Caption Confusion in a Foreign Photo
Caption confusion is a common condition. You may suffer from it. The main symptoms are squinty eyes and a headache from trying to figure out what someone wrote on a picture years ago. You can't read the handwriting or follow the cryptic clues. Maybe you discover that what's written isn't...
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Foreign Photo Caption Mystery
Ownership is a clue to who's in a mystery photo. The problem is while most people know who gave them a picture—such as an aunt, parent or grandparent—but before that, ownership information may be unknown. Debra Allison can trace the provenance (ownership) of this picture back to her great-grandmother Antoinette...
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Caption Mystery for an Old Photo
Identifying captions written with good intentions years ago often confuse descendants rather than clarify who's who. On the back of this photo found among the things of Roxanne Turpin's mother-in-law is a cryptic note: "Relative of Grandpa (Grande), I think." The person wrote in ball point ink, which...
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Round Three: Clues in a Nineteenth Century Family Gathering
Heidi Thibodeau is determined to identify the folks in that July group portrait. It's a key to other unidentified photos she may find. It can take time to solve a photo mystery. The clues stack up, but making that right match often involves re-examining photos in your collection or asking...
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Which Grandmother is It Revisited
Three weeks ago I posted about a crayon portrait owned by Joan Klein in Which Grandmother is it? Joan wrote and said she's going to use DNA to locate other information and possibly images. DNA can help you connect to other relatives, and it's a good idea to ask about...
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Who’s Who in an Old Family Gathering Photo?
Last week's column explored some of the identification clues in this family gathering. Heidi Thibodeau thinks it depicts members of the Tibbetts and Hodgson family of Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. Bessie Mabel Hodgdon, born in 1877, owned the picture, and it was handed down to her granddaughter (Heidi's first...
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Old Mystery Photos: ID Clues in a Family Gathering Picture
Heidi Thibodeau's cousin found this image in the papers of her grandmother (Heidi's great-grand aunt), Bessie Mabel Hodgdon Hoogerzeil. Bessie was born Jan. 27, 1877. Heidi thinks she might be in this photo. A caption on the reverse states the picture was taken by Sprague and Hathaway, July 6, 1890...
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Which Grandmother is It?
I own an old "crayon picture" and you might, too. They were extremely popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. It's a photo and a piece of artwork. Photographers hired artists to charcoal these oversize pictures, which held a place of honor in a family home. Joan Klein...
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Adding Up the Clues in 3 Old Family Photos
Wanda Allison inherited photos of the McIntosh/Pearson families. Last week we looked at a tintype of this man, wearing Masonic regalia and posed with his wife. Relatives thought the couple could be John McIntosh (1810-1898) and Isabella Rutherford (1806-1894). The problem is the couple in this 1860s image is a...
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Searching for Family Photos with Google
I have an ancestor, James Wilson, who drives me crazy. I bet you have a few of those too! It took decades to piece together what I know about him. Despite all this research, I still can't find a photograph of him or anyone in his wife's family. It's doubtful...
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