Finding Tiny Bits of Family History in Old Negatives

My late father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), was a lifelong photography buff, leaving behind hundreds of negatives, photos, and slides. Starting at the age of 14, he photographed his family, his home, his travels, and more.

As I reorganize Ed's collection in preparation for storing in archival albums, I'm  scanning some of the negatives he never printed. 

Turn negatives into photos

There are a number of apps that will do this (see Elizabeth Swanay O’Neal's Heart of the Family post here). 

Or do scan the negative, then invert the image using photo software (as I showed in my blog post here).

Once the negative is displayed electronically as a positive, it's much easier to enlarge and figure out who or what was photographed. Otherwise, the family history might remain trapped on the negative--which may deteriorate before too long.

Enlarge and look for clues

The photo at top, from a negative I scanned and inverted, was taken about 1919 by Ed Wood. It was sandwiched between photos of his brothers, which were dated that year (this particular negative had no date). 

Enlarged on the screen, a clue stood out. Reflected in the mirror is the headboard of a bed. My husband and I recognized its distinctive shape instantly, because one almost exactly like it was part of the Wood family's household for decades. Perhaps Ed's father, a busy carpenter and builder, made the headboards for the family? 

With this clue in mind, I strongly believe we're looking at the bedroom of my husband's grandparents--the parents of the teenaged photographer who snapped the photo circa 1919. 

My hubby noticed that there's no doorknob on the door, only an old-fashioned latch that lifts, with a bolt for locking. I'm charmed by the wallpaper and the fabric covering the shelf, plus the graceful chair--a glimpse of how these ancestors lived.

By turning negatives into viewable photos and enlarging the images, it's easier to notice and share clues like these--tiny insights into the family's past. 

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For more ideas about preserving the family's past for the sake of future generations, please see my recently updated book (available in print or as an ebook), Planning a Future for Your Family's Past.

Elusive Ancestors Hiding in the 1950 US Census

The positives: I've had very good success finding many ancestors in the recently released 1950 US Census. 

The negatives: Some folks remain stubbornly elusive. 

No 1950ish address

The top reason I haven't found a particular ancestor is because I have no 1950ish address. Even if I have a 1940s address, some of these people moved frequently.  Remember, it was a time of great mobility in America and there was also an acute housing shortage in many regions.

Where's wounded WWI vet Frank Maurice Jacobs (1896-1974), my 1c2r? I'd hoped he was still living in the residential Hotel Tudor in New York City, which was his 1942 address while working in the advertising industry. Nope, he didn't show up when I browsed the many dozens of pages for that Enumeration District. With no 1950 address, he could be anywhere in Manhattan (or possibly an outer borough, although I doubt it). When full indexing is complete for New York, I'll do a deep search for him by given name, middle initial, and birthplace, with possibly other search twists.

No longer living on own

Another reason I haven't found an older ancestor is because he or she moved into a retirement home or was living with an adult child whose address I don't yet know.

This might very well be the case with hubby's great aunt Nellie (Rachel Ellen) Wood Kirby (1864-1954), who has been elusive, as I wrote a few days ago. In the 1940 Census, Nellie was in a Chicago apartment. When she died in 1954, she was in a nursing home. I've browsed the Census for both Enumeration Districts and she turned up in neither place. She's on the back burner until full indexing for Illinois is ready and I can search by name and birthplace and/or other search parameters.

Wood, Smith: common names

Let's face it: Wood, my husband's surname, isn't exactly unique. His uncle John A. Wood (1908-1980) is a tough case, since I don't yet have a clue which state, let alone which county, he might have been in. I know his 1951 address when he got married--but he wasn't there in 1950 when I looked! He's on the back burner until full indexing for Indiana and nearby states has been completed. Then I can search for him with his middle initial and birthplace and/or other search parameters.

Similarly, my great aunt Sarah Mahler married a man named Sam Smith and they moved to California during the 1940s. Sam never used a middle initial. When full indexing is ready, I'll search for a household with Sam, Sarah, and one of their children, or use some other creative strategy--they can run but they can't hide. 

Searching by name, initial, birthplace, and/or other fields (like age) might turn my negatives into more positive results!

PS: Try searching state, county, surname on NARA IF not a big city

Before the Census is fully indexed for all states by those big genealogy sites, try searching state, county, and surname on the US National Archives 1950 Census page. That's only if your target ancestor was NOT in a big city.

