How to Use Photographs to Trace Ancestors

Use photographs for ancestry and genealogy research.

One day, I looked through a series of photographs of an individual taken in the early 1900s. For the first time, I noticed the writing on the window behind the row of carriages. I took out my magnifying glass and looked closer to find the company’s name (Spanish Fork Co-op), its established date, and related information. I learned more about the co-op and found that my great-great-grandfather was president. That piece of information was just the beginning of the stories and documents that helped me build my knowledge of that generation and their place in my history.

Use Photographs to Expand Your Historical Family Research. Introduction to how you can use photographs to tell the story and expand your research for individual and family research. Learn about the types of clues that are in plain sight but often overlooked.

Also see the video:

Clues found in Photographs

Now, as I look at photographs of individuals, I see important clues that are so prominently displayed but so innocently overlooked. Next time you look at photographs, search for the following clues to help in your research:

Photographer’s imprint

Photographers placed imprints in different places, depending on the type of image. The imprint can be on the front cardboard mount, the back of the image, or some images’ lower right corner. Imprints include the photographer’s surname and sometimes the location where they operated their business. Try these resources for additional help researching photographers. With this information, you can do a Google or other online search. On one of the photographs in my collection, I saw the imprint of George Anderson. I did a Google search on the name and included Utah County, Utah. My search results included a listing for the BYU archives, which housed over 12,000 images taken by George Edward Anderson. As I searched the database, I found over 200 images relating to my family, most of which did not have anyone in my family.

Military uniforms

Pay attention to the hats, braiding, patches, shape and style of pants and jackets, and any props included in a military uniform. Consult one of the many encyclopedias for the military dress. With the help of a shoulder patch from a WWI photo, I could secure details about the individual’s unit and military records.

Work or trade dress

Throughout the 1800s and 1900s, uniforms were an essential part of defining individuals and who they were the world over. Even today, in many countries, the uniform is as important as the job itself. In many of the photos I’ve seen, men wore loose shirts, work pants, and sometimes hats. Tradespeople were known to wear more distinctive clothing that identified their occupation, which can help place them in a geographic context. Look for individuals who posed for portraits with the tools of their trade.

  • Ethnic or regional variations. People were proud of their heritage. Look for ethnic and regional dress reflecting the local culture. Pay attention to any details in a person’s dress that does not reflect contemporary fashion.
  • Postal clues. Family pictures were often used as postcards, and I’ve used the postmark and stamps to define periods and location. Don’t forget to check the back of the card for a message.
  • Props. Many photographs of individuals include props, and a prop can tell you where a picture was taken. Interior scenes can reveal products, furniture, and even religious beliefs.
  • Location. Outdoor pictures contain scenery, signage, and buildings, and these can all help determine where the picture was taken.
  • Celebrations. Since families document their history in photographs of events like weddings, baptisms, holidays, and even deaths, look carefully for extra clues that give clues to the location and ethnic roots.

Include photograph information in your timelines

I have used clues found in the photographs to help trace an individual’s immigration and migration.

One of my main objectives as a writer, historian or genealogist has been to re-gather the record from generations past, which includes many precious and one-of-a-kind photographs, which I preserved, documented, and shared with members of my immediate and extended family. Look for photographs by asking relatives. Re-examine your research and see if documents and histories contain photographs. For instance, starting in 1929, all Declarations of Intentions required a picture of the individual seeking citizenship. Alien registration cards and pass¬ports also contain images of individuals. Make sure you search library, archive, genealogical, and historical society collections. Once you learn who an individuals’ friends were, contact the family historian or genealogist and request to see if some documents or photographs document the relationship between families.

As a matter of practice, when you look at ancestral photographs, ask yourself these questions to recognize available information:

  • What do you know about the image?
  • Who was its previous owner?
  • How did it come to be in your possession?
  • Are there any stories associated with it?
  • Why was it taken?
  • When was it taken?
  • Do you know any of the people in the picture?
  • Did a family member supply the identification?

When you can’t identify the photograph on your own, show the picture to as many relatives as possible. You don’t know when someone will have an identical copy. Post it on your website or someone else’s. Several sites help to identify photographs or reconnect people with lost family photographs.

Bring individuals to life with photographs

Living family members may not understand your passion for all the “dry” vital data. When you start putting photographs and stories with names and dates, suddenly they become real people with real lives that you and your family can begin to relate to on a personal basis.

I worked with family members to commemorate the 150th anniversary of a family immigrating from Wales to America in a recent project.
My direct ancestor had six children, and the project involved working with each family line that stemmed from the six children to gather artifacts. As family members worked together, photos, histories, news articles and related documents have cropped up where we least expected in attics, closets, drawers, neighbors’ homes, local histories, libraries, museums and archives.

Together we have gathered several hundred items scanned and put them in a format to share with all the families.

There were many pleasant surprises during the project. For example, many of the photos were taken by George Edward Anderson. I was aware of a collection of 12,000 Anderson photographs that Brigham Young University had digitized. I went to its database and searched on the family names and found more than 100 photographs related to the six family lines, 75 percent of which were never seen by any of the family. Some photos were gathered from microfilm images used for obituaries and news articles, and I placed the article in a microfilm scanner and captured surprisingly good images.

We have found photographs of each other’s family lines through the project. Most of the searching for photographs had been done in their lines. We forget that these people were brothers and sisters, they engaged in family outings, they sent each other pictures of each other’s children, marriages, etc. So the project has been valuable from many different directions.

Identifying photographs

Now that you have located photographs, the next step is correctly identifying the images. Treat the photos with great care. Do not turn the photo over and start writing, which will damage the photo. The method I use is to scan the photo and name the image. I will then enter the following data into a photoblog. The information recorded is as follows:

  • Date (or about the date “circa”) of the photograph
  • Names of individuals in the photograph, in the order they appear, recorded in such a way as not to confuse anyone at a later date
  • The ages of the individuals
  • The circumstances around which the picture was taken
  • Who took a photograph, if known
  • If there is an original negative, where it is located
  • If the photograph is a copy of an original, where the original is located

The information is valid for images that have been captured from tombstones, newspapers, etc. Add any other information to help find where the photo came from, such as the cemetery and lot number, paper, tissue, and page number.

Use photographs in your research

I have personally used photos to help research in the following ways:

  • Placing an individual at a place and time
  • Confirming the death of a person from images of funerals
  • Identifying friends and other family and asking where to go to locate information about the family
  • Identifying clothing, tools, home furnishings, etc., that help tell about the period and life
  • Finding individuals and family members that were born in the 1700s
  • Seeing family at different times in their life
  • Looking at house numbers, license plates, etc., provide clues of where else to look
  • Uniform or work clothing can lead to information stored by a company or union
  • The back of photos offer information about individuals
  • Identifying family members that may not be known about

Other Records to Help in Ancestry Research

Where can I learn more about how to trace ancestry?

The following are important articles for learning about ancestry and historical research.

Where can I learn more about records to trace ancestry?

The following is an overview of 15 types of vital, government and historical records I have found constantly valuable in my individual, family, and narrative research. These records provide vital and biographical information on individuals and families. When I mastered researching these resources, I could quickly expand my research to other records to help me connect the pieces for writing narratives and other historical research.

For each record type, I have included what you will find, how to use the resource, and research insights for each record type. I would encourage you to use this article as a starting point from which you can search out and find other record tutorials guides and help to provide deeper insights.