Antique (or other very old photos) thread

[frogmarch]

These 1870 tintype photos of my paternal grandfather at age three were in a box of family things my half-sister sent me recently.

My grandfather's father was in his mid-thirties when my grandfather, his first child, was born. My grandfather was 38 when my dad, his first child, was born, and my dad was in his mid-thirties when I, his only child, was born. I've discovered that most of the men in my dad's ancestral tree were in their mid-late thirties when they became fathers.

Care to share some old photos of your own? Please do. I love old photos!

[RainDog]

1. my parents

not nearly as old as those wonderful tintypes,

[frogmarch]

2. Ohhh, beautiful!

Is the photo from the 1950s?

What a fine picture of your parents. They make a very handsome couple.

[RainDog]

3. yes. pre- me or my sister

not sure the exact date, however.

[Aristus]

4. My grandfather during WWII:

Good-looking guy, huh?

[frogmarch]

8. Yes, very good-looking!

He was in the Navy, right?

[Aristus]

28. Coast Guard.

Apparently Havana was a favorite port of call. He learned to speak Spanish fluently, went fishing in Cuba all the time, and always had two or three senoritas hanging off him.

[Crabby Appleton]

5. There are some cool old pictures of Chicago at this link

http://www.friedmanfineart.net/chicago_1.html

[frogmarch]

10. Those are amazing!

Thanks for the link. I'm going to send it to some of my relatives who once lived in Chicago.

[Silver Swan]

6. This is my grandfather and his sister in 1890.

[gmoney]

9. Isn't he a little young to be a grandfather?

Oh... wait...

Cool photo

[frogmarch]

12. Precious!

Wow, what a wonderful photo! The children are adorable.

[Brickbat]

34. Your grandpa was Hubert Humphrey?

;)

[miscsoc]

45. That kid really is the spitting image

[Silver Swan]

55. Hubert Humphrey?

Never thought about it--here is a later photo of my grandfather.

[Brickbat]

57. Well there, not so much.

But as a kid "HHH" is the first thing I thought.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Charter Oak Ave. Home Guards, Co A 1st Cal. (Spanish American war)

Grandpa (1) and his brother (2) got caught up in the Yellow journalism fever of the day. The fact their uncle was a Rough Rider certainly contributed to their fervent patriotism.


Years later, Robert Mondavi raised his family in the same neighborhood rather than residing in the Charles Krug compound.

[frogmarch]

13. Fascinating! Now I'm

going to google for information on the Home Guards from the Spanish American War era.

[caitxrawks]

11. i LOVE these.

I'm in a bunch of old photo pools on Flickr. Can't get enough of them!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. A couple of real oldies here:

This is a picture of my great-great-great-great(?) grandfather (1775-1847). I'm not sure when it was taken, except obviously before 1847.



This one shows three of my great-great-great(?) uncles in their Union uniforms during the Civil War. The one in the middle was shot by a sniper during the invasion of Atlanta.

[frogmarch]

16. Wowzers!

Those are absolutely stunning photographs! It's wonderful you have them. Thanks for letting us see them!

[struggle4progress]

26. What's the technology of the top photo? Is it a paper calotype or is

the image directly on metal? Quick websearch indicates that use of a photographic negative, to produce a positive, wasn't invented until 1840 and that first method wasn't considered perfected until 1841: it produced brownish prints. Prior to that, the silver prints were negatives that could be viewed positively by reflection

[frogmarch]

29. I don't know the technology that

was used, but the images are directly on metal. I called them tintypes because the pictures are on metal. The only info I have about them is that the pictures were taken in 1870.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

33. I have no idea. It's a copy that's been kicking around the family for ages.

I don't know what the original was; I'm guessing it was a daguerrotype, since those were around before 1847. The picture was taken in Belfast, I think.

