How to Find Family Photos

Most people find family photos by going to their phones.

Or, the photo albums on the shelf if they’re so lucky.

Or, their computer.

But what about obscure family photos of people you’ve never seen?

How can you find those?

Asking helps.

So does Google.

Asking

You’d be surprised how many people have photos of your family members.

I started by asking relatives if they had a picture of my great-grandfather.

He died before my father was born. My grandmother never met him.

But a distant relative turned up the above photo taken in 1923 on the ferry to Catalina.

That’s Ballard Duval with his daughter Louise beside him.

I can’t tell if he looks like anyone I know. I’m intrigued by the cleft in his daughter’s chin–I don’t see it in my relatives.

But there he is and now he and Louise hang on my wall.

Google

I’ve given you his name because someday someone, like me, may google his name.

You can find all sorts of family photos in search engines.

That’s where I first saw the photo of Ballard’s wife Permelia.

Late one sleepless night, I googled Permelia Hanks Dunn Duval

This photo turned up.

I screamed. I’d sought her photo for 20 years.

When I cropped it, a woman peered out who looked just like my aunt.

It turned out someone had found an old photo album in Anderson County, Texas.

Not knowing what else to do with it, they donated the album to the East Texas Genealogical Society.

The society posted the photos on their website with the names they read off the back of the photos.

(Hey! Write the names on the back of your family photos or label them on your computer/phone.)

Ancestry.com

One of the features provided by Ancestry.com when you’re putting together a family tree, is “gallery.”

Users can post photos there, which are helpful if you find a tree that matches yours.

However, Ancestry.com also has passport photos.

I found my grandfather’s 1919 passport photo during a routine search.

I’d never seen a photo of him that young.

Ancestry.com also allows you to contact distant kinfolk and you can ask them.

I had great luck obtaining photos for my Mrs. Oswald Chambers, though helpful relatives.

Family pages on Facebook

Last week I saw a photo of Permelia’s mother in a Facebook family group.

It turns out I had another one of her (on left, circa 1880), but I so much enjoyed seeing a more “glamorous” family photo of Louezer Cunningham Dial Bell Hanks Ezell!

It’s fun to work up through the generations, from Louezer to her daughter Permelia to her daughter Louise, looking for family resemblances.

I posted the recent Louezer photo on Facebook when I found it.

Several people thought they saw a resemblance between us.

I don’t see it–except we’re wearing the same glasses!

I don’t have many family photos from this side of the family–this is almost all of them.

But they’re precious and I’m always happy to see one.

Tweetables

How do you find obscure family photos? 3 suggestions. Click to Tweet

A late night Google search turns up long-sought family photo. Click to Tweet