Posts Tagged ‘photographs’
Last week we started our family history research. This week we will explore our home for sources that will add information to our tree.
What is a Home Source? Anything that will provide facts on people in our family. This could be a birth or death certificate, funeral card, family Bible, old photographs, a diary, military records, and other documents.
Let’s start with family photographs. Do you have any really old photographs? Do your grandparents or aunts and uncles? Old photographs are a great place to start looking for information. Many times the names of the people are written on the back of the photograph or underneath if the photographs are in a scrapbook or album.
This photograph is of my grandfather – the tall boy standing. His name was Joseph Holik. His parents, John and Marie are seated. The boy on the far left is my great uncle John, the little boy is my great uncle Frank, the little girl is my great aunt Ella, and the tall girl on the right is my great aunt Mae. The photograph was taken in Chicago before 1920.
Next, look for old newspaper articles. Sometimes these can be found in family Bibles or scrapbooks. What information can you gather from a newspaper clipping? This example is a death notice of a great uncle, Emil Ratay(Rataj). From this article I learned a little about his military career and his death.
Do you have a family Bible? Does it contain the names and birth dates, marriage dates and death dates of any of your family? Who wrote in the Bible? Is it something that has been passed down for several generations?
What about military records? Did anyone in your family serve in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, World War I, World War II or other wars? Are there medals or patches from uniforms in your house? What about certificates or official discharge papers? All of these items can provide more clues about your relatives.
So what are you waiting for? Start looking for some Home Sources today. Check back tomorrow for more on Home Sources.