I wanted to find my hubby's grandfather Brice L. McClure, who wasn't where the family remembered him living in 1950. After a variety of searches that went nowhere, I tried looking where he and his late wife had lived when she died in 1948--in a town in Wyandot county, Ohio. 

Success! He was living in that very same house, about to sell it and move out of the county. But not yet. So even before the big genealogy sites finish indexing bit states, try the NARA site because its indexing is fair enough to find someone, even with creative spelling.

"Negatives" - Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors theme for week 16.

Happy Easter Photo from 1913

 

Alas, I never met my late mom-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood (1909-1983). She was the beloved only child of Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) and Floyda Mabel Steiner McClure (1878-1948). 

Here she is, all dolled up for Easter, in a 1913 photo that I've colorized using My Heritage's photo enhancement tools. What an adorable face (made clearer by My Heritage)! 

Penny Postcards from Easter of 1914

 

In April of 1914, my hubby's uncle Wallis W. Wood (1905-1957) received two colorful Easter postcards. 

He lived in Cleveland, Ohio and received penny postal greetings for every conceivable holiday, sent by his Wood and Slatter relatives.

Shown at left is the postcard from his aunt, "Nellie" Wood Kirby (1864-1954) and her husband, Arthur Kirby (1860-1939). 

Nellie was an older sister of Wallis's father, James Edgar Wood (1871-1939).

 

Although I've tried to find Nellie in the 1950 US Census, I haven't yet succeeded. I checked the 1949 Chicago directory (online for free at the Library of Congress) and didn't see her name listed under Kirby. 

Nellie was living in a nursing home when she died, and I haven't found her there in the 1950 Census, nor at the address where she lived in 1945, according to the city directory. I'll keep looking!

Here's a pretty postcard sent to Wallis by his aunt Ada Mary Ann Slatter Baker (1868-1947), who lived in Toledo, Ohio when she mailed this card.

By 1920, Ada and her husband, James Sills Baker (1866-1937) were living in Cleveland and most likely visited with Wallis and his family quite often.

Ada was the older sister of Wallis's mother, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). 

Now 108 years later, these postcards live on in the Wood family's collection!

Lifespans at a Glance in New MyHeritage Feature

New feature alert!

At RootsTech, MyHeritage announced a number of new features. Today I tried the Family Tree Timeline.

Above, one example of how the timeline allows a graphical view of ancestors' lifespans. I can select any starting ancestor (here, my late mother-in-law, Marian Jane McClure Wood), and see as many as 9 generations back (here, I selected only 3 generations back). The color-coding tells me at a glance which ancestors belong to each branch, a practical visual reminder. 

I particularly like the age of death shown at right of each bar on the graph. When a death date isn't known, the bar fades in color and no "age at death" number appears. I can also turn on and off more complete info to be shown on each bar of the graph (such as birth/death years). I can use the length of each bar and the number at the end to analyze patterns (such as short or long lifespans in a particular branch).

This feature allows me to display or not, as I choose, major historical events (such as World War II), for context. Another useful element is a consistency checker, in which a dot next to a parent/child relationship alerts me to double-check dates (did I list a child's birth date that's after the mother's death, for instance?). 

Hovering over an ancestor's name on the timeline leads me to additional options, such as opening the profile to edit it or researching that ancestor. If I wish, I can download and/or share any timeline with a click. 

In short, I find this an easy and helpful way to visualize lifespans at a glance and put them into both family and historical context.

1950 US Census Project: FAN Club

My friend Paul, president of a local genealogy club, suggested a 1950 US Census project that sounds like fun as well as a great way to learn more about ancestors' FAN club (friends, associates, neighbors). 

After April 1, when the US Census is made public, we can not only search for ancestors, but look at who lived nearby. Whether we find each ancestor using the basic surname search or do homework to browse (as in this example) the proper Enumeration District, we can then click through each page in the ED to spot familiar names, addresses, ages, birthplace details, and much more.

Hello neighbor

This is a more deliberate effort to actively search out FAN club members. I usually look at the page before and after where my ancestor is in the ED, hoping to find other relatives or familiar names. But Paul's idea is to proactively search out FAN club names we already know as well as investigating the entire ED where an ancestor lives, looking for FAN club members we might not know or expect to find there.

Because my parents lived in a large apartment building in the Bronx, New York, I'll be browsing that ED to look at their neighbors. This 1950 US Census will also tell me more about my father's family, because his widowed mother, unmarried brother, and married sister lived in the same apartment building. 

