8 March 2018
Location: If you can identify the location where a photo was taken (or the approximate location), you can often identify or make a reasonable guess as to the family or person in the photo. If you know your family or a particular ancestor lived in a certain place at a certain time and was a certain age when they lived there, knowing the location of the photo can give you a reasonable assumption as to who is in the photo. Just compare the ages and time period of the people in the photo to your knowledge of your family.
Recognizing One or More Family Member: If the photo has more than one person in it, you may recognize someone you ve seen before, either in other photos or in person. Recognizing them, as well as the age they appear to be, can help you make reasonable guesses as to who the other people in the photo are likely to be. This is especially easy when it is a child with a family around them, or a husband or wife posing with their spouse and children.
The Process of Elimination: Using your knowledge of the time period, location, and other aspects of the photo, determine who the people or person in it cannot be. Eliminate everyone you can. Eventually, you will be left with one, or just a handful of choices, as to who the person or people must be.
First photograph Ralph Scroggin and sister, Mary Gwen Scroggin Judging by their ages, taken about 1933 No idea who the adults are Judging by their age, assume grandparents (and I would be wrong!)
Look for photograph of my father with his father No luck Next best idea grandfather and aunt (two photos probably 10 years apart)
Who are all the other people in this photo? Look for photos of grandfather s parents since there appears to be possible grandparents of my aunt in the photo (this time I would be right) Need slightly younger photo of grandfather
Wedding photo of Ralph and Lula Amberg Scroggin Circa 1921 remarkably I have been unable to find their marriage license Look at other photos found a group photo taken about 1918 Youngest boy born in 1917 Grandfather, great-grandparents, and great aunts and uncles
Then luck intervenes Great grandmother is named Oral Irene (Mileham) Scroggin Search of the internet yields one photo and everyone in the photo is identified Great-grandmother, 2g-grandparents, and 2g-aunts and uncles
So the photo with my father in it is a photo of my 2g-grandparents, James Henry Mileham and Emma Hayes Mileham Date of the photo is somewhere between 1933 and 1935 James Henry Mileham died 10 May 1935 Other two children are my dad s first cousins, Jacqueline Molt (born Oct 1930) and Lowell Dean Molt (born March 1932) Ralph Scroggin born December 1924 and Mary Gwen Scroggin born November 1928
Now look at my grandmother and her family to make sure I haven t misidentified anyone Have all her family information, so I know she has 2 sisters and 5 brothers Know their ages Photos of Lula Amberg and her two sisters Photos of her five brothers Verify with living relatives
Living relative (my grandmother s sister Bernice Amberg) shows me photo of her and her sisters with their parents (Nicholas Amberg and Hannah Musick Amberg) Two photos taken about 1920 youngest child (Myrtle) born 1916
Relative in California sends me photo of Hannah Musick and her four sisters (my 2g-aunts) Names on piece of tape at lower r/h corner Agrees with family tree information
Family member identified through DNA match on Ancestry.com sends me photo of my great-grandfather and his brother and sister (my 2guncle and aunt)
In summary Started with only knowing paternal grandmother Finished with: Both sets of great-grandparents One set of 2g-grandparents (have newspaper photo of other 2ggrandparents) Also have photos of all great aunts and uncles and 2g-aunts and uncles
If you spend enough time online interacting with distant cousins you discover on genealogy websites, you will undoubtedly eventually find someone who has amazing photos they are willing to share with you. More and more photos are being posted on Ancestry.com, findagrave.com, etc Look for them Contact the people who posted the photos there may be more
My experience: Photos from relatives I know Many more from relatives I never knew about California to Connecticut Oklahoma to Gary, Indiana
Dating the Photograph Clothing and hairstyles are big clues as to time period, since fashions changed over time, just as they do today. Reading books on clothing and hair styles of the 19th and 20th centuries will help you identify the time period of a photo based on these things. There are also websites devoted to this subject. You can become familiar with the various styles for both men and women very quickly with just a little research on your part.
Dating the Photographs If you can identify the time period a piece of furniture in the background came from, the era of house you re looking at behind the people in the photo, or even the way the landscape looked and how it has changed over time (including buildings that are in the photo that may no longer be there find out when those buildings were actually there), you can identify when the photo was taken within a very accurate and narrow range of years.
Dating the Photograph Finally, the type of photography used is a great clue. Photography styles changed over the years as the technology advanced. Learn what the different types of photos look like and when they were used. You will have a much easier time identifying the time frame for a photo this way. Knowing what type of photograph you re looking at can put you within just a few years or a decade at most of when the photo was taken, especially when you also identify the era of the clothing, hair, and background details of the photo.
Types of photography Daguerreotype (approximately 1840 1860) image is on a mirror-like silver surface Tintypes (approximately 1860 1870) Cabinet cards (approximately 1880 mid 1920 s) thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 4 1 4 by 6 1 2 inches Black and white versus color
Use the information in your family tree to identify: Who When Where Use family group sheets to assess group photos Ask family members to help
But all I have are individual photos Consider who kept all the photos may give a clue as to which family members are in the photos Are there a lot of photos of the same person? May be a clue as to who that person is. Is there information as to where the photos were taken? Studio names? Locations?
But all I have are individual photos Were the photos taken for a specific reason (birth, wedding, etc)? Maybe there was a photo in the local newspaper Are you sure someone else doesn t have the same photo and know who the individual is? Maybe knowing who it isn t may make it easier to identify
Get organized Take that one BIG box and separate it into groups that appear to be the same family, based on type of photos, studio names, people who look like they are related (even if you are not sure) If really unsure, make a box for unknown