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Family Heirlooms: 19th Century Photographs

Often making a journey across time and continents, family heirlooms are a solid physical connection to a very personal ancestral past that tend to hold memories, which resonate deep within us.

Those who have held their great-grandmothers wedding dress or read the letters written home from a relative who served in a war understands the deep link felt across the generations. One truth shared by all family treasures is that… it is the stories that accompany them that give them the greatest meaning and tie us to our generations past.

 

Sadly, sometimes the objects remain while the stories are lost. Genealogically this can be a great opportunity to discover a new family history story or ancestor. If you have, an heirloom that has become a bit of a mystery an investigation may be in order.  The type of investigation you conduct will likely depend on the object you are investigating. While family heirlooms are made up of every object imaginable, from jewelry to family bibles. Often the photographs pose the most problems…particularly very early ones.

19^th Century Photographs

The first step in solving the puzzle of a mysterious early period photograph is deciding what type of photo you have. A difficult task with these three photo types of the 19^th century.

Daguerreotype:

A good way to decide if it is a Daguerreotype is to hold a piece of paper over the surface and see if the image is reflected in reverse. Additionally, Daguerreotypes are often tarnished around the edges of the picture. If it is a Daguerreotype is will date from 1839-1860.

Ambrotype:

Ambrotypes are often hand tinted. To figure out if what you have is an Ambrotype carefully remove it from the case and hold it up to the light. Ambrotypes were printed on glass so you should be able to see through it. Another clue is to look for any cracks or peeling as another hallmark of the Ambrotype is the black paint used to process the picture. Ambrotypes date from 1854-1865.

Tintype:

It can be hard to tell the difference between a Tintype and an Ambrotype.  The only way to be certain is to hold a magnet near it. Tintypes were made of a very thin iron and should be attracted to the magnet. Tintypes were common during the civil war and date from 1856-1920.After you have determined the type of photograph, you may need to track down its geography. A hint you may find helpful, is through the clothing worn by the people in your photograph. Clothing, accessories and hairstyles may be great hints for women, while uniforms can be a dead give away for men. All can help you to zero in on the country or origin. Once that is determined, the next step is to search for period photographers from that country. Several indexes by country list photographers so you should not have too much trouble once you know the photo type.

Additionally, some early photographers may have developed an identifiable style that can be helpful in tracking them down. For example, there may be preferences in the manner which subjects are posed (seated or standing), or backgrounds and props used may offer some clues. This process can be very time consuming, as it is a matter of searching and comparing your photo to the ones found in your search. Even at that, be cautious about your conclusions.

Solving the mystery of your family heirloom can be fun and rewarding. Better yet, it may help flesh out your family history, add new branches to your family tree and fill out another space on your family template. All good reasons to start your detective work A.S.A.P.

If you have a mystery, post it in the Ask A Genealogist forum, or share with us how you solved a mystery on the Discovery Panel and tell us how you did it. Genealogy Beginner would love to hear about your family treasures and heirloom stories.

Genealogy Scams and Red Flags

With the growing popularity of genealogy and family history, it is easy to find hundreds of internet sites dedicated to the subject; from sites claiming to have huge databases to others that promise to contain information relevant and specific to your family tree, surname or coat of arms.

Beginning Genealogists should be aware that not every genealogy site is as good as the claims they make.

Genealogy Scams

While a great deal of family tree sites are trustworthy, newcomers to genealogy can sometimes fall prey to less reputable sites that exist to take your money and offer you zero results or results you could have found for free.  Additionally family tree research novices should beware of “genealogy sites” that exist for the sole intention of gathering your personal information for the purpose of email marketing or worse…identity theft.

Before you enter your details for any family tree site, research the site to see what they are claiming to offer.

A reputable genealogy site will:

• List exactly the information, records and databases you can access once you have signed up
• State the locations and periods for which records are available
• State the source of the records or information they hold

Top Three Genealogy Site Red Flags:

#1. A site that makes generalized claims such as “Largest Genealogy Database”, “Millions of Names Free”, “Your Family Story” or simpler claims to “marriage or birth records” without any detail provided…should be avoided.