Seeing who else was in each apartment, and reading about their background will help me understand family dynamics at that time. There may even be people who were temporarily visiting on Census Day--if I'm lucky, possibly a cousin or an aunt or someone's mother-in-law. Plus I'll be browsing for names of people on the block or around the corner that I remember my parents mentioning in conversation.

Friend, neighbor, in-law?

I'm lucky to have my mother's 1953ish address book with names, street addresses, and phone numbers of family and neighbors. I don't recognize every name, but some might be distant relatives and some might be in-laws. I'll be watching for them in the Census to clarify potential family connections.

Similarly, the 1950 Census will enable me to learn more about the names in my late father-in-law's diaries. He mentioned people who I suspect were friends and neighbors in Cleveland Heights. I'll search for them, see where they lived, how close their residence was to the Wood residence, and whether there are any fresh clues to relationships (business or personal). 

Paul will be searching for the surnames of kids he remembers from his early childhood. The outcome will be a map of his neighborhood, with relatives and FAN club members marked by location.

Will you be working on a 1950 US Census FAN club project?

Love the Valentine, Puzzled By the Spelling

This is a lovely, still colorful Valentine's Day postal greeting sent to my husband's ancestor in Cleveland, Ohio on February 12, 1912. 

That's 110 years ago tomorrow.

It was signed by the recipient's Aunt Nellie Wood Kirby and Uncle Arthur Kirby, who lived in Chicago, Illinois.

Nellie repeatedly used the wrong spelling for her young nephew's given name. This mistake puzzles me, since the boy was the son of her favorite brother. 

I saw the incorrect spelling on every single one of her penny postcards to this nephew. There were a lot of cards: She sent greetings for Christmas, New Year's, birthdays, Easter, and more, for at least a decade.

Wallace or Wallis?

As shown in the image at bottom, the postcard is addressed to "Wallace W. Wood." His name was actually "Wallis W. Wood."

This was a common error, repeated by more than one Census enumerator over the years. The ancestor's official documents (birth, marriage, death, military) reflect the correct spelling of Wallis. I've checked! 

Naming patterns as clues

Family naming patterns can be helpful but not definitive in evaluating online family trees. Since I'm married to another Wallis in this family, I'm very familiar with the naming patterns in his tree and the supporting documentation. That's how I know that Wallace is completely incorrect and Wallis is absolutely correct.

Over and over again, I see the incorrect spelling for this ancestor on other people's online trees. That's an extra-gigantic warning sign to BEWARE. Of course I always view online trees as possible clues and not fact, but I really steer clear when the tree owner hasn't taken the time to view and attach official documents reflecting the correctly named spelling of ancestors. 

Research and cite your sources! But don't necessarily trust names in the family's correspondence, as Nellie's Valentine demonstrates ;)

My post is part of the fun February Genealogy Blog Party about love stories. In this case, it's the Valentine I really love!

Favorite Photo That Led to a Breakthrough

 

This photo of a distinguished man in uniform was passed down in my husband's family for a century.

We had no idea who it was until 2011. 

After I posted the photo on my blog, two wonderful readers recognized the uniform, the big breakthrough I needed.

Capt. John Daniel Slatter

This is Captain John Daniel Slatter (1864-1954), in full regalia as Bandmaster of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto.

With a name and dates, I knew just where he should fit in the family tree.

Capt. Slatter is an older brother of hubby's grandma, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925). Now I had a new research angle to explore!

Over the next few months, I corresponded with the 48th Highlanders' museum in Toronto. Later, hubby and I drove up for a visit. We learned a great deal about Capt. Slatter's military career from the curators. In turn, we left them a family tree and biographical information to supplement the military artifacts and records in the museum's possession.

Bite-Sized Bio

More recently, I wrote a bite-sized bio to memorialize this legendary bandmaster, posting it on Family Search, Find a Grave, and other sites. It wasn't easy to squeeze his personal life and professional accomplishments into four paragraphs (with sources summarized at the end--see below). 

Thanks to eagle-eyed readers getting me started with the initial identification, I've now traced the Slatter family further back in time and can memorialize more ancestors with bite-sized bios on multiple genealogy websites. 

* This is my week 3 post for Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge, with the theme of "favorite photo."

Penny Postcard Christmas Greetings

 

More than 100 years in the past, this colorful penny postal greeting was sent by a loving aunt and uncle in the Wood family to a young nephew living in Cleveland, Ohio. 

This and other postcards are still in family hands today, much treasured and well preserved.

Dear readers, may you have a joyful Christmas!

For the Holidays, a Bite-Sized Family History Project

With Christmas fast approaching, I asked my wonderful hubby to please write a few lines about his childhood memories of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. He thought for a few minutes about what stood out, both the good and the not-so-good, and he wrote half a page. As we talked, more details started flooding back. Pretty soon he had a full page of memories, ranging from putting up the tree to singing carols as his father played the piano.

Illustrating written memories

Next, my hubby browsed old 35mm slides from his childhood and chose seven to go along with his written memories. He found slides of his siblings next to the tree, one of himself in pjs and robe on Christmas Day, one of his father (Edgar James Wood) testing a Christmas toy, one of his mother (Marian McClure Wood) in holiday finery, and one of his grandfather (Brice Larimer McClure) chatting with a grandchild on Christmas. 

As a holiday surprise, we're sending family members these images along with the page of memories. Even in a busy season, we found a couple of hours to assemble the project--and I'm sure recipients will find a few minutes to read the story and smile at the photos from decades in the past.

Of course we've been sharing these and other memories around the dinner table during this year's holiday celebrations. And making new memories for the future.

Bonus: "spot the heirloom"

Among the images scanned from old slides, my eye was drawn to the one at top. It shows the living room in hubby's childhood home in Cleveland, Ohio, festively decorated for Christmas exactly as he saw in his mind's eye. 

Next to the piano keyboard, on the left edge of the image, the camera captured a special heirloom that has been passed down in the family: his mother's handmade ceramic sculpture of a zebra. I marked it with a red box in the image above. 

My heart was touched by seeing my late mom-in-law's favorite little zebra on display in her living room. Some distant day, this little zebra and her other ceramics will be inherited by descendants, along with the stories and photos.

- This is my Genealogy Blog Party post for December 2021.

Penny Postcard Thanksgiving Greetings

 

More than a century ago, this colorful penny postal greeting was sent to my husband's uncle in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy and very healthy Thanksgiving! 

The Penny Postcard Craze and Family History

Early in the 20th century, my husband's Wood family stayed in touch frequently via colorful penny postal greetings. 

Any holiday or celebration was a great reason to write to a young relative.

Not just on birthdays but also for Abraham Lincoln's birthday and July 4th and everything in between!

Penny postcard craze

The Wood family was completely caught up in the postcard craze of that era. 

It really took off when the price of mailing a postcard was lowered from two cents to one cent. 

At the time, the highest quality postcards were printed in Germany and shipped across the Atlantic. Most of the postcards sent by Wood ancestors in Ohio and beyond were, in fact, made in Germany. 

Postcards as family history clues 

Wallis Wood (1905-1957), my hubby's uncle living in Cleveland, received dozens of birthday postcards during his preteen years. Happily, the family held onto these postcards over the years.

Thanks to the addresses and postmarks, I was able to track this Cleveland branch of the Wood family as they moved to different houses nearly every year from 1905 to 1917. 

Why? Because Wallis Wood's papa (James Edgar Wood, 1871-1939) was a home builder. 

James constructed a new house roughly every year, moved his family in as he finished the interior, and sold that home. Then he moved the family to another home being completed by his crew. 

James, his wife (Mary Slatter Wood, 1869-1925), and their four sons had lots of different addresses over the years. In between Census years and in between directory listings, the postcards showed me where they were living.

These are just three of the fun birthday postcards sent to Wallis before 1915.

This is my post for week #46 of Amy Johnson Crow's #52 Ancestors challenge.

Public and Private Ancestor Bios

Do you find it more challenging to write a public biography of ancestors you knew--especially those closest to you? I do.

I want key ancestors' bios to be available to distant relatives and future researchers in some form, whether posted on Find a Grave, Family Search, MyHeritage, WikiTree, or other sites where they can be found today and tomorrow. 

But I do make a distinction between public and private bios.

Writing it all down for family

Over the past decade, I've created family histories intended just for family, not for public eyes. 

Whether lengthy or brief, these family history documents include personal photos and candid comments that might not necessarily be appropriate for the wider world. In a private bio, I can reveal unflattering quirks and other dimensions of an ancestor's life known only to the family at this point. 

Secrets aren't necessarily in these private bios, but they're in my genealogy files to be inherited by the next generation and therefore will not be lost to the family.

Private bios can be as long or short as I wish, and include minute details that would bore non-relatives. Only relatives are likely to care that my Dad (Harold D. Burk, 1909-1978) baked apple pies from scratch every autumn, trying for a perfectly golden brown, sky-high crust. 

I've blogged about these kinds of details because they're of interest to me and my generation, but I haven't included them in the bite-sized bio of Dad publicly posted on FindaGrave and other sites (see image above).

Public bios in brief

With a public bite-sized bio, my aim is to focus readers on the essence of who each ancestor was, in a few paragraphs rather than a few pages. For Dad's public bite-sized bio, I went a bit beyond the bare basics: "Growing up, his ambition was to be a travel agent..." is how I described his life goal--which he achieved.

In the final paragraph, I wrote about his disappointment at having to close his business, saying: "He reluctantly retired..." My entrepreneurial father would have kept his travel agency open if the building where it was housed had not been torn down. 

Currently, I'm drafting a bite-sized bio of my father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986), a good family man, a career insurance adjustor, and a professional musician. Not to mention his travel adventures!

Keeping the public bio brief yet adding personality is a real challenge, both because I knew him and because his life was full of interesting twists and turns. Earlier family history booklets went into great detail--now I want to focus his bio for public eyes.

Wood Family Halloween Postcards

 

Halloween is one of the many holidays when the Wood family sent greeting post cards to young relatives during the early 1900s.

These two colorful cards were sent to my hubby's uncle, Wallis W. Wood, in Cleveland, Ohio. The lad was in grammar school at the time and likely couldn't read the greetings handwritten in cursive.

The senders were his paternal aunt Nellie (Rachel Ellen) Wood Kirby and uncle Art Kirby, who lived in Toledo, Ohio. Nellie was the attentive older sister of Wallis's father, James Edgar Wood. 

The handwritten greetings on these cards were usually brief and affectionate.

Wally received colorful cards throughout the year, not just on Christmas, Easter, and New Year's, not just on Halloween and his birthday, but also for Abraham Lincoln's birthday and George Washington's birthday! And in between.

As Family History Month winds down, I wish you all many genealogical treats and no genealogical tricks this Halloween.

John Wood Had a First Wife? Turn on the GPS!

Genealogy is never finished! There's always someone or something to research on the family tree. 

But in the 23 years I've been looking for ancestors, nobody ever mentioned that hubby's uncle John A. Wood (1908-1980) was married twice. 

Until this week. 

An older relative in the Wood family remarked, in passing, that John was once married to "Louise" or a lady with a similar name. A new clue.

I already knew about his wife Rita, named in my father-in-law's diaries and letters, as well as in John's obit and as the informant on his death cert.

John and Rita married in 1951. Their marriage cert has no information about previous marriages. I turned on the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as I dug deeper into John's life before Rita.

Which John Wood is which?

Finding the correct John Wood in a veritable forest of men with similar names would not be easy. 

Luckily, John's obit (and several Census records) showed his middle initial and other details not shown on other documents, including the fact that he worked for DuPont for many years.

Looking for "John A. Wood" and "Louise" together in a Census in Indiana (where he was when he remarried) led me to two records on Ancestry. Both showed John married to "Elsie," and working in the chemical industry. That could very well be DuPont, but I had no real proof as yet.

Next, I redid my search with "Elsie" as the wife and immediately found John's World War II draft registration card. This seemed to be the correct John A. Wood--it had the correct birth date and birth city, and it listed his middle name as "Arthur," the only place it ever appears. Arthur is a family name on John's mother's side. 

I really felt on firm ground when I read that John's employer was...DuPont! His wife, "Mrs. Elsie Wood," is listed as the person who will always know John's address. So John's first wife was clearly a lady named Elsie (not Louise). Numerous clues led me to this conclusion (GPS).

When and where did John and Elsie marry?

Next, I searched for John and Elsie's marriage on FamilySearch, and found a record of their marriage in Porter, Indiana, on November 19, 1928.

My timing was good, because (as the citation at left shows), this Indiana database is only available online as of April, 2021. 

Even without the image (which I'll see soon), this transcription indicates I have the correct John A. Wood. My evidence, a la GPS: he is most definitely the son of James E. Wood and Mary Slatter, exactly as shown on the transcription. I need to see the image with my own eyes to suit GPS standards, but all the details in the transcriptions are a perfect match with existing evidence.

Now, with Elsie's maiden name and birthplace/birth date, I've been researching her background, adding her parents and other relatives to my husband's family tree.

If not for (1) a relative's casual mention of John's previous marriage, (2) his consistent use of a middle initial, and (3) a record of his employer/industry, I might never have been able to track down this ancestor's first wife. TY to the GPS for guiding me in the right direction.

How a FAN Club Member Identified an Ancestor for Me

I've been scanning old photos and negatives left by my father-in-law, Edgar James Wood (1903-1986). 

At left, a 1919 image I blogged about just recently, remarking on the fashions.

This came from a set of negatives that Ed had marked as "Baker family, 1919."

I know the names of these two sisters, who were Ed's first cousins, but not which is which in the photo.

At right, a photo that my hubby and I believe shows Ed with these same two cousins, 50 years later. No caption, but a family story gave us confidence that these were the Baker sisters. Which is which? We had no idea. Until now.

Hearing from a FAN club descendant

This week, I received a message from a gentleman (Pat) who noticed the Baker names on my public family tree.

Pat is not related to the Bakers or to my husband. 

Here's where it gets a little convoluted. Pat is the executor of the estate for a lady who was the executor for the estate of one of the Baker sisters. In other words, he's the descendant of a FAN club member.

Connecting through my public family tree

When Pat's mom died, he inherited her boxes of stuff, including boxes from her  dear friend, Edith, who died a few years earlier. Pat's Mom wanted her friend's photos and letters to survive, so she bequeathed them to her son. (She wisely planned ahead before she joined her ancestors.)

Now Pat is sorting the bequest and looking for descendants who would like to have some of the items he inherited.

Pat noticed Edith and her sister on my Ancestry public family tree and sent me a message. I confirmed how Edith was related to my father-in-law and thus to my husband. 

Then we exchanged photos. He shared a photo of Edith in her later years. We are so grateful he did.

Eureka! Thanks to the FAN club, I now know exactly which of the ladies in both of these photos is Edith and which is her sister. Edith is on the right in the later photo, on the left in the younger photo. And Pat can see how lovely Edith was in her youth.

A good reason to have a public tree...even without photos, it serves as cousin bait and FAN club bait, with ancestor names/dates/locations visible and the option to send a message. 

No Captions - A Loss for Future Generations

Now that I'm scanning, inverting, and enhancing negatives from the collection left by my late father-in-law, James Edgar Wood (1903-1986), I'm finding clues to family history--and so many mysteries.

A few (but not many) of the negatives had dates scratched into the edges, sometimes very specific dates. Most of the negatives were in small paper folders with titles such as "Summer, 1919" or "1917-1918-1919."

Help from genealogy folks on social media

With a bit of help from the wonderful genealogy folks on social media, I'm getting ideas about where some of these photos were taken, the groups, the clothing, etc. 

Genealogical folks identified the uniform worn by a young man in several 1919 photos as Royal Air Force. I know from previous research that one of my husband's ancestors from Canada served in the RAF during WWI. Very quickly, I found a US/Canadian border crossing card for him during the same month as that 1919 photo. As a result, I've been able to caption a series of photos with names and dates. Thank you, genie friends!

More research is in my future

The group parading in the image at top holds a banner indicating it's a lodge from London, Canada. Thanks to a Canadian genealogy social media group, I now have some leads to follow up.

Also, I'm interested in the group shown in this parade (date uncertain, sometime between 1917 and 1919). This is not necessarily from the same parade as the previous photo, not from the same batch.

Most of the men are holding what looks like a ceremonial staff, perhaps from a lodge? More research is in my future.

Not having captions for my father-in-law's photos would be a real loss--a family history tragedy for future generations. 

--"Tragedy" is the theme for week 33 of Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors challenge.

Decoding Why Ancestors Died

Thanks to the Summer 2021 issue of American Ancestors from the New England Historic Genealogical Society, I have a new tool for analyzing death certificates  filed in the 20th century.

Genealogist Hallie Borstel wrote about the International Classification of Diseases code, either three or four numbers added to a death cert to categorize the cause of death.

Look at the Wood ancestor's death cert above. See the three digit code 131 in the red circle? That's the ICD.

I looked up 131 in the 1929 ICD listing for causes of death, and see the classification is chronic nephritis.

The doctor's written cause of death on this particular cert is: "cardio-vascular renal disease."

Not exactly the same as code 131, but very closely related. If the doctor's handwriting had been illegible, the ICD code would have given me insight into cause of death.

To use the ICD, look for the most recent version adopted before the ancestor's death. In this example, the ancestor died in 1936, so I used the 1929 version (excerpt shown above). If she had died in 1939, I would have used the 1938 version. 

Another tool in my genealogical tool kit! 

"Big City" Cleveland Ancestors in 1950

As I continue to prep for finding ancestors when the 1950 U.S. Census is released in April, I'm using my RootsMagic7 genealogy software's reporting functions.

When Census documents are initially made public on April 1, the only way to find ancestors will be to browse the proper Enumeration District. If I wait a few months, the Census will be indexed and I can search by name. But I really want to learn more about my ancestors sooner than that, which means preparing to browse by finding specific addresses and turning those into individual Enumeration Districts.

Who was there?

Above, an excerpt from one of the "Who Was There" lists I created with RootsMagic 7. This list covers ancestors who were in Cleveland in 1950. The report lists ancestors by surname in alphabetical order, shows birth and death dates, age in 1950, and a chronological listing of places for each ancestor (based on my research). As the image shows, the listing includes street addresses from my sources.

Interestingly, the software allows me to indicate an average life span to be considered when compiling the report. Sometimes I don't yet know an ancestor's death date, so this parameter helps me cast a wider net and include people who might be still alive and in that area, based on their last-known address in my database. I like this flexibility.

Edgar James Wood, my father-in-law, was one of many ancestors in my husband's tree who lived in metro Cleveland in 1950. By grouping these ancestors according to where they lived, it's more efficient for me to look up and browse their 1950 Enumeration Districts (see step-by-step process here). 

Context: Cleveland vs the Bronx

In 1950, Cleveland had 914,800 residents. It was truly a major city, the seventh largest in the United States, thanks to the influx of industrial workers during and after World War II. That year was a population peak for Cleveland, which had only 318,000 residents in 2019. 

My husband, a Cleveland native, often says he was born in an "Eastern" city. Because I'm a Bronx native, I respectfully refer to his home town as being solidly in the Midwest!

In 1950, the Bronx had 1.45 million residents. This will be the first Census where my parents are enumerated as a married couple, living in the Bronx, New York. If counted as a standalone city instead of a Big Apple borough, the Bronx would have been the sixth largest U.S. city in 1950. In other words, well ahead of Cleveland, where hubby's parents were living in 1950.

Just mentioning this factoid to put the 1950 Census in context for both sides of my family. Ahem.

-- "In the city" is Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors prompt for week 32.

Researching Ancestors in Photos from 1918

My late dad-in-law (Edgar James Wood, 1903-1986) took thousands of photos in his life, beginning in 1917. 

We've inherited many of the negatives, which I'm steadily scanning, inverting, and enhancing, one batch at a time.

Family and more from 1918

I just finished working on 20 negatives in a batch titled "Negatives, 1918...prints in album." Although the album itself doesn't seem to have survived, I can identify some of the people now that I've turned the negatives into positives.

From earlier negatives and photos, I recognize members of my dad-in-law's immediate family. Here is one of Edgar's younger brothers, in an outdoorsy outfit (note buttons on belt). Also in this batch were negatives showing other brothers and, of course, Edgar's beloved mom, Mary Slatter Wood (1869-1925).

Mystery photos

At right, a nurse whose portrait appears in two negatives. Who is she? 

Other "unknowns" are two brothers, who appear to be about 6 and 12, and a 20ish guy in a uniform (no military insignia visible).

There are no place clues visible in the photos, and no inscriptions other than dates scratched into the negatives by my dad-in-law. But the Wood family tended to motor around the countryside in their 1917 Ford and visit relatives, so more than likely, these mystery people are folks on the family tree whose faces I don't recognize (yet).

So many ancestors to research

James Edgar Wood (1871-1939), Edgar's dad, came from a large family. To try to identify mystery people in these photos, I'm looking closely at children of his six siblings who were still alive in 1918. The younger generation would be around the age of the folks in these negatives.

It's possible some of the mystery people might be from the family of Edgar's Mom, Mary, of course. Most of her nieces and nephews lived in Canada. I have to consider that possibility, as well.

Without a doubt, more research is in my future. If I can connect with descendants and get identifications, I'll gladly share photos privately with them and, I hope, swap family history stories.