Featured A name with a face

I recently did some conservation work on some ambrotypes and a tintype for a friend of mine. The images are all of her family members, but unfortunately unidentified. These have been stored for years, and anyone that might have been able to tell who they were is long since gone.

The first is a handsome young man. This image is a 9th plate ambrotype, backed with black cloth. The case is missing its cover, but the preserver and cover glass are good. It has both a rectangular mat and an oval mat (I haven't encountered a double mat before).

The second image is also a 9th plate ambro of a young woman and is backed with japanned tin. This is also missing the front half of the case.

The third image is a 6th plate ambrotype, and the case is intact, but fragile. This one is backed with black velvet that has faded to a dark brown. This woman bears an amazing resemblance to the lady that own the images.

The fourth image is a 9th tintype, housed in a complete, undamaged, octagonal union case. He is wearing a Confederate uniform, but as with the others, my friend only knew that these were her ancestors, but not their names...

I asked her to send me any genealogical information she could find on ancestors that served in the ACW. She sent a list of 10 names, with birth/death dates and units in which they served. I ruled out a couple of names, as they were War of 1812 veterans. The remaining 8 names were all CS soldiers, but only 3 had birthdates that seemed right. The man in the image appears to be in his 40's, which would mean he was born in the 1810's to 1820's. With those 3 names, I started looking at the various genealogical websites, and found a photo of one of the men, taken years after the War.

Thomas Cody Green, born in Edgefield, SC, in 1818, was living in Barbour County, Al, when he enlisted in the 4th Alabama Reserve Infantry in 1864. This man was my friend's great-great-great grandfather, and he lived until 1899. In both photos he wears the same beard style, and there are enough similarities of features that I'm convinced I was able to give this man's name to his photograph.

 

I bet he was a Civil War veteran. I'd have been the right age, and the first image looks like the pictures guys had taken before shipping out.

 

You did a fine job freshening them up. Bravo!

 

These look very good after the conservations. Great work!

 

Here is the wonderful octagonal union case, before and after cleaning:







The procedure I used for this was a few toothpicks, with cotton twisted onto the tip and very slightly moistened.

 

OOH! NICE! I bet it's worth a few dollars too.

 

I would guess that the monetary value of this particular image, being in an unusual, undamaged case, with the subject being at least tentatively ID'd, and in CS uniform is probably a few hundred dollars, and possible more. That's irrelevant, though, as it's a family heirloom and the woman that owns it has no intention of parting with it.

Interesting to speculate on, though, isn't it?

 

You have to wonder. Photos from my family would be something you'd likely have to pay someone to haul off.

 

Hi Everyone!
Frank - the photos are very cool! You did a nice job cleaning them up.

This is a hint for those who _DO_ have some named old family cabinet cards and tin types but don't know what to do with them...

I was the family member who inherited all our family old albums.
Like most families these days; the younger gen do not seem to want to keep the cherished family albums. "Yes, Mom, if you put them all on a disc or thumb drive, I'll take a copy..."

My sister and I took a day and put them all on her laptop and then with an edit program, she cleaned them up (her expertise - career wise - contribution) - and sent them back on a thumb drive.

We were VERY fortunate that most images DID have names on them. If not a last name, at least a first.

I'm not trying to sell this ancestry site; but I did stumble into it and it is FREE - unlike so many ancestry sites. I'm not an necessarily an advocate of the Mormon religion, but their Familysearch.com genealogy tree site is pretty amazing.

When I found the Family search site... all I did to register, was give my name, email and birthday. Then linked in myself, husband, both our parents and all 4 sets of grandparents... and BINGO! The REST of the documentation was already there! Some lines back to 1400, and including our non-English speaking ancestors.

I have found virtually no errors when I compared the site to the hand research that my mother did. I did find a duplicate: easily corrected. And, I have never received any solicitation from them. They have a 24/7 help line, almost no wait time. Pleasant knowledgeable staff who can walk you through ANY issue you may have...from adding a new tree/person to working through a duplication...

The thing is: my mother had documented (the old fashioned way) for 40 years and had dozen's of our family lines documented...boxes and boxes of paper!!! It was her last wish that I or my sister HAND add everything to "some" genealogical site. We lovingly declined and promised that we WOULD find a home for everything and it would not go in the dumpster.

I was able to keep that promise; by taking it to a Cornish Genealogical site (Van Opie and Pelt on the campus of Michigan Tech) in the upper peninsula. THAT info IS now on line and "I" did not have to actually "do" it! I will now be sending our cornish cabinet cards to the Van Opie and Pelt. My mother's line was Cornish... Dad's isn't...I'll have to find some other center for his.

My point about photos is that now; between the Cornish Genealogical site... and the Family search site... ALL our important historic photos are recorded.

It is one thing to have an old album and have grandma point to each one (or even if it says) Great Aunt so and so and Great Uncle so and so - twice removed. Honestly, if you didn't KNOW those people it makes absolutely no sense as to where you and they fit into a family tree.

With a tree already "in place" on the web.... which allows you to easily add their photos... all of a sudden it makes so much more sense!

I was also able to by process of elimination and cross checking - determine if "Aunt Lizzie" was Aunt Lizzie "Bean" or Aunt Lizzie "Kurt". So, I did log all those family photos - probably 150+ cabinet cards, pre- 1940 and tin types into the family search pages. Each person is given a unique number. I could add that unique number to each card. It is actually kind of a thrill to be able to zoom out on your page...and see the tree of faces come to light.

Now that tote of cabinet cards can be take to the Cornish Genealogical Site, which will utilize Family Search, they will be able to link the two sites together with that unique number on each photo. The Van Opie and Pelt was over the moon about it.

I wish I had a better suggestion for those of you who do not know the names and are likely never to know now. I guess the best suggestion is try to keep up with naming your digital photos or old snapshots before it is too late. Sigh...another project I need to do...

Cheerio for now,
Leslie