Unknown Ash Photos
As with most families we all have our share of unlabeled photographs. Genealogist all know how frustrating this can be and a near impossible problem to fix, especially when dealing with photos from the 1880’s. Needless to say anyone who could identify these photos has long since passed away. My only resource for getting these photos identified was to start with where they came from, in this case the Ash family. Who was the photographer and where was the photo taken. Some of the photos have a photographers mark and city where the photo was taken. With a little internet detective work I narrowed these photos down to about a fifteen year window. Most photographers during this time were only in business a few years. There is a link on the Town Square Forum portion of this site which list many Western States Photographers and when they were in business. With these techniques the field of possible suspects narrows down quite a bit. My next step was to start contacting Ash researchers with common families to see if any of the photos looked familiar. This week I finally got lucky and found an Ash researcher who had similar and in some cases identical family photos which were labeled. Thanks to her help the following photos have now been positively identified.
Mary Ann Wallis-Lemon-Ash-Dolbow
Sylvester Ash Family
Jesse and Hannah Ash
There was another photo taken in Girard, IL which did not quite look like the rest of the family. The only other related Ash’s who were in Girard at this time were the Thackers. Thanks to a Thacker researcher this photo and another with no city or photographer has been identified! Here they are:
Leander Thacker
Zachariah Thacker
I still have a stack of unidentified photos but it has been a very exciting week to have these identified and find new cousins to share information with. I can not emphasize enough the importance of all families who are doing genealogy to post their information, documents and photos on the internet. Each branch of the family holds pieces of the family puzzle. But, if I can’t find you I don’t know you have a piece to share. This is the primary reason I try and put as much on the site as possible. I know running a website can seem to be a daunting task but there are so many free and easy ways to do this, I would encourage all researchers to try and develop a site for their family research. You are always welcome to e-mail me and I can share what I know about genealogy websites and how to get them started. I am no expert but I have made enough mistakes with TNG, Roots Magic, Word Press, Coffee Cup and other programs to learn at least what not to do.
The Town Square Forum of this site is also another easy way to get your information out there for others to see. You can start threads, upload photos, and ask questions. You can use the Town Square Forum as your own personal genealogy bulletin board for your research. The great thing about the Town Square Forum is I do all the maintence and search optimization for you. If you post on the forum other researchers will find you via a Google, Ancestry, and Genweb search. If you are reading this blog, think about how you found me. If searchers find me they will find you too.
Finally I would like to send out a great big cyber space hug to Nancy and Andrew for all their assistance this week! You have been more help than I could have ever hoped to find! Thank-you so very much!
P.S. If you have family photos you can identify, label them this week. Future generations will thank you.
As with most families we all have our share of unlabeled photographs. Genealogist all know how frustrating this can be and a near impossible problem to fix, especially when dealing with photos from the 1880’s. Needless to say anyone who could identify these photos has long since passed away. My only resource for getting these photos identified was to start with where they came from, in this case the Ash family. Who was the photographer and where was the photo taken. Some of the photos have a photographers mark and city where the photo was taken. With a little internet detective work I narrowed these photos down to about a fifteen year window. Most photographers during this time were only in business a few years. There is a link on the Town Square Forum portion of this site which list many Western States Photographers and when they were in business. With these techniques the field of possible suspects narrows down quite a bit. My next step was to start contacting Ash researchers with common families to see if any of the photos looked familiar. This week I finally got lucky and found an Ash researcher who had similar and in some cases identical family photos which were labeled. Thanks to her help the following photos have now been positively identified.
Mary Ann Wallis-Lemon-Ash-Dolbow
Sylvester Ash Family
Jesse and Hannah Ash
There was another photo taken in Girard, IL which did not quite look like the rest of the family. The only other related Ash’s who were in Girard at this time were the Thackers. Thanks to a Thacker researcher this photo and another with no city or photographer has been identified! Here they are:
Leander Thacker
Zachariah Thacker
I still have a stack of unidentified photos but it has been a very exciting week to have these identified and find new cousins to share information with. I can not emphasize enough the importance of all families who are doing genealogy to post their information, documents and photos on the internet. Each branch of the family holds pieces of the family puzzle. But, if I can’t find you I don’t know you have a piece to share. This is the primary reason I try and put as much on the site as possible. I know running a website can seem to be a daunting task but there are so many free and easy ways to do this, I would encourage all researchers to try and develop a site for their family research. You are always welcome to e-mail me and I can share what I know about genealogy websites and how to get them started. I am no expert but I have made enough mistakes with TNG, Roots Magic, Word Press, Coffee Cup and other programs to learn at least what not to do.
The Town Square Forum of this site is also another easy way to get your information out there for others to see. You can start threads, upload photos, and ask questions. You can use the Town Square Forum as your own personal genealogy bulletin board for your research. The great thing about the Town Square Forum is I do all the maintence and search optimization for you. If you post on the forum other researchers will find you via a Google, Ancestry, and Genweb search. If you are reading this blog, think about how you found me. If searchers find me they will find you too.
Finally I would like to send out a great big cyber space hug to Nancy and Andrew for all their assistance this week! You have been more help than I could have ever hoped to find! Thank-you so very much!
P.S. If you have family photos you can identify, label them this week. Future generations will thank you.
