Sunday, September 9, 2012

Lost Ancestors

One of my favorite past times is visiting antique stores. I always feel sorry for all the "lost ancestors" wishing I could find a way to get them back to their family. I also like to purchase old frames for my own photos. If I find a photo that is labeled with a name, for a reasonable price, I will buy it and try to research the person to find a descendant. 

The photo below is labeled "David Wesley Bryant was born the 19th of October 1905. This is the 27th of April 1906. He weighs now 24 lbs. I found several people on ancestry.com tracing this family and sent them messages but never heard back from them. I am not looking to get paid, I get satisfaction from getting these photos back where they belong - with family!






Last week I found a frame that I really liked. There was a Mecklenburg County Reading Certificate in it:



Behind the certificate was this photo of an old service station. I was able to see the date of 1928 on the plate of the old car, and could read the name of the service station so I did some research. It turns out the reader above was the niece of the owner of the service station, Springs McCoy. I did locate the daughter of a Springs McCoy but it was the wrong one. But I do have a new 86 year old friend now!


Below are three photos I recently found in old frames I bought at an antique store in Albemarle, North Carolina. They are not marked. The photos of the man and woman were in similar frames bought from the same dealer so I am guessing they may be related. The woman's photo was taped to the frame with 1923 Christmas stamps (you can see them behind the edge of the photo). The baby was from a different dealer.





 

2 comments:

  1. I like to do the same thing with old books that are inscribed with the owner's name. So far I've managed to reunite a 110 year old college literature textbook with the owner's 90 year old grandson, and a 1920s devotional with the owner's 70 year old granddaughter. Also a couple of books belonging to an Episcopalian minister from the Twenties with the historian of his old church. They were all suitably flabbergasted and pleased. Other people I've never heard back from, as they probably take me for a stalker.

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    1. I've done the same with books and postcards. Funny about being a stalker because I have always thought of myself as stalking my ancestors.

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