# How old are your oldest family photos?



## espresso2x (Apr 28, 2018)

How old are your oldest family photos?


----------



## weepete (Apr 29, 2018)

1940's I think for my extended family, there's one of my Grandad in his WWII army uniform, possibly a bit earlier as there's one of his parent's too I believe but I don't know when that was taken. They were miners, so photographs were not high on the list of priorites. Ther's photos my dad took from the 70's before I was born right the way through to my daughter who's now just turning 18. I think I may have photos for every year of my life but I know my daughter has.


----------



## smoke665 (Apr 29, 2018)

I still have boxes in storage that I need to go through, but so far the oldest I've found is a photo of my Great Grandparents, and my Grandfather at 1 yr old taken in 1898. It was their wedding picture   Photographers were not as plentiful back then, so it was a couple years after the marriage before they had a chance. Surprisingly still in better shape then some much newer.


----------



## espresso2x (Apr 29, 2018)

That's very fine Smoke, excellent! Thanks for posting. The oldest i have is a studio picture; my GGgrandmother seated, with my Ggrandfather (aged about ten y.o), my GGaunt, similar aged to him. His daughter (my grandmother) was born in 1902, so it's pretty early.

Another one (engagement, studio pictures) i notice the focus is on my Ggrandmother's ring finger, the hand atop a bible, rather than on her eyes. Nice point of style- it's subtle, i guess someone who wasn't a photographer might not notice.


----------



## smoke665 (Apr 29, 2018)

My maternal side wasn't much on pictures until about the 40's which is surprising because there's so much history on their side that I've managed to trace them back over 500 years to England. All I know from that point is that they immigrated from Scotland.  Unfortunately my Paternal side wasn't big on keeping records, and I am the sole repository of much of the family history, but they did like to be photographed. Here's one of my grandfather, in 1920 at Camp Custer, MI.


----------



## 480sparky (Apr 29, 2018)

The oldest photo I have of a family member of a _known_ date is my grandfather's school photo taken in 1914.  He's the tall one in back on the left in the second row.







The oldest _unknown_ date is one of my G-G-Grandmother, b. 1852 d. 1886.  She appears about 25 or 30, so I'll put a date of 1877-1882 on it.


----------



## dennybeall (Apr 29, 2018)

espresso2x said:


> How old are your oldest family photos?



This is prior to 1900 but not sure the exact date. A number of folks on the Forum took a shot at repairing this in the Challenges thread elsewhere on the Forum.


----------



## RowdyRay (Apr 29, 2018)

I'd have to ask dad. I KNOW there are some from the very early 1900's. Dad was born in 1940. My grandparents had trouble conceiving. Took about 10 years. (only child). So they had to have been married and built their house around 1930. One of the first to settle in the town I grew up in. THE first to build a house with a basement. There are pictures of the horse team that dug the hole. They are on display in the town hall and a local restaurant. 

But.....Grandma had a photo album of pictures before that. When she was a kid and her siblings. Who knows when that was. I'll have to see if it still exists and when it was.


----------



## espresso2x (Apr 29, 2018)

That's very interesting to read Smoke. You've done well to trace links that far, parish records get pretty sketchy by the 1700s. 



smoke665 said:


> My maternal side wasn't much on pictures until about the 40's which is surprising because there's so much history on their side that I've managed to trace them back over 500 years to England. All I know from that point is that they immigrated from Scotland.  Unfortunately my Paternal side wasn't big on keeping records, and I am the sole repository of much of the family history, but they did like to be photographed. Here's one of my grandfather, in 1920 at Camp Custer, MI.
> View attachment 157113


----------



## espresso2x (Apr 29, 2018)

That's the oldest school photo i've ever seen Sparky! What a lovely lady!



480sparky said:


> The oldest photo I have of a family member of a _known_ date is my grandfather's school photo taken in 1914.  He's the tall one in back on the left in the second row.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## espresso2x (Apr 29, 2018)

I love the tonality of the image, the lady's face! Beautiful !



dennybeall said:


> espresso2x said:
> 
> 
> > How old are your oldest family photos?
> ...


----------



## espresso2x (Apr 29, 2018)

Excellent! it's worth locating them. I'm amazed by the 10x8s and 7x5s i've been able to make digitally from some of the tiny prints passed down to me. Also seeing them on a 24" monitor, corrected for levels, contrast etc and restored.




RowdyRay said:


> I'd have to ask dad. I KNOW there are some from the very early 1900's. Dad was born in 1940. My grandparents had trouble conceiving. Took about 10 years. (only child). So they had to have been married and built their house around 1930. One of the first to settle in the town I grew up in. THE first to build a house with a basement. There are pictures of the horse team that dug the hole. They are on display in the town hall and a local restaurant.
> 
> But.....Grandma had a photo album of pictures before that. When she was a kid and her siblings. Who knows when that was. I'll have to see if it still exists and when it was.


----------



## terri (Apr 30, 2018)

There are a few that I haven't scanned yet from my mom, but here are a couple I've had for awhile.   The first one is from a photo I had to restore digitally and print out to hand color for her with photo oils.  The second is an actual silver gelatin print (I had a 4x5 copy negative), also hand colored with photo oils.