#2.  Your “Free Search” results are ambiguous. For example, a search return that says they have found X-number of results on the name you entered without details. A good test of this kind of result is to type in a nonsense name such as Harry I. Balls or Jemima Pancakes to see how many results you get.

#3. A site that only provides an online contact form and does not list contact information such as a telephone number or address is not a good bet.  A site without customer service is an absolute no go.

Although there are no 100%, fail-safes as these sites tend to come and go rather quickly. Following the above mentioned simple precautions may help you spot Red flags and make adding those names to your family template a safe and enjoyable experience.

The Basics of Norwegian Genealogy

When tracing your Norwegian ancestors, you will learn that climbing your Norwegian Family Tree is a unique experience in genealogy research. From naming practices to language barriers and cultural differences, Norwegian genealogy is distinct in its resources and research techniques. In this article, Genealogy Beginner will pave your path with the basics of Norwegian genealogy research so you can start adding the names of your “Viking” forbearers to your family template.

Ancestors From Norway: Getting Started

One of the first things you will need to understand about researching your ancestors from Norway is that the rules of following a single surname from generation to generation do not apply. Norwegian immigrants often took the name of the farm where they lived. This in itself can be a hint in your research. For example, in the case of two brothers, Johann Tollevson and Simon Tollevson who immigrated in the 1600’s one brother took the name Rugsveen and the other adopted the surname Undseth for the farms they were living on when they immigrated.

However once your research leaves the shores of North America your one name study ends.  Prior to the 1900’s your Norwegian ancestors used a patronymic naming system where the child was given the first name of their father as a surname. In these cases, you will find, as in the case of the two brothers named above – Johann and Simon – that their fathers name was Tollev.

To get started digging for your Norwegian roots you will need your ancestors “Norwegian” name and date of birth along with the farm name where your ancestor lived. Although this may seem a little odd at first you will soon find that these peculiarities of Norwegian genealogy may be very helpful when searching out your ancestors from Norway.

Hints:

Norwegians were wonderful keepers of records and family bibles are very common

Norwegian dates are always written as…Day/Month/Year

 

Tools for Norwegian Genealogy

Once you have sorted out the names and dates of birth it is time to start gathering your research tools. Here is a short list to get you going.

–          Family Tree Template

–          Norwegian English Dictionary

–          Word list for special terminology

 

Norway’s Genealogy Resources

Norway Church Registers

There are church registers for every parish in Norway with the oldest dating back to the mid 1600’s for some parishes. Records were recorded as both religious and and civil events for example a birth would be a civil event while a baptism is a religious event. Among the records of births, marriages and deaths you will often find entries of announcements made to the parish.

Norway Census

The earliest census in Norway took place in the 1600’s, these early census were called “Prestenes manntall” and recorded information for men, boys and sometimes widows. Sadly, Norway’s census records are incomplete and contain several errors, often with large parts of families missing. Beginning genealogists should know that Norwegian census is not considered a reliable source of information.

Bygdebok

Possibly the best resource for tracing your Norwegian ancestors is the Bydebok, a book of land records that contains a great deal of historic information. It often records a history of the families who owned the land… often into the 1300’s. Bygdebok are divided by communities listing the farms within one or two parishes and are a must have for anyone studying their Norwegian family history.

Other records available to genealogists are Probate, Mortgage and Tax Registers although like the census, the records are often incomplete.

The good news for anyone doing research on his or her ancestors from Norway is that there is a lot of information available on the internet. Join us on the Genealogy in General forum for a list of important links to get you started on your Norwegian genealogy.

Find Your Ancestors in Almanacs

Almanacs can be a great resource for genealogists and family historians. Along with weather predictions, advice for farmers and statistical information almanacs can contain tit bits of information about your ancestors that are not found in vital events documents or census. Additionally almanacs can give wonderful ephemeral information to round out your family history story and fill in your family template. Gutenberg printed the very first almanac in 1457 in Mentz, Germany and their use spread to almost every country by the 1600s. By the 1800s, it was possible to find yearly almanacs for nearly every county in Great Britain.

The best way to demonstrate what a great resource an almanac can be is by looking in one for information. For this purpose “Peace’s Orkney Almanac and County Directory, 1886” gives us a great example of genealogical and family history information that.

The Family History Element

Within the front and back pages of the almanac, there is a wide range of advertisements that present a window into your ancestor’s daily lives.

From these advertising pages, we get a glimpse at the fashions of the times, modes of travel, an idea of how they may have approached emigrating to a new land and even some insight into daily chores.

Almanacs and Genealogy

An almanac contains a wealth of information in the trades sections. From listings of “Inspectors of the Poor” to a list of “Registrars of Births, Marriages and Deaths” that can be very helpful in pinpointing those questionable dates. Looking at this entry, we can see the timelines given to register any vital events.

Almanacs can also be used to help you find resources for records. Peaces Orkney and Shetland Almanac names all of the churches, clergy, schools and teachers in the county. It also gives the names of newspapers that were published at the time along with groups, society’s guilds and clubs, which are all fantastic sources of information for family tree research.

Additionally, it is common for almanacs to break up the directory listings by parish where you may find information that is more specific to your ancestor. Flipping to the directory for Sanday we find out that Peter Sinclair is listed as a member of the Parochial Board as well as a member of the School Board, which suggests he was an active member of his community. Not information found in a census, in fact almanacs are probably the number one place to look if you are searching for clues about your ancestors between census years.

In this particular issue, we get lucky, as there is register of voters that not only lists the men but also gives a list of female municipal electors that predates women being given the right to vote in Great Britain. Looking at an almanac for genealogy can not only help locate ancestors and resources, it can also teach a few things that we may not learn from history books; such as areas where reform was more progressive. The pictures and stories of an almanac are one of those often forgotten information sources that can paint a surprisingly vivid picture of your family tree.

Image Credits: Ramona Hartley, Peaces Orkney Almanac and County Directory
Source: Internet Archives, National Library of Scotland

Rights: National Library of Scotland holds full rights in this digital resource and agrees to license the resource under the Creative Commons License: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland.
Creative Commons license: Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 UK: Scotland
Licenseurl: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/scotland/

Fill out Your Family Template the Easy Way

Have you ever felt confused about how to fill out a Family Tree Template?

• Wondered what the numbers mean?
• Who you should include?
• Where to start?

 

 

Here are a few simple rules to follow that will have you filling out your Family Template in no time.

Family Template Rule #1 = YOU

Always start with yourself. Your name goes in the number one spot on the chart along with your vital statistics information such as when and where you were born. A space for the place and date of your marriage should be below that and if you look down many Family Tree Templates include an area to record the name of your spouse and children.

Family Template Rule #2 = MEN

Slightly indented and up from spot number one you should find the numbers two. This is where you will record your fathers name and information.

The rule if thumb:

• The males in your family will always have even numbers (2,4,6,8)
• The males in your family will always follow the upper track on a family template.

Family Template Rule #3 = WOMEN

Slightly indented and below number one you will find the number three spot

The Rule of thumb:

• The maternal lines of your family will always have odd numbers (3,5,7,9)
• The maternal lines of your family will always follow the bottom track on a Family Tree Template

Family Template Rule #4 = Generations

If you follow these rules through every generation, you will never be confused again. However, wait we are not quite finished yet. If you look on the upper left hand corner of your Family Template, you will notice a little box that says, “Chart#”.  This area is needed for when you family tree goes beyond the number of generations on the chart.

Rule of Thumb:

• The template that includes you and your immediate family is always number one
• Number your Family Tree Templates consecutively to avoid confusion. For example if you were starting on a seventh generation, you would need to begin another Family Template and that template would be number two.