[struggle4progress]

35. Websearch suggests one and the same original Irish photographer was

doing the first Daguerrotype and calotype in Belfast after about 1840, so I suppose the technology of the photo may not be much help for dating there: still, the calotype required some minutes exposure in bright sunlight, and your relative could be outside with his back to a building wall and his arm on an architectural feature. The original, if you could ever get a peek at it, might contain some date clues, like a studio name. Anyway, it's an awesome photo ...

http://www.birrcastle.com/photographyHistory.asp
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-photography.html
http://www.cartedevisite.co.uk/dating/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

36. Cool! Thanks for the interesting research.

I had no idea that some of the earliest photography processes originated in Belfast, where my great, etc. grandfather lived. I will have to see if somebody still has the original of that photo.

[miscsoc]

44. This stuff is really amazing

It's incredible to think how many of these little windows into the past are just sitting around in peoples attics. I love looking at this stuff, it just delights me. That man was born in 1775! Christ! And I'm looking at him precisely as he was when he sat for that photo. No artistic licence. Just as he was.

[frogmarch]

15. My paternal grandparents

The first photo is of my grandfather, the boy pictured in my OP, when he graduated from law school in 1893. The second photo is a c. 1901 photo of my grandmother. It's a crop from a group photo taken when she was still a young schoolgirl. My grandfather was 37 when they married, and she was 21. She died during the 1918 Spanish Influenza epidemic, when my dad, their eldest child, was 12. My grandfather never remarried.

[miscsoc]

49. They are both hauntingly beautiful

haunting, I guess, due to the fact they are both so young in the photos but are so long gone. Photography can be truly eerie and unsettling in the way it preserves reality over such enormous periods of time.

[frogmarch]

67. They look that way to me too -

haunting and beautiful. They were both long gone before I was born, so all I can do is stare at their pictures and try to imagine what they were like.

In a box of family memorabilia, I found a letter my grandfather wrote to his sister in 1905, telling her he had met and fallen in love with a wonderful lady he hoped to one day marry. She became my grandmother. In a letter he wrote to his sister a year later, in 1906, he began by saying, "Tonight we have a son..." It was written the night my dad was born. It's very eerie reading letters like these and looking at the old pictures. My dad died more than 50 years ago, and I held in my hands a letter his father wrote on the night he was born. It really affects me emotionally. Makes me cry, actually.

[RockaFowler]

17. I love your pics

Here is my Grandparents and all of their children. This was taken in 1945 shortly after the war ended. It was taken in Alexandria, Egypt (where my family is from)



My dad is the young blonde boy in the back (the only blonde in the family). My Grandma Stella and Grandpa Isaac were two of a kind (she was 100% Italian and he was French/Morrocan). And they had 13 children.

[frogmarch]

18. Besides being the only

blonde in the family, your dad is the only person smiling in the photo. Maybe it shows that blondes really do have more fun. :-)

What a handsome family they are. Thirteen children, wow!

[annabanana]

19. Four generations from my Mom's side

At "The Farm" in upstate NY

[frogmarch]

20. Mind boggling

Do you know when, or approximately when, it was taken?

Not only are the people themselves fascinating to look at, but so are the wall hangings,, dishes, furniture and carpet!

[annabanana]

21. I'm guessing mid 1800's. We still have pieces of the tea set. . n/t

[elana i am]

22. you might like this site...

http://www.shorpy.com/

it's all about old photos.

[frogmarch]

23. Thanks!

What a neat site!

[mcctatas]

24. My grandma Ginny in 1940...

she just had her 90th Birthday party and her favorite thing was that, for the first time in her life and in her house, Democrats outnumbered Republicans. She is also the one who says "A working man voting Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders"

[frogmarch]

25. Smart lady!

I very much like your grandma Ginny!

May she have many more happy birthdays.

[ColesCountyDem]

27. I wish I had a flatbed scanner.

I just inherited a HUGE box of old photos of both sets of grandparents, some taken in Wales and Italy, some taken after they'd immigrated to the US.

