Photos Without Families

Robert Goddard had his photo taken in Bath, Maine. The facial hair reminds me of Abraham Lincoln, so looks like he favoured the same style. The following text has been changed since I originally shared it. Robert Goddard’s obituary from August 1910 in Lewiston Evening Journal sums up the most important milestones of his life: he was a moulder of iron and a dealer of ice. I initially mistook the business title for ice cream dealer. In my imagination I could picture Mr. Goddar

This beautiful woman was Elizabeth "Bettie" McKiel née Klyce from Brownsville, Tennessee. She was born in August 1845. Her father Andrew Jackson Klyce ran a carriage manufacturing business A. J. Klyce & Sons in Brownsville. When the Civil War began, Andrew joined the Confederate Army. I was not surprised to find out that the family owned 5 human beings in 1860 - a man, 42, a woman 30, a girl, 12, and two boys, 10 and 6, who lived in two slave houses on the Klyce property. I a

I recently acquired a bunch of identified photos of persons with German-sounding names that had been printed in the US, but they were...

This photo, printed in Albany, N.Y., came to me from Germany. I’ve identified the handsome fellow as Silas Ballin. I was told the Yiddish/Hebrew (?) writing underneath his name means “groom”. Was this photo taken on Silas’ wedding day? Another detail that caught my eye was his extravagant tie pin. At first I thought it was a symbol of some sorts. But I came to the conclusion that it was a custom-made tie pin bearing his initials SB. That young man certainly appreciated expens

This photo came to me from Germany, labelled "Onkel Oscar Möckel im Jahr 1886" (Uncle Oscar Möckel in the year 1886), but the photo was taken in Buffalo, New York. What was Uncle Oscar up to in America? I checked the Census lists first and indeed I found one 47-year-old Oscar F. Moeckel in the 1900 Census of Buffalo, Erie, N.Y., born in March 1853 in Germany. He had immigrated to the US in 1882, and according to the same Census, by 1900 he had been married for 14 years. Oscar

Thomas E. Snyder, a kind face from the past. He put on his best (and probably only) suit, tied a flower-patterned tie around his neck...

Under mum’s protective wing. Unconditional love in that gaze. Lillian & Max Ludlow, mother & son, photographed in the late 1910s. Max Marcus Ludlow was born to the Michigan couple William Joy Ludlow and Lillian née Niel in 1910 as their only child. Will and Lillian had got married on May 15, 1907, in Sandstone, Jackson in Michigan. Lillian had been born in 1882 and was 27 years old when she gave birth to Max. Father Will worked as a grocery store merchant and a cobbler. Fat

Little Margaret had a fun day at the Kirkness Studio in Baltimore. Her mama dolled her up with baby jewellery: a ring, a bracelet, a...

This photo is a true gem! Just look at all the writing on the back of the photo – 7 generations of names! Jane Thompson Moore Day Mother of Sarah Rogers Day Peck Jean Clare’s great great grandmother Daughter of Elizabeth Wylie & William Moore, at Washington Pa – in the house of her grandfather William Wylie Great-granddaughter of Jean Thompson and Robert Wylie Great-great-granddaughter of John Thompson of Thompsontown on the Juniata river Pa. Someone made quite the effort to

When I was a child, I LOVED my birthday parties. And not because I was expecting a lot of gifts, but because I loved to throw birthday...

Just your typical Victorian era image of a cute baby, right? I look at this little darling with the biggest and brightest eyes and would...

I bought this image recently at my local flea market in Hamburg. It says on the back: "To cousin Charlie from your North Dakota cousins Magdalene and Hortensia Kruger March 28, 1915" Kruger (or Krüger) is a very common German surname, so my first guess was that the sisters’ parents or grandparents must have immigrated to North Dakota from Germany. How wonderful to imagine that back in those days of snail mail, families still kept in touch with the relatives overseas, spannin

Doesn’t your heart just melt when you look at these darlings? They were sisters Ruby and Gladys Niel from Midland in Michigan. Can’t the...

Sylvia Witt was born on January 7, 1900, as the second youngest of altogether 8 children of Henry Witt (1856-1934) and Anna Lyle née...

This beautiful person was Lillian Thayer. According to the previous owner of this lost photo, she was a school teacher, to whom they...

These two larger cabinet cards managed to stay together, despite travelling almost around the world from the United States to Spain and...

I published a blogpost about William Hayden Kuehn some time ago. Today I write about her fun auntie Cora Sheddy née Kuehn. And later I...

You know by now that I can’t resist an identified orphan photo. So when I saw five on sale by @old_magazines_and_books, all identified...

William Hayden Kuehn was born on November 26, 1904, in Philadelphia, Pa. His father Charles Henry Kuehn was a son of German immigrants,...

I got this photo from my Instagram friend Chase. There is just too much loveliness in this photo – a sweet child with her sweet pet and...