A Picture is Worth a Thousand Sighs

Those who’ve followed me for a while know I write about four main subjects with my faith and family woven into those subjects. Those are genealogy, essential oils, cooking, and writing. Today, I’m walking down that genealogy road with photos an offshoot of that subject.

If you’re like us, you have a ton of old family photos, many of which aren’t labeled, you have no clue who the people are, and you have no idea what to do with them. Years ago, I began going through our old photos, the ones of our boys. Trying to separate years of photos into individual people when you have four sons isn’t easy. Forty-plus years of photographs.

THE DIGITAL AGE

Thank goodness we have the means to make copies these days so that each son can have his own. It has made at least that part of this going-through-photos-adventure, a bit easier.

Funny, there are many stories out there of people all over the country going through drawers and closets and cleaning—purging. We aren’t pack-rats, but I do like to keep family things. But the issue is, I have all boys, none of whom is particularly interested in keeping family papers or photos. Insert a thousand heavy sighs.

During this Co-VID-19 stay-at-home order, my husband has found a new hobby in genealogy. I’ve been into genealogy for decades, but he’s a newbie. Finally, he’s connected with his cousins I’ve been exchanging emails with for years. He just didn’t have the time to be fully involved in the past. Genealogy has been such a delightful adventure for him. Exchanging information and photographs with those new cousins has opened new information and formed new friendships.

FACEBOOK GROUPS

If you haven’t seen such, go to Facebook and see if your state has a site for posting old photos. Odds are you’ll hook up with someone who is related. Those previously unidentified faces may finally have a name. That has happened in my husband’s family in recent weeks. The site is Old Alabama Family Photos. If your state doesn’t have such, perhaps you could form a group. It isn’t difficult and people love it. But you can also drill down further and form a group for a specific family name, or a county in which they lived. My sister and I have done that. The things you learn will amaze you if your site is anything like ours.

But now, as we look over all these old photos, some of which are tintypes, we find ourselves wondering what we should do with them. My husband’s grandmother was in possession of an old funeral book for her aunt and uncle. In it were a myriad of old photos. Now, we didn’t know these people. Even though my mother-in-law said this was her favorite aunt and uncle, they had gone to Glory long before we were born.

Our boys don’t want these things. So how does one decide who will get these upon our deaths? Or do we pick a few people and ask if they want them and send them now? Should they go to a historical society or the library to be shared with other descendants?

This must be a case of consternation for any genealogist. Especially so when your family is like ours. Only one of our four sons is married, and I don’t think they want any of these things. They already have a house full of similar items from our daughter-in-law’s side of the family. Besides, where would they put it?

As stated earlier, thank goodness we live in a digital age. We can scan and put them in the cloud, press a computer button, and voila! Off they go to relatives scattered to the four corners. I have a friend in the area where those ancestors lived, and she has something to do with the historical society. I’ll likely ask if the library or the society would like to have the photos. After I get my husband’s okay. They are from his side of the family, after all.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Sighs Share on X

What are you doing with old family photos? Especially those old, old ones where the faces and names are unknown? Share your ideas with us.