September 12, 2014
Do you have old family traditions, places and/or heirlooms?
Like Abe Lincoln, did your family live in a log cabin? Do you have a picture of it?
If you are related to Robert Dalton of Palo Pinto County, Texas, then GenealogyBank’s newspaper collection has a photograph of their old log cabin (built in the 1870s) along with photos of the family.
Our Historical Newspaper Archives are invaluable for finding old family homesteads, traditions, family photos and images that are preserved here—but might have been long lost to the family.
Find the details of your family history; in many cases, newspapers are likely your only source for these important memories.
Dig in—see if you can find pictures of your ancestors’ home and discover more about your family history today.
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- This Is the House That Sears Built: Historic Sears Kit Homes
- How to Research Land Records for Genealogy Clues
- Finding Family Heirlooms & Artifacts with eBay
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County historical societies have proven (for me) to be good sources of photos of old houses and businesses. Sometimes historical societies and county gen societies send people out to photograph neighborhoods when they know urban renewal is scheduled that will demolish old structures.
Also, don’t pitch any family photos of houses or businesses, share them around instead via email jpegs where possible, photocopies where necessary. We had a mystery house photograph in my late grandmother’s collection that no one recognized. It showed only a house, no vehicles parked near it and no people or pets visible. It was not a new house so I wondered if it might be new to whoever sent it, a photo sent to show a newly purchased house by some friend or relative. I confess until that thought struck me I almost pitched it.
Eventually I found a distant cousin in CA who recognized it immediately – his mother had done a painting of it decades earlier when her parents were both alive to commemorate it as the first home the family had owned when they migrated to CA from OR. No photos existed in the family. I sent him the photo and he was able to use it to send copies to other relatives. Had we pitched it as something not pertinent to us I would never have been able to reunite it with the branch of the family that remembered living there.
That is terrific Diane.
What a great story – example of what we all should be doing.
You might ask the ‘distant cousin’ – to photograph the painting …
Then tell the story – illustrating it using both images — combined with why the home is important in their history. So important to them – that his Mom painted it.
A terrific story.