Family Photographs

Old photos can be resources for researching your family tree. Many times the date and place the photo was taken will be on the back of the photo as well as notes from a family member.

The clothes that your ancestor was wearing can give you a clue to when it was taken if there is no date.

The buildings in the background of a picture may also provide you with a clue to where the photo was taken.

Another path that you should go down with each of the people that you talk with is that of pictures. While you may not have many photos yourself of your past generations, you probably have pictures of your parents and your grandparents that are treasured by you. You would never give up those pictures because they hold memories for you and the same holds true for others.

Let us say that as you are talking to your mother about her family tree she realizes that she has some photos of her childhood and perhaps you would like to look at them. By doing this it can help you to ask questions and even learn more.

While looking at the photos you may find a picture of someone, you do not know. A question gets you an answer and the result is another name filled in on your chart.

Also gathering people’s names and information and benefited from having other information from the photos. You can learn what they are doing in the picture, where it was taken, perhaps what school it was from and even information about the ages of people with others.

This information is easy to benefit from in a genealogy search. Make sure that you talk to every person that you have in your family about their photos. On the other hand, even ask if their parents had, photos that may be tucked away some place that you could look at. Even without first-hand, accounts from the people in your family can help you. A simple note on the back of the photo provides great information to you.

Photos are also prized possessions to use in creating your family tree, too. For example, you can easily place these on your documentation to make names come to life.

It is essential for you to learn as much as you can through this process from those that are still alive.