Tips on how to find genealogical clues in old photos to solve family mysteries.
The very first photographs that our ancestors saw of themselves amazed them. It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for them to see a photo for the first time. The first photographic image of a person was taken in 1830, and by the 1850s, there was an absolute boom in photography. Demand for better quality images pushed inventors to develop new and cheaper ways to produce photographs. It seemed that everyone was having their portrait made.
Types of Photographs
Daguerreotype
Daguerreotypes, the first photographic images, were small metal photographs with reflective surfaces. They were invented by Frenchman Louis Daguerre in 1839 and were more affordable than painted portraits at the time, though not as flattering. Despite issues with quality, daguerreotypes were very popular. Between 1840 and 1844, more than 3 million images were taken in the United States alone.
Ambrotype
In the 1850s, a new type of image appeared – the ambrotype. Instead of being on a metal service, ambrotypes were images on glass, which were underexposed, or were negatives of the original, which were placed on a dark backing so that the image could be seen. When the images were removed from its dark backing, the detail of the image was lost. Similar to daguerreotypes, only a single ambrotype could be made at a time. Another similarity were in the details. The images in a daguerreotype and ambrotype appeared reverse, as they would in a mirror.
Tintype
In 1856 the tintype was born. Tintypes were a cheaper version of the ambrotype, printed on thin black-enameled sheets of various metals. They were also known as melainotypes or ferrotypes, because of their iron backing. The iron tintypes were more durable and weighed less than daguerreotypes and ambrotypes and did not break or scratch as easily. These inexpensive images were commonly found on the frontier, in small towns, and working-class urban areas.
Talbotype & Carte-de-visite
By the 1860s, card photographs became the leading photographic method for portraits; they were inexpensive to produce, durable, and available in quantities. The first paper print was the talbotype. They never gained popularity but are easy to identify. The print was produced from a waxed paper negative, so the images lacked sharpness and clarity.
The most popular type of paper photography was the card photograph or carte-de-visite. It was a 2 3/8” by 4” photographic calling card with the image printed on paper and attached to a thicker, cardstock back. There was also the imperial or life-size cabinet cards, which were more significant in size. By the 1880s, the cabinet card replaced the smaller cards in popularity. The majority of photographs in your collection are probably cabinet cards.
Carte-de-visite of Harriet Tubman, courtesy the Library of Congress.
Photographic Method of Identification
There are things that can help determine who the mysterious people are in your pile of family photos. Several clues exist, and breaking them down will help you identify who they are. The following seven steps can help you break down your photographic walls.
Contact Relatives
Sometimes this simple step is often forgotten. Early on in the identification process, contact relatives who may be able to identify some of the individuals in a group portrait. They may even be able to help suggest the date that an event took place. If you do not have the original, but they do, ask if you can see the original so that you can document as many identifiable characteristics as possible.
Identify the Medium
Using the above explanations of types of photographic images, identify what type of photograph it is. If the photograph is a carte-de-visite, you know that the photo was not from the 1830s.
Photographer’s Imprint
Many nineteenth-century and early-eighteenth century photographs contain the names of the photographers and the town where their studio was located. Using city directories and directories of photographers who worked in a specific area can sometimes provide clues of when a photo was taken and who the subjects may be in a photo. The following website is a wonderful research for photographer information in Great Britain and Ireland - https://www.cartedevisite.co.uk.
Internal Clues
Props, background, facial characteristics, clothing, personality - all of these details may become apparent under close examination. Props, backdrops, and signage, for example, can help identify when and where an image was taken. Facial characteristics can also assist in the identification process. In particular, it is helpful to look at the shape of the face, the eyes, the nose and nostrils, ears, hair patterns, eyebrows, and teeth.
Props and Backdrops
Studio photographers placed their subjects in deliberate settings using specific props and backdrops. People could supply their own props, and in some cases, this clue can be quite significant. For example, a woman posed in mourning clothes holding a man’s portrait may identify the death date of her husband or even a son.
Clothing & Style
Clothing can be very useful when dating a photograph. However, you need to be very careful when dating clothing as it is easy to make a mistake. Always double-check other images from the same period. Men’s clothing sees little change over the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Likewise, the basic elements of women’s clothing remained the same during these same centuries. However, the details of the garment in a woman's dress – the bodice, neckline, sleeves, and skirt – can help date a photo and further identify the person. The variety of these fashion styles varied from decade to decade. For example, the women below are not wearing corsets. This would indicate that these photos were taken after the outbreak of WW1 in 1914 when women were asked to stop buying corsets to free up metal for war production. The women are wearing lightweight dresses with little embellishment and practically no jewelry. Fabric was a commodity, and women took on a sense of practicality in their fashion choices during the war.
Architectural Details & Technical Information
Architectural details can be researched by consulting photographs, books, and maps. Identifying the architectural style of a home can help determine when a photo was taken. Technical elements can also be a clue. For example, the condition of a street may be a clue. Many local histories mention when paving of roads was introduced. The presence of gas and electric lights, telegraph lines, railroad tracks, fire hydrants, and bridges can also be dated.
My Own Family Photo Journey
This photo has been in my family for as long as I can remember. We assumed that it was my grandfather Thomas Murray and his mother Jessie Noble, taken in Scotland when he was a child.
My sister placed the photo in a frame years ago, and there it stayed, hanging on the wall for all of us to enjoy. The last time that I went home to New Jersey, I asked if I could take it out of the frame to examine it further. Covered by the frame was the name of the photographer - Chas Begbie in Stirling. When I turned the photo around, it said, "This is your mother. I was 18 years - Ma, 1903." My grandfather immigrated to America in 1929, and his mother would often send him photos. This photo was one of the many that he received.
My grandfather, Thomas Murray, was born in 1905; therefore, this little boy could not possibly be him as it is dated 1903. All of these years, we thought that this was my grandfather as a young boy with his mother. Now that I have documented my family tree, I know that his mother, Jessie Noble, was the fourth of nine siblings. Younger than her, she had three sisters - Annie, Grace, and Agnes, as well as one younger brother James. James was six years her junior. If she were 18 years old in this photo, her brother James would have been twelve. Though this little boy looks younger than twelve, it is likely him. It is possible, in Jessie's old age; she miscalculated her age slightly. She is possibly sixteen and her younger brother ten in this photo.
Though I am disappointed that I do not have a portrait of my grandfather at a young age, it is better to know the facts than to have false ideas of your family.
Located in Miami, Elizabeth Murray Vargas is a professional genealogist. She specializes U.S South-Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic states, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and the Spanish Caribbean. Her passion is immigrant research and tracing families back to their country of origin. Aside from taking private clients, Elizabeth is a ProGenealogist for Ancestry.com and does contract work for Trace.com. Visit her website at www.legacy-quest.com.
Comments