[frogmarch]

32. Wow, what a treasure!

I hope you can get a scanner soon. Pictures of both sets of your grandparents! Awesome!

[ColesCountyDem]

71. I'm so very fortunate in that regard.

My family tend to be pack rats about photos, cards, letters, etc., and I am the lucky beneficiary of that quirk.

:)

[hunter]

30. OSHA would not approve...

Unfortunately, I don't know who these people are. The gal on the right looks like trouble.



My grandma, gangster moll.

[frogmarch]

31. The one on the right

looks like fun...or at least as if she's having fun standing there on the edge, taking another step forward...

Your "gangster moll" grandma looks very sweet, and I love the car!

[bluesbassman]

37. My grandfather on his West Texas chopper..

Great mileage, but the suspension was kinda stiff. :)

[hunter]

38. I've always wondered about those balls they put on a bull's horns...

If the animal is pissed off at you, wouldn't that just make the hole it punches in you bigger?

[frogmarch]

40. What a great picture!

Wow, look at the length of those horns!

haha - west Texas chopper. I wasn't expecting to see a man on a bull. Yep, bet the suspension took some getting used to. :-)

[MrScorpio]

39. My Great Grandmother and my Great Uncle

[frogmarch]

41. They were

on the cover of Life magazine? What year was this? Is there an article inside that relates to the photograph?

Very interesting!

[Brother Buzz]

42. That LIFE watermark might indicate there's a story associated with that photograph

I'm curious.

[miscsoc]

43. Life Magazine put a huge amount

of old scanned issues online, btw. It's an amazing resource

http://images.google.com/hosted/life

i'm interested in how the photo of yr ancestors got in there, too. wonder if the article might be on that site. if you know what issue that photo came from you could have a look around for it.

edit: ah, it's only the photos on that site, not full page scans, like google do with some newspapers.

[Brother Buzz]

53. More from the same shoot thanks to your link

I can't exactly hot link from the site, sorry

http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/47b5bbdf707e0d73_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/288389bdeacc6902_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/176e7e03d6cd9433_landing
http://www.gstatic.com/hostedimg/96dc127b81f6986a_landing

[MrScorpio]

54. Those were taken on McDougall St in Detroit

I grew up just down the street. My Mom's cousin moved into that house after my Great Grandmother passed away

[MrScorpio]

56. Here's another good one

[Brother Buzz]

60. That's closer to the image of the Joe Louis branded in my mind

Pre WWII. Which sister is your grandma?

[Gormy Cuss]

46. His great uncle was rather famous...

as MrScorpio has mentioned here in the past.

[Brother Buzz]

47. Silly me, I did not recognize the Brown Bomber

[MrScorpio]

51. No prob

[miscsoc]

48. ah!

all is explained. Is that his Mum?

I have no idea if a great grandmother can be the mother of a great uncle and am too lazy to try to work it out

[MrScorpio]

50. My grandmother was Joe Louis' oldest sister

Here he is with my Mom, who's sitting on the far right

[miscsoc]

52. When's that from

60s? That's a good photo too, with the haircuts and clothes and all. Like the way some of the people there haven't quite posed properly, we're getting a tiny bit of social awkwardness across the decades.

I'm going to ask my grandmothers about their photo collections next time I see them. I don't think I can really remember seeing them or any of my other older relatives young but they must have a bunch of photos somewhere.

[Demoiselle]

70. HEY! That's Joe Louis!

(On edit:) Oh good grief. I just read more of the thread. Of course it's Joe Louis.
Sorry for pointing out the obvious.

[Call Me Wesley]

58. Well, not this very old, but vintage:

My mom, London, early sixties:

[frogmarch]

63. Great photo! Your mom

is from my generation, I think - a very good generation!

What a perfect early 60s picture. Her hair, clothing and jewelry really take me back! :-)

[Call Me Wesley]

64. Check out her eyebrows ...

I mean, "Mom! I didn't know you had Sharpies back then! Really impressive!" :rofl:

But yes, she was pretty cute.

