Lost Family Heirlooms
Vintage items lost over time, returning to their families.
Lost And Found
Lost family photos are on their way back home.
A Happy Ending
Stories of lost items returned to families all over the country.

Dog Tags

Long lost military dog tags returned to families.

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Photographs

Found photographs and albums.

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Record Books

Wedding albums, baby books, yearbooks, and more!

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Mayor Family Photos

I purchased these photographs at Antique Warehouse Mall in January 2016 and did the same thing as my previous post, I posted them on Ancestry.com. I researched and created a family tree for the Mayor family, then posted these photos. On 13 October 2019, I received a message on Ancestry from a relative asking about […]

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Stewart Family Photos

I purchased this batch of photographs at Antique Warehouse Mall in February 2017. This return is a bit different than the others. I photographed and posted all the images to a family tree on Ancestry.com for anyone that may be searching for family since I wasn’t able to track anyone down myself. A year later, […]

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Dorothy’s Wedding Record Book

I’ve had Dorothy’s 1940s “Bridal Chimes” wedding record album, which I purchased from Antique Gallery, for a couple of years.  It’s a beautiful record book published by C.R. Gibson & Company in Norwalk, Connecticut, and purchased as a gift from Dorothy’s friend Marie at The Goldstein-Migel Company in Waco, Texas.           […]

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Bucky’s Scrapbook

I purchased Bucky’s 1950s scrapbooks, photos, and school papers from Antique Warehouse in mid-2015 with the intent to repair and then research to return, but since it was so large, it ended up being put away in a suitcase until March 2016.   When I finished repairing the scrapbook last month, I then used Ancestry.com […]

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Harold Ray’s Dog Tag

I purchased a single dog tag from Antique Warehouse back in August 2015, about the same time that I returned Ira Monroe‘s dog tag to its family.  This newly acquired tag belonged to a man named Harold William Ray (1918-2006) who served in the Navy during World War II. Using Ancestry.com and Facebook, I was […]

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Gleasons Back Home for the Holidays

Since early summer, I have been collecting photographs from Antique Warehouse that once belonged to a family with the surname Gleason (many photos are about or over 100 years old). Since they are all spread out over a large family tree, and I have an Ancestry.com subscription, I decided to scan them all at a […]

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José the Chihuahua and his Paper Doll Family

I found these two 1950s Christmas cards in a box of stationary purchased last year at thrift shop Mid-South Outlet. They each came with four removable paper dolls (that fit right in Santa’s bag!) with the each person’s name, or nickname, on them: Buddy (Francis the father), Betty (Betand the mother), Lynda (their little angel), […]

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Patricia’s High School Photo Album

I found this large photo album at an antique shop a year or two ago at a thrift shop called City Thrift. It sat in my living room along with a bunch of other old photo albums I had and I had forgotten that it had photos in it as the others were all empty. […]

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Ira Monroe Dooley’s Dog Tag

This dog tag was part of my military collection.  The tag belonged to a man named Ira Monroe Dooley (1893-1963).  He served in both World War I and World War II To find its family, I used both Ancestry.com and Facebook on 1 August 2015.  I was able to locate one of his great-grandsons in […]

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Billie McCall Gray’s Book of Poems

I found an old address book at Second Time Around Flea Market in the Summer of 2014. It had been repurposed in the 1970s by an older woman named Billie McCall Gray into a book filled with typed and handwritten poems and writings, along with clippings, drawings, and a few pieces of mail.  I attempted […]

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Siblings Hattie and Charles

This is a cabinet card photograph, circa 1890, that I believe I picked up at at Sheffield Antique Mall a few years ago. I used Ancestry.com, and most likely an obituary, to discover that the baby, Charles, had a living grandson in Memphis, Tennessee. I contacted the grandson, John, in 18 March 2015 via Facebook. […]

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Harold’s High School Photos

I picked these photos up, along with a bunch of others (including the photo of Michael and Nancy), at Town Square Antique Mall in Collierville, Tennessee on 1 July 2015.  They are both of the same teenaged boy named Harold. The small photo was taken in 1930, when he was a sophomore, and the larger […]

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Michael and Nancy

I found this adorable snapshot of two children, siblings Michael and Nancy, at Town Square Antique Mall in Collierville, Tennessee on 1 July 2015. The photograph is dated “July 1939”. I used Ancestry.com to find relatives and was able to find a cousin of theirs on 3 July 2015. I discovered that the children grew […]

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Daner’s Dog Tags

I found these WWII dog tags once belonging to Daner Lee Starks (1909-1971) at Sheffield Antique Mall a few years ago. I sent a message to his daughter Myrtle on Ancestry.com in early 2014, but didn’t receive a reply until 3 July 2015. I discovered this is the only item, besides a tattered old photograph, […]

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Four Baby Birth Date Plates

I found these four adorable little plates at the Goodwill Riverdale Store on the 27th of March 2015. They were 99¢ each, so you know I just had to buy them! It didn’t take very long to find the owners of the plates, I found all of the “babies” on Facebook the same day. But […]

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Maxine and Leonard’s Music Career

I found these music papers at Antique Warehouse a few months ago.  They once belonged to a woman named Maxine Beel and her writing partner Leonard LaCour.  They both wrote music in the 1950s.  The papers include a letter from Mr. LaCour to Mrs. Beel, sheet music for a song called “Night Wind”, a recording […]

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My Mom’s Favourite Necklace

About ten years ago my parents’ house was robbed and the thief stole a lot, if not all, of the jewelry. One of my mom’s favourite necklaces, a star necklace my father had given her in 1975, was among them. She has been upset about losing that necklace ever since. On 25 February 2015, I […]

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Juanita’s Wedding

I got these papers, along with a bunch of others not belonging to Juanita, at Antique Warehouse a few months ago.  They came in a wonderful old suitcase which I didn’t take the time to go through until just last week. Juanita got married at the end of 1945, but they were still celebrating into […]

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Civitan Club Honor Certificate

I found this certificate at Second Time Around Flea Market in January of 2015. I did some research on ancestry.com and was quickly able to find the granddaughter of the man who received this wonderful certificate.  After contacting her on Facebook on 29 January 2015, I was able to return it to her in person […]

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Kathleen and Ira’s Wedding Album

I found this wedding album at Mid-South Outlet in their boutique section in January 2015. I thought it was such a beautiful album and it was so sad that it had somehow ended up in a thrift shop. I found their granddaughter, Kaydee, almost right away on Facebook that evening and sent her a message.  […]

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Jack Pirtle’s Chicken

I believe I acquired this circa 1905 cabinet card of Orva and Hershel Lewis from Sheffield Antique Mall in the mid-2000s. Upon researching the names years later, I came across the history page of the old website of Jack Pirtle’s Chicken. Young Orva would grow up to marry Jack Pirtle and the two of them […]

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Blanchard’s Twin Brother was a Cub Scout

I found Jimmy Tual‘s Cub Scout Graduation certificate at Second Time Around Flea Market. I can’t remember when I found it, because I kept it for quite a while. I thought it was cute and I like Cub/Boy Scout items. In December 2014, I decided to look up the names on the certificate. I was […]

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Photos Thought Lost in a Fire

I found a large batch of photographs, in a water damaged album, in the summer of 2014 that belonged a family with a baby born in the mid-1980s named Bobby. They were from Second Time Around Flea Market. I almost gave up looking for him, because I kept running into dead ends.  I put them […]

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Norma’s 1939 Baby Book

I think I came across this tiny baby book at Antique Warehouse in 2012 or 2013.  I researched the parents’ names in the book using Ancestry.com in early 2014. For some odd reason, the mother had never written the baby’s name in the book, but I was able to find out that it was Norma […]

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Great Great Grandmother Jane

I found this large beautiful old framed photograph, circa 1910, at a Goodwill store in Collierville, Tennessee. An usual place to find actual photographs of people. It had info written on the back that I couldn’t quite make out, but I thought I would take it home and give it a try. It’s a great […]

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Joseph and Mary Ella’s Marriage book

