All
family historians love photographs. They want to see what the world actually
looked like centuries ago. They are curious about old houses, cars and
implements used by people in their jobs. But they especially prize pictures of
people to whom they are related and, in particular, descended from.
In
my family, some people took lots of photos, others not so much. My father
always had a camera and was very active when movie cameras for private use came
out. I wrote about his photographic activities in a about Classic Family
Photos
a while back.
The
8 mm movie camera was introduced by Kodak in 1932. I have movies taken by my
family – now digitized and on DVDs – from as far back as 1941, just after my
oldest sister was born. Of course he also took hundreds of still photos of
family activities as well, using a variety of cameras through the years. I still have all of them, now displayed in glass-front
cabinets including one of the original box cameras by Kodak, probably purchased
by the family around 1912. They were first manufactured in 1908. I still have
the negatives of those old pictures, most of which my father developed.
In
my collection are many photos taken in the 1800s – individuals, couples at the
time of their wedding and whole family groups. Professional portraits were one
of the few ways people could have their pictures taken then, mostly in studios.
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Mary Crispin
(Carpenter) Shepheard, 1830-1890 (photo taken about 1870)
The
oldest photograph I have of a direct-line ancestor is of a second
great-grandmother, Mary Crispin (Carpenter) Shepheard, taken about 1875 by John
Hawke, photographer, in Plymouth, Devon. It is one of a wonderful set of old
photos brought to Canada by my great-grandfather when he emigrated in 1913. He
even wrote “My Mother” on the back of it. I know it is his handwriting from his
initials on the photo and on other documents he wrote and signed. He also had one of his late
wife, Mary Elizabeth (Pearson) Shepheard, as a young girl, taken at Bullock
Brothers studio in Royal Leamington, Warwickshire, in 1882.
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Mary Elizabeth
(Pearson) Shepheard, 1866-1891 (photo taken about 1882)
On
this side of the ocean, I have a not-so-great-quality copy of a possible wedding photo of great-grandparents,
taken by Flaten photographers in Fargo, North Dakota, in 1884 and a copy of a
family group photo of a second great-grandmother and all of her adult children,
including my great-grandfather, taken at Manhattan, Kansas (photographer
unknown) in 1886. This is the image that forms the backdrop to my blog. From
other cousins I have obtained copies of photos of people that go back to about
1850.
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Possible
1884 wedding photo of Isaac newton Thompson and Margaret Mary Anderson
These
and others are very special memorabilia, probably among the most important
pieces of my family history. They are even more valued when they have names or
notes written on them by the people to whom they belonged. I keep them all now well-protected
in albums that I hope my descendants will treasure as well.
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Family
of Hannah Tunstall (Mayfield) Miller-Watson and her children (photo taken about
1886 in Manhattan, Kansas, United States)
