Asking the Big Questions
I sat with a friend today as she showed me her latest online family history discoveries. It was all very exciting. She's worked on this particular genealogy problem for several years. All of a sudden, an unknown distant relative joined an online site and posted family information and lots of...
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Aging Well
Dating a photograph of an older person presents a unique dilemma: Is the subject wearing contemporary fashion, or an older style that he or she was hanging on to? On FamilyTreeMagazine.com, Photo Detective Maureen A. Taylor addresses this question as she analyzes these two photos that might show the...
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A Soldier’s Story
Last week, I spent time browsing the Liljenquist Collection on the Library of Congress website. It's a jaw-dropping set of gorgeous Civil War photographs. You can view them online or in person at an exhibit at the Library of Congress. This portrait depicts Charles H. Bickford of Massachusetts as a...
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Civil War Era Mystery
Did you know that you can mail us a copy (no originals please) of your family photos for this column? To find out more about submitting photo click on the How to Submit Your Photo link in the left-hand column. This week's photo mystery was mailed to the editors of...
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A Picture Pile-up
I love unusual surnames. It's probably because my last name and many of my ancestral surnames often end up on those top 10 lists of popular names. Laurie Clement has a great chance to identify the folks in her unidentified image. She thinks this large family group shares the surname...
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Help a Fellow Genealogist (Civil War-Style)
Two weeks ago, I attended the New England Regional Genealogical Conference in Springfield, Mass. A lot of folks stopped by my booth to talk about Civil War images in their family. Several told me about locating images of their Civil War soldiers in unlikely places. If you have a story...
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Bad Hair Day Winner!
Thank you for voting in the Bad Hair Day Contest and for sending in all those great hair photos. There is a winner!Here's how the votes stacked up. 83.7 % of the voters selected this photo. Congratulations go to Pat Daughtery for winning the contest and a copy...
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Vote for Your Favorite Bad Hair Day
It's time to vote! My inbox is full of photos from readers and and Facebook followers. So which photo will win? You decide. I've create a survey form on SurveyMonkey.com. Click here to see the photos I selected for the survey and to vote for your favorite. The person...
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Uniforms in the Family
It's not too late to enter your ancestral bad hair photos in my blog contest. See details in last week's post. I can't wait until you see what folks sent in! In the meantime, it's time for another photo mystery. This one is a 20th century challenge. Nancy...
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Hair in the Family: A Contest
At a recent lecture, an attendee told me about an ancestral photo that scared him as a child. The woman had a curl that stood up straight on the top of her head. (He's promised to send me a scan, and as soon as I have it you'll see it...
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