Saturday, July 27, 2019

Multiplying the Effort


My chief complaint, when serving as genealogical guinea pig, is that people mistake my bumbling demonstrations as lack of knowledge, when my goal is merely to provide a down-to-earth example of how almost anyone can tackle the same research problem. My hope, of course, is that others give it a try.

My greatest joy, on the other hand, is seeing someone follow suit and try something new, leading to a personal genealogical victory of sorts. I had the opportunity to hear of one such triumph yesterday.

It was over coffee—the place, it seems, where I conduct far more productive business than one would assume, given the social setting. I was meeting with a friend whom I had known for years, as we had been co-workers at not one, but two different agencies throughout our careers. A mutual friend of ours, now out of town, had recently contacted this friend with a proposal for a day trip: "Let's spend the day in Sonora."

Sonora, if you know anything about northern California geography—or recall having me mention the foothill town in one of my photo-rescuing posts—is one of those places which once drew throngs of people seeking their fortune from the Mother Lode of the California Gold Rush. Now, you need to bring your gold with you to Sonora it is a quaint tourist attraction, full of old-fashioned buildings and antique shops with collectibles to buy.

It was to those antique stores that my friend and her traveling companion headed recently. On the ninety minute drive up there, my friend mentioned how I go up to various foothill towns to search for abandoned old photographs to rescue and return to family members. She described the process I use, including which pictures become the most likely candidates for successful returns. By the time they arrived in Sonora, they were both primed to give their own experiment a try.

Of course, Sonora being the type of place it is, you will not find it surprising to learn my friends found several photographs to buy. (No, though it may seem like it, I did not purchase all available pictures at Sonora antique shops during my last visit; there are many more available for others to try their hand at the project.) Once back home, it didn't take my friend long to locate a descendant of an Italian family from the Chicago area whose nicely labeled family portrait had ended up in Sonora. Now, she was asking me about the next steps to take, excited to tell me about what she had already discovered in this pursuit of someone else's family tree. The excitement certainly is contagious!

Just enjoying this review of the process reminds me that I have a few more photographs remaining from my last foray to Sonora, myself. Perhaps next week, while in the background I continue wrestling with my Virginia kin, I can pull those pictures out and see about finding a way to send them home, too.


8 comments:

  1. I love the "photo reuniting" posts!

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    1. I'm glad to hear that, Miss Merry. That is always a process which, when completed, is very gratifying.

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  2. I have been able to reunite a small Victorian album and baptismal certificate with their families. The later required me to use the creepy stalker skills that we develop as genealogists. The problem, then, is how to approach the family without seeming like a creepy stalker. There was another situation in which I was a cousin to the couple in a photograph and was contacted by two different reuniters. That photograph had also made its way to California. I was able to act as the middle man to get it home. This has been one of the greatest benefits of the internet and social media. Go forth and have fun!

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    1. That's so wonderful to hear you have worked on your own reuniting projects! Although I agree--the hardest part is dealing with that final contact with the unsuspecting family. It does feel like being a creepy stalker, as you say. But so far, everyone I've contacted has been quite gracious--as well as glad to receive the photograph. And, in the end, that's the point, isn't it?!

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  3. Currently working on a photo project. Negatives from 100 years ago that came from grandparents Wisconsin house. Only should be 4 characters..... Nonno, Nonna, Mom, and my name sake - Aunt Nin. yet when the scan is complete and the image cleaned up there are surprises.... one was pigs!! never heard a pig story....... another are men sitting with my grandfather on porch stairs several seasons with BIG mustaches. Who are they? and it goes on and on with just enough pay off to keep going on and on.

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    1. What a fascinating project! Hope you are able to figure out who all those men with mustaches were!

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  4. They caught the bug! Mine has been on the shelf...just too much going on I barely get blogs read:)

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    1. That's understandable, considering what's been happening around your place lately, Far Side! But always remember, you're the one who has been the real inspiration behind a lot of people getting started with this same kind of project. We are all multiplying your efforts!

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