Here's one, circa 1910.   The little girl is my grandmother.    They lived on a farm in rural Missouri, and getting dressed up for the photo was an event.   You can see how happy they were to do it.



 

This one is also my grandmother when she started dating my grandfather, when she was 16 (she claimed).   Not certain of the year.


----------



## Fujidave (Apr 30, 2018)

I would have to ask my mum as she has old photos of her parents, my grandfather took a lot of photos back in the early 1900s time, plus I know mum has one from my great x2 grandfather.


----------



## 480sparky (Apr 30, 2018)

terri said:


> ..............This one is also my grandmother when she started dating my grandfather, when she was 16 (she claimed).   Not certain of the year.
> 
> 
> View attachment 157180



Total déjà vu!  My grandmother started dating my grandfather when she was 16!


----------



## mrca (Apr 30, 2018)

These are the classic reasons we should print.   I started shooting digital in the early 2000's on a camera that used a floppy disc.  I have no idea where they are and if I ever find them, I don't have a floppy disk player. That is how much technology has changed in 15 years.  In 50 or 60 years from now, after we croak and our kids are dividing up stuff, what do you think is going to happen to those photos on dvd's or hard drives?  If they can't read them, they will probably be thrown out.  If the truly precious ones are printed with archival inks and paper that are now rated for up to 200 years, I'll bet they will be fighting over those pictures, not your  couch.


----------



## smoke665 (Apr 30, 2018)

@mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.


----------



## espresso2x (May 1, 2018)

terri said:


> There are a few that I haven't scanned yet from my mom, but here are a couple I've had for awhile.   The first one is from a photo I had to restore digitally and print out to hand color for her with photo oils.  The second is an actual silver gelatin print (I had a 4x5 copy negative), also hand colored with photo oils.
> 
> Here's one, circa 1910.   The little girl is my grandmother.    They lived on a farm in rural Missouri, and getting dressed up for the photo was an event.   You can see how happy they were to do it.
> 
> ...


Great pictures Terri !


----------



## espresso2x (May 1, 2018)

I agree, the knowledge is as important.



smoke665 said:


> @mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.


----------



## dennybeall (May 1, 2018)

smoke665 said:


> @mrca that depends, I have several boxes of prints that I don't have a clue on. Parents, Grandparents, were bad about not putting notations on the back. So as they all passed on so did the knowledge of who the people were.



Have you looked on the backs of the photos? I have a box of old photos like that and there were enough notes on the back that most of the people were id'd somewhere.


----------



## smoke665 (May 1, 2018)

dennybeall said:


> Have you looked on the backs of the photos? I have a box of old photos like that and there were enough notes on the back that most of the people were id'd somewhere.



Yes


----------



## petrochemist (May 1, 2018)

I'm not sure of the exact age but I have Daguerreotypes of a great great great grandfather & his wife who I believe died in 1858 & 1863 respectively. The photos were clearly taken towards the end of their lives, presumably in the 1850's Neither is in particularly good condition.











Another GGG GF lived long enough for a much better preserved (tintype?) probably in the 1870s:





I have other branches of the tree that have old photos still to investigate, but I doubt they will go back as far. I don't think I even know the names of any on my fathers side going back this far.

There are also a selection of miniature family portraits from further back (pre 1800 I think) but unfortunately I've no record of who each one is. I don't suppose my photos of these would count!


----------



## espresso2x (May 1, 2018)

That's super ! Some of the earliest, commercial portraits perhaps? Were these made in GB or where?



petrochemist said:


> I'm not sure of the exact age but I have Daguerreotypes of a great great great grandfather & his wife who I believe died in 1858 & 1863 respectively.


----------



## Jeff15 (May 1, 2018)

My dad, taken in 1938


----------



## petrochemist (May 1, 2018)

espresso2x said:


> That's super ! Some of the earliest, commercial portraits perhaps? Were these made in GB or where?


Highly probably all made in England
I don't have much information on John & Minerva, both were born around London & presumably lived in the same area, I know Minerva died in Kensington & John was buried in Highgate so I'd expect the photos would have been taken in London as well. Unlike many later photos there's no indication of the Photographer on the ornate cases.
William (in the last picture) was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and came from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. He's one of the more significant members in my Family tree, having had 15 children from 3 wives, and providing links to a number of renowned persons...


----------



## Jeff15 (May 2, 2018)

This photograph would have been taken in Singapore just before the outbreak of WWII. Believe it or not my dad was there training Japanese officers in small arms (bare in mind Japan had been an ally of ours for the previous 300 years). After the fall of Singapore, my dad spent just over 4 years in a POW camp.


----------



## espresso2x (May 2, 2018)

Jeff15 said:


> This photograph would have been taken in Singapore just before the outbreak of WWII. Believe it or not my dad was there training Japanese officers in small arms (bare in mind Japan had been an ally of ours for the previous 300 years). After the fall of Singapore, my dad spent just over 4 years in a POW camp.



That's very heavy Jeff. I feel empathy for you.


----------



## Jeff15 (May 2, 2018)

I actually owe my life to the Atom bomb


----------

