Sunday, September 28, 2014

I Reunited a Family Portrait with a Descendant

This morning before church started a friend walked up and handed me this 11"x17" family portrait. Someone had given her a box of canning jars and this gem was also in the box. But she can't remember who brought the box or who might have owned the photo. Fortunately, the names of the individuals are written on the back side. None of them were familiar to me or to her. I told her I'd look on FamilySearch.org and try to find the individuals and hope to locate a descendant.

I was so fortunate, because as soon as I found the eldest individual in this portrait, Charles Henry Burns, I saw an email listed for the submitter of the information about him. I emailed "Jennifer" and asked if she'd like to have the portrait. While I was waiting for her reply, I also found her on facebook. Social Media is great in cases like this!

"Jennie" emailed me back within a couple of hours and explained that her husband's grandparents and great grandparents are in the portrait. I'll be putting the portrait in the mail to her tomorrow! I'm happy to be able to pay it forward!

An interesting note is that, while browsing around on Family Search about Charles Henry Burns, I saw a familiar name....Moses Leavitt, his 5th great grandfather. Moses happens to be MY 7th great-grandfather! So Charles Henry Burns is my 6th cousin twice removed. That means all the people in this portrait are my cousins (or spouses of my cousins)! 

Saturday, September 13, 2014

I Put the Margheim Farm on the Map

I recently scanned this wonderful old photo from my father's collection. 
My grandfather John Ludwig Margheim is seated at the implement directly behind that old car that has stopped in the yard. I think that vehicle belonged to my grandfather's brother George because George's son is seen at the far right, seated and wearing a white shirt. Seated 2nd from right is my dad, Ernest L. Margheim, who at this time was 6 years old.

Dad had written this on the back of the photo: 
I took this information, found the farm site on Google Maps and with the help of 'SnagIt' (Software that I love!) I prepared this view of the farm site.
It's so nice when photos are identified on the back side. My dad was pretty good about doing that. And with the technology available today it's possible to do fun things like this.