[frogmarch]

65. Hey, now...

in the 60s, eyebrows were stylish! Mine were quite impressive too. :-)

Yes, she is cute. :thumbsup:

[MissHoneychurch]

59. My grandmother before WW2

And the wedding pic of my other grandparents during WW2

[Rambis]

61. Reunion 1928

[frogmarch]

62. What a happy picture of

your grandmother before WWII. She looks like a delightful lady who was full of fun.

Your other grandparents look very regal in their wedding photograph. Lovely!

[proteus_lives]

68. Uniform: German Army?

Am I wrong? The collar made me wonder?

[MissHoneychurch]

73. Yes

Germany Army.

I am German :)

[proteus_lives]

93. WWII, I assume.

Where did he serve? Such things always interest me because I know a lot about my own grandfather's service.

[Burma Jones]

66. ok....

[frogmarch]

69. Oh!

What amazing photos!

When were they taken? The one of the little girl in the sheep buggy looks somewhat older than the upper photo. Was the upper photo taken in the late 1800s or early 1900s?

Tell us, please!

And is that a sheep, or is it a goat? (What a gorgeous little girl. She's precious.)

[Burma Jones]

74. Answers......

The little Girl in the buggy is my Paternal Grandmother and that photo was taken around 1910 and I think that's a sheep pulling the wagon.

The other photo is of my Paternal Grandfather's parents and was taken in the late 1800s




My Paternal Grandmother circa 1925




My Paternal Grandfather's Paternal Grandparents

[frogmarch]

78. Thanks for the answers. Your

grandmother had a beautiful smile at every age, didn't she? What a sweet face.

The photo of your great x3 grandparents is wonderful too. People look very stern in pictures from that time, even though some of them may not have been.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

72. Got a few.

Maternal grandparents about the time they got married in 1919.
Grandmother had a LOT of hair piled up!!!
They were both from Northern Mississippi and went to Mississippi A&M & became County Extension Agents.
She was the only one of my grandparents I knew. She died at age 86.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20612500@N02/3618334971/



Maternal Great-Grandma. You can tell where I got all that hair--that roll under the hat!
Vaiden, MS (Near Kosciuscko).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20612500@N02/4456557862/


Rome: Taken by Dad in 1943 while he was in the Army Air Corps. He and his friend, the navigator with a box camera, got bounced out the door by the Swiss Guards for taking pictures! He's the only person I ever knew who can't say "I've been thrown out of classier places than this!" :rofl:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/20612500@N02/4456557760/

Dad was a wild and crazy guy! His little brother was even crazier and was a die hard Socialist/Technocrat until he died.

[frogmarch]

79. Your grandmother and

great grandmother both had wonderful hair - very thick and wavy, according to the pictures. If your hair is too, be glad!

Your dad's picture of St. Peter's Basilica is great! Bet it makes you smile whenever you look at it, remembering what a "wild and crazy" guy your dad was to have taken it and gotten bounced out of there by the Swiss Guards. :-)

[Manifestor_of_Light]

91. Yep, I got the fabulous thick wavy hair.

Mom had it too, all her life.

Mine is thick and wavy. If it's fairly short, it will fall into ringlets when it dries, before I brush it in the morning. I wash it every night in the shower and dry it with a towel and go to bed with it wet. Sometimes it piles up on top of my head at night in a "surf's up" look. :rofl:
It was very blonde when I was little and now it's light ash brown.

Dad said those Swiss Guards were about seven feet high. I would watch the Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve every year just to see the inside of the Basilica. Dad would say "See that ledge up there, where the big letters are? You could drive a car around that ledge."

Army Air Corps didn't have a medal for getting bounced!! He played tourist a lot. Also said he had to frisk and disarm those "ugly Italian girls" (ROFL!).

He always loved Sophia Loren. He was into brunettes with good legs, which is why he married Mom.