Note: Just below the “Chart #” box, there is a space that says “Note: “1” on this chart is the same as ____ on chart ____. This section is to help keep you organized when working with multiple Family Tree forms.  For example if you were making a desendance report, this gives you a quick reference to where you can be found in the report.

Family Template Rule #5 = Documentation

All good genealogy research endeavors to document findings with copies or originals of birth, marriage and death records.

Rule of Thumb:

• Use a pencil to fill out the names for individuals for which you do not have documentation
• Use a pen to fill out the names for individuals for which you do have documentation

Family Template Rule #6 = Extended Family

Your Family Template is for your direct line of ancestry

Rule of Thumb:

• Uncles, aunts and cousins are not included on your Family Tree Template.

Here is a visual cue to help you get started (Click for a larger view)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that you are ready to begin filling in your family’s generations all you need is a Family Tree Template, just follow this link and download your FREE FAMILY TEMPLATE today.

 

Genealogy & Newspapers: Obituaries

One single record may tell you more about your ancestor than a death, marriage and birth certificate combined and that is their obituary.  Obituaries can provide information about your ancestor that cannot be found in civil and church records and that makes them one of the best sources of genealogical information available. Before death certificates were even required obituaries had already long existed.

 

The Value of Obituaries to Genealogical Research

Even when you have already obtained all of the official records for your ancestors, an obituary can help fill in the gaps between years. Obituaries frequently impart valuable information about events that happened in the years between birth, marriage, the census returns and death.

For example, an obituary can identify children you may have missed. Often when we look at a timeline of our ancestor’s childbearing year’s we see that births occur in a pattern. Such is the case with my ancestors Peter Sinclair and Catherine Calder.

Children of Peter Sinclair and Catherine Calder m. 1854:

1. James Sinclair b. 1855
2. Isabella (Bella) Sinclair b.1857
3. Catherine Drever Sinclair b. 1859
4. Richard Sinclair b.1861
5. William Sinclair b.1862
6. Jean Sinclair b.1867
7. Peter Sinclair b.1870
8. Robert Sinclair b.1874

You can see by the example that from their first child to their fifth child there was two years between births. Then the pattern breaks with a five-year gap between the fifth and sixth child, a three-year gap between the sixth and seventh child and a four-year gap between the last two.

Gaps like this indicate the possible loss of a child. If you find gaps such as this that lie between census years and no record of birth or death has been found, an obituary is the logical place to look.

Your Ancestors Obituary

Here is a quick look at some of the other information that can be found in an obituary.

• Dates of birth, marriage and death
• Place of birth, marriage and death
• Name of parents and grandparents
• Number of children and grandchildren
• Names of children and grandchildren
• Residences and Occupations
• Memberships to clubs or societies
• Religion and church attended
• Military Service information
• Cause of death

Where to Find Obituaries for Your Family Tree

When you think of obituaries, the primary resource that comes to mind is newspapers. That is certainly a logical conclusion, the next questions are where to find the newspapers and if you are researching from a distance how to access them.

A great source for this information is online obituary indexes. Obituary indexes such as the Library of congress’s “Chronicling of America” provides searchable, free, online access to a huge database of newspapers from 1836 – 1922. If the newspaper you are looking for were not accessible online your next strategy would be to locate an obituary look-up or mailing list.

Although newspapers are recognizably the main source of obituaries, they are only half the story. Obituaries and obituary indexes can also be found in published journals, such as the “Obituaries Index Prior to 1800 by Sir William Musgrave” an index to the obituaries of “memorable persons” of England, Scotland and Ireland.  This publication and others like it hold a treasure trove of ancestral information that may point out obituaries published in books, university papers, magazines and memoirs.  All great sources that get you closer to adding another generation to your family template.

If you have any tips to share on researching obituaries or any questions about this wonderful source of ancestral information, join us on the Genealogy in General forum.

 

Image Credit: Ramona Hartley