I found this beautiful little marriage book at a junky shop called Second Time Around Flea Market.  It belonged to a couple named Joseph and Mary Ella who were married on the 22 November 1940. Using a combination of Ancestry.com and FindAGrave.com, I was able to find Joseph’s stepdaughter, Michelle, on Facebook. “Oh my goodness. […]

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Chris’ Childhood Photos (2)

I found a batch of childhood photos belonging to a bother and sister that lived in West Memphis, Arkansas back in July 2014. The photos were in a junky shop called Second Time Around Flea Market. Upon returning in January of 2015, I found three more photographs that I believed to belong to Chris. It […]

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Chris’ Childhood Photos (1)

I found a batch of childhood photos belonging to a bother and sister that lived in West Memphis, Arkansas.  The photos were in a junky shop called Second Time Around Flea Market. I found out that the boy Chris, now grown, still lived in West Memphis, Arkansas, so I sent him a letter with color […]

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Kyle Knox “Taz” Anderson

I found this hospital birth certificate at a junky shop called Second Time Around Flea Market in the Summer of 2014. Great Falls native Kyle Knox Anderson, 38, of Memphis, Tenn., died of complications from Addison’s disease Saturday January 24, 2004, in Memphis. Visit Kyle Knox Anderson’s FindAGrave memorial. I returned the birth certificate to […]

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Quinby Family Photos

These are family photos that I had scanned for various relatives across the country that were related to a little family with the surname Quinby who lived in Teaneck, New Jersey beginning in the 1910s.  This is a small selection of the photographs that I scanned and sent to their descendants. I also split up […]

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Richard’s Parents’ Certificates & Diplomas

On 17 September 2013, I found four large framed certificates and diplomas at a thrift shop called City Thrift. They all once belonged to the parents of a New York man named Richard and I later found out, from him, that he had believed them all to be in storage! “Harmony, you do truly wonderful […]

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Elvin’s Dog Tags

I found these dog tags on eBay.com in 2013.  I was able to find the owner by contacting the funeral home that handled Elvin’s funeral. It turned out that not only did the owner of the funeral home in Jackson, Missouri know Elvin’s son Mark, but Mark worked just across the street from him!  So he […]

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The Stadsvold Children

I purchased these old cabinet card photographs on Etsy.com in 2013. After doing some research on Ancestry.com, I discovered these four adorable siblings were Mildred Geneva (1888-1988), Francis Herbert (1891-1965), Sidney Carl Joseph (1890-1972), and Stella Madeline (1893-1957) Stadvold of Fosston, Minnesota. Aren’t they adorable?! After exchanging messages with Francis Stadsvold’s great-grandson on Ancestry, I […]

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Lost In The Mail

This is a photo of Harold. I bought his photo at Sheffield Antique Mall. When I researched his name on Ancestry.com, I noticed that the photo scanned to the website was the exact same photograph, creases, rips, and all!!! I contacted the owner, Donna, of the family tree and the only explanation we could come up […]

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Kenny’s Childhood Photographs

I discovered someone on eBay was selling photos from a photo album with identified photographs. I purchased many of them with the intent of returning them. 287 photographs in all. Someone was missing their childhood! I was able to gather enough information from the photographs and found Kenny, now known as Kenneth, on Facebook. Unfortunately, […]

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Harry’s High School Yearbook

I happened to look up a friend of mine on Ancestry.com to see if I could find him in the yearbook section in July 2011.  Not only did I find his yearbook photo, but the yearbook that had been scanned into the system was Harry’s personal yearbook that he must have lost years before. I […]

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Henry’s Baby Photos

Little Henry was born at home in San Francisco in 1918 and his parents documented his life in photos. There were many photographs of Henry as a small child, far more than those shown below, plus a photo of Henry as a young teen then later in the military.  Between his time in the military […]

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Joe and Mary Rigali

These two children are Joseph Patrick (1898-1973) and Maria (b. Aug 1896) Rigali.  My mom gave me this photo as a gift, I believe she had purchased it at an antique shop while on a trip to Iowa.  It’s a very delicate photo. I did some research on the family, but could not find very […]

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