[Steerpike]

75. Old Family Photos

[Steerpike]

76. More Relatives

[Steerpike]

77. last one

[frogmarch]

80. What an adorable little girl,

and she's dressed beautifully. Do you know when the picture was taken? I'm not good at guessing photo ages, but to me it looks as if it was taken sometime in the 1950s.

The picture is very sweet, whenever it was taken!

[Steerpike]

81. Good Morning

Taken in the early 50's in Nome Alaska...Have a niece that looks just like her too! Unfortunately, Auntie died young of cancer.

[frogmarch]

82. Oh, sorry that

your aunt died young, and of cancer. Sad. How nice, though, that you've niece who looks like her. In the picture, your aunt looks like a little doll. Precious.

[Steerpike]

83. The Family Lives on

Lots of different bloodlines here...

[frogmarch]

84. Wonderful!

That is a gorgeous picture, and I'm not referring only to the scenery. You have a charming family.

The other pictures you posted - the one of the two men and the one of the group of children - were those pictures taken in Alaska too?

[Steerpike]

94. Yup

all taken in Alaska in the early 50's, I believe Mt Edgecom hospital and school.

[Kali]

85. I have a lot but these are what I have loaded to photobucket

Gov. W. P. Hunt and the Texas Canyon baseball team circa 1913-14 (most were brothers/cousins of Great Grandfather)



the man with the rusty smudge on his rt shoulder is my Great Grandfather, picture taken at the annual birthday picnic for his mother, the woman seated 1918?



Dance Hall (wood floor now in my house) date? 20's or 30's? (prohibition?, I'm sure it wasn't there very long)



my grandfather (left) and his brother circa 1902-3 (he was born July 1900)

[frogmarch]

87. Those old photos are

marvelous! And how neat it is that you have the wooden dance floor in your house! Wow, those steps go up and up and up, don't they? What an odd place for a dance hall.

The baby pictures of your grandfather and granduncle is really something. What a scene - two babies sitting outside on chairs, surrounded by nature - including a horse.

The one showing your great-grandfather and your great-great grandmother at her birthday party is really something too. Wow. So is the one of the baseball team.

Great pictures!

[Kali]

89. thanks

I and my kids are the 4th and 5th generation to live and work this place. My youngest was born here. We have some serious roots.

I really need to scan some more of the old pix and documents.

[hunter]

86. My great aunt and great grandfather, San Francisco

Maybe a year after the Great Quake and before my grandma was born.

My great aunt remembered wandering off as a toddler into one of the tent cities of "the colored folks," and that it was great fun for her, but petrifying for her parents.

I believe the woman in the picture is my great-great grandmother. And maybe that's the shadow of my great grandmother holding the camera and wearing a hat.

My great aunt and her dad were always trouble. I look at this picture and it's amazing to see my great grandfather as a young proud twenty-something man wearing a fancy suit. He was already an up-and-coming businessman by then, maybe because his more established competitors in their fancy downtown offices had been reduced to smoldering ruble.

[frogmarch]

88. Thanks for

posting the photo and for giving us some information to go along with it.

The lady in the dress looks stunning. The dress looks gorgeous, and she looks quite regal. Aww, and the cute little girl with her teddy bear - how adorable! She was always trouble? I don't believe it, as cute as she looks in the picture! Your great-grandfather looks very distinguished and handsome. What is that style of hat called? I don't recall ever seeing anything like it.

[hunter]

90. Ahah! It's a derby, as in Hollywood's Brown Derby restaurant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Derby

Coincidentally my great aunt grew up to be a wild young thing in Hollywood where she met the first of her several husbands and (gasp! horrors!) eloped with him.

I have a scrapbook of hers where all the photographs of her first husband are literally defaced. I have several pictures of my great aunt standing with various Hollywood celebrities and some guy with his face torn off.

Their's must have been an ugly breakup.

[hippywife]

92. Great idea for a thread.

I don't have any of my family. They are all back in Ohio and I'm the only one that lives away.

:hi: