General Chat

Was just wondering how many of you have been given old photos or found photos of your ancestors? Elaine

Yes Elaine - and also have some negatives which I will be able to print soon when the new scanner arrives (it does negatives ) Its amazing to look at them and try to imagine what life was like then. Do you have any pics of your ancestors?

I have two photos that the archivist at Manchester United sent me of my great Grandfather in team line-ups. Until then I didn't know what he or my grandad looked like. when it arrived my mum said he was the double of my grandad - but to me he just looked REALLY miserable. Which I suppose could be the family trait as my father looked as grumpy whenever I've met him.

I only have one photo of my mum and one of my dad taken when they were young. would love to see some photos when I start getting some names for my tree, but don't think I've got much chance of that. Elaine

I've got quite a few from 1900ish onwards. My favourite is one of my grandmother as a young girl in 1915 with her parents and brothers and sisters. It was obviously done professionally and they are all posing in their best clothes. I've even got one of my GG grandfather. No idea when it was taken but he looks rather stern ! Rick.

I have a photograph of my great-great-grandmother in a crinoline dress!

Elaine - never say never - it was my mission to find a photo of my mother in laws mother - she died when m i l was 5 yrs old. I did, and one of her husband. My husband scanned them, enhanced them and we put them in an old fashioned style double mount and gave it to his mum - it was a goosebumpy moment

I asked my grandmother if I could borrow a pic she had on the side of my grandfather so i could get it copied and when I took it out of the frame, i found 2 further pictures..... one of my G.Grandfather c1930 and one of my GGGrandmother in her widow finery at my grandmothers wedding 21-2-1934..... GGG was born in 1850 so it's quite a bizarre find.... even grandma didn't know they were there!! I have also been sent some wicked pics from a 2nd cousin of my father when he was 3 etc..... it's great to think that future generations of WARDLE's will have all this info to look through!!

I have photos of 5 out of 8 of my Great Grandparents, all of whom were born between 1840 and 1850. I have a large collection which has increased through contact with a 2nd cousin met on GC. One beautiful photo shows my Grandmother with her five children - my dad was aged about 3. He would have been 91 this year. The whole collection is I am copying and distributing to family. Jacky:-)

I have a photograph of my great grandmother which is the earliest one I have, probably taken in the 1850's. Have you noticed though in all these photos, the people are very rarely smiling. This I understand is because photography in those days was quite a prolonged business and so not easy to keep a smile on your face whilst the photographer went about his work. So probably your ancestors had just a cheery nature as yourselves, but had to be serious for what was a serious business in those days. Norah in Hampshire - smiling!!!

I have quite a few old photo's .I have my GGrandfather in his uniform holding my grandma as a child. I have loads of mum , dad ,grandparents, aunts , uncles & cousins. In fact I have them on the wall in my hall above the picture rail. I copied them and then laminated them. I love old photo's . There are still a lot I would like to try and find tho'. Jan

It was only when I came to Canada that I was given photos of my dad's side of the family, but I now have pictures going back to his great-grandparents. I have always been told that I look like my mum (and I do, I even sound like her!), but can now see that I also resemble my dad's mum, too. Patsy

I have recently been given a copy of my ggrandfather b 1863 Stoke Newington. The negative was on glass so it was amazing to see what he looked like - almost like someone out of a Charles Dickens' book. I have also been lucky to receive a photo of my husband's grandfather - a grandfather whom he had never met and a photo of his ggrandfather born 1850 in Keith Scotland. Christine

I have lots of photos dating back to mid to late 1800's of my grandmothers family and unfortunately not many have names on. Some of the photos are fantastic to see though, I just wish I new who they were!!! Liz

I have just been given a copy of a picture of my ggg grandfather who was born in 1792...and does he look stearn! Lynn

We were fortunate enough to have quite a few old photo albums handed down to us and for the most part they also indicate when and where the photos were taken. All of these are from my mother's side of the family. I have scanned in some of these photos. Very little from my father's side, although my aunt may have some more photos, but the family overall weren't that close.

Elaine Following the death of my father in 1958 I visited my mother and found her breaking up and burning a couple of old family photo albums (each about 3 inches thick) Her explanation ? "No one will want these when I am gone" One had gone into the bonfire but I managed to rescue some pages from the other so have quite a few pictures dating back to the turn of the 20th century. In latter years I have become known as the family historian and have been given quite a number of pictures. They range in size from about the size of a postage stamp to full plate. I have re-photographed many and resized them to standard 6" x 4" to illustrate my manual collection of data. Len

The photos i have are of my father in his early teens and my grandfather in his army uniform and g,grandmother which i never seen, i only had them sent to me 4 days ago.

So - there's a lesson to be learnt here! Write the names and dates on the back of your photographs so that your great-great-grandchildren will know who those funny looking people are! I have quite a few old photo's that I know must be family members, but I can't identify them - yet. Let's make things easier for our descendants, eh?.

good idea janet, something I must definately try and do with mine. Elaine