was on the road, Gene sent his wife Marion postcards nearly every day.

Check out my Moving Day board on Pinterest. If you haven't used this site yet, it's like an online scrapbook of images found on the web. You can organize your Pinterest images in "boards" and see what others have "pinned" on their boards. When you scroll over one of the images you can post a comment. Can't wait to see what you have to say!

Enjoy!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1940s photos | men | occupational | Photo fun | Photo-sharing sites

Monday, July 23, 2012 6:35:44 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, July 09, 2012

Answers to our Farming Ancestor Photo
Posted by Maureen

Do you read the comments posted on blogs? Last week I posted Sharon Pike's photo of a wheat harvest and asked if anyone could identify the thresher. We then posted the query on Family Tree Magazine's Facebook page.

Thanks to savvy readers, Sharon now knows which man is her ancestor.

Pike farming SDedit.jpg

The thresher is on the far left of this line of men and machines. Her ancestor Will Pike is the man standing up.

Pike farmingcloseup.jpg

Thank you to everyone who commented and posted!

Here's a call for images. I'm moving from the Boston area back to my native state of Rhode Island. It made me wonder if any of you have photographs of your ancestors moving houses. You can email them to me. I'd love to see them.

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1910s photos | occupational | unusual photos

Monday, July 09, 2012 10:48:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, July 02, 2012

Your Farmer Ancestors: Threshing in South Dakota
Posted by Maureen

There are a lot of comments on my posting on the threshing photos I saw last month at Jamboree. I learned a lot about the threshing process. Thank you!

Sharon Pike sent in another picture of threshing wheat. It's of her family in South Dakota.

Pike farming SDedit.jpg

Being from the East Coast, I'm not used to seeing such a vast expanse of land. It's so beautiful. The large haystack at the horizon draws your eye from the workers in the foreground to where the sky meets the field.

On the back of Sharon's photo is a note that states that Will Pike is in back of the "header." She's not sure which part of the machinery is the header. Can someone help out and comment below?

Will's full name was James William Pike (1887-1931), son of James S. Pike and his wife Hattie Weed. Will traveled around with a crew that harvested wheat. He lived in Brookings, SD, and later settled in Wisconsin.

Happy Fourth of July this week! I've created a couple of short films on my Vimeo channel to honor the occasion: One is a colorized engraving depicting a veteran in uniform and the other showcases flags in photographs. I hope you enjoy them!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1900-1910 photos | holiday | men | occupational

Monday, July 02, 2012 3:44:49 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [3]

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Family Photos Shared at Jamboree: Threshing Wheat
Posted by Maureen

I love going to genealogy conferences. The people, the photos and the stories all add up to a fantastic experience. For the last four years I've trekked out to California for the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree. It's a regional conference with a national feel—a big program with nationally known speakers.

Every year, folks stop by to show me their photos. Some people come back each year and as you might expect, friendships develop.

Here's a picture of Mildred "Millie" Vander Hoeven and me at Jamboree in 2010.

Millie stops by to chat and share stories of her childhood. She's sent me pictures of her childhood and her parents.

Family photo collections are an amazing array of people portraits and other types of pictures. These next two images of Millie's show men threshing wheat. I need to chat with her to get a bit more information.

Can anyone—perhaps someone familiar with farming—comment on what the crews are doing in these photos? Click Comments below to share your thoughts.

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

Genealogy events | occupational | unusual photos

Sunday, June 17, 2012 2:57:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [6]

Monday, June 11, 2012

Jean-ealogy: Ancestors in Blue Jeans
Posted by Diane

When I was working on my book Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album, I spent a lot of time looking for all sorts of clothing examples.

As one of the photo shows, I found this picture of a man wearing what looks like blue jeans. Today jeans are an American export, possibly our most popular clothing style overseas.

The ancestor of the jeans we wear today dates back to 1873. Levi Strauss, an 1840s German immigrant, immigrant is responsible for our blue jean obsession. He sold canvas pants reinforced with copper rivets, which were strong enough to withstand the rigors of mining. You can learn more about the history of these pants online.

During the Civil War, there was a cotton twill called jean cloth. The man in this late-1860s image wears an overcoat and trousers that look like they are the predecessors of the canvas jeans.

In his right hand, the man holds what I think is a divining rod for looking for water.

Got a picture of an ancestral family member in blue jeans? I'll feature it here in a timeline of the pants in family photos. Email me your picture with a brief description.

Monday, June 11, 2012 6:23:32 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

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Monday, April 02, 2012

Census Taking in Pictures
Posted by Maureen

My fingers are itching to start searching through the 1940 census. I've read that the National Archives website crashed due to the number of folks online doing the same thing. I'll wait a bit and try again.

In the meantime, take a peek at some census-related images.

This image from the Library of Congress is a poster advertising that it was a patriotic duty to provide information for the census.

In another photo from the Library of Congress, two women operate a new census machine. The "unit tabulator" on the left is being operated by Ann Oliver. On the right is Virginia Balinger, Assistant Supervisor of the Inquiry section. (Love those shoes!)

According to the caption, in 1870 it took seven years to compile statistics from the census, but this machine invented by Herman Hollerith fed census cards at the rate of 400 per minute. This machine was going to compile those stats in 2-1/2 years. Each written bit of information was translated into codes that were punched on cards then fed into this machine.

Enjoy your searching!

Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:

Fashionable Folks: Bonnets and Hats 1840-1900

Preserving Your Family Photographs

Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900

Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album

1880s photos | 1940s photos | occupational | props in photos

Monday, April 02, 2012 7:16:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)

Comments [1]

Monday, September 05, 2011

Images of Ancestors at Work
Posted by Maureen

Happy Labor Day! It's a day that honors work so why not take a trip into the past to find pictures of your laboring ancestors. Some of my favorite images on the Library of Congress website are the pictures that show individuals in their work clothes posed with tools. Each one is like a time capsule.

Here's how to find them.

Go to the Library of Congress website
Click on the link for "Prints and Photographs."
Enter in the search box "occupational portraits" or the specific occupation of your ancestor. You can find your ancestor's occupation on census records, professional licenses or in family papers. It may be that your family tells stories about work history.
Start looking.

I followed these tips and found two daguerreotypes. Those are shiny reflective images first introduced to the United States in 1839.