Great Great Grandmother Jane
Posted on: January 15, 2015I 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 old photograph, and only $5!
I used Ancestry.com to try decode the handwriting on the back and hopefully make a connection to either census records or a preexisting family tree. When I was able to figure out the name, I was able to trace it down to someone who had died recently and to an obituary with the names of living relatives. Those always help.
I first got in touch with her great great grandson Houston, but he no longer lived in Memphis (where I live), so he put me in touch with his sister, Emily. She was very happy to hear about the photograph, but with the holidays, setting up a meeting to give her the photograph just wasn’t working out.
On 15 January 2015, I packaged the framed photograph and left it at her door for her to find when she came home as she was out of town. She was quite happy to see it once she got home.
She also gave me $20, which I put toward future vintage items I intend to reunite.
