Summer is upon us and the heat is here! A lot of folks like to get out of town to cooler weather, I know we like to. One of our favorite things to do is to check out Thrift stores in the little towns we drive through. You can find not only some real bargains along the way, but Family History mysteries as well.

 

Below are two pictures we found in a thrift store several years ago, I have forgotten where (don’t tell Elizabeth Shown Mills that I didn’t keep the documentation).

 

The first is of Boyd and Bobbie Russell, a cabinet card photo taken by Brooks Studio in North Platte, Nebraska. There is no date, or other information on the picture or folder.

The second is also a cabinet card with no studio identification. However, you can see names written next to the individuals, Belle, Grandmother, Ola, and Etta. 

 

On the back of the card there is a little more information. 

 

Why purchase these? If I see lost photo and it has a name, I like to think a familymember, somewhere, would like to see it. I know I would. I don’t spend a lot of money on these and seldom spend more the $1 on a photo, generally much less. Some of the photos I have seen have really pulled at my heart strings, and if they were my family members, the pictures would be priceless.

 

So once you find a picture what do you do with it? If I can find enough identifying information, I will post the picture as a Memory to FamilySearch.org to the individual’s record. If not, I post the picture, with any information I have, to DeadFred.com. DeadFred is a Genealogy Photo Archive, with a searchable database of thousands of photos. Currently there are over 124,000 searchable records with over 19,500 surnames.

 

Happy hunting!

 

Full size copies if these pictures can be seen at http://tiny.cc/zaotly

 

Richard Young, FHSA President 2017-2018