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The Beginning

Once upon a Christmas, Santa brought me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie Starmite. I’m not cer…

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New Year’s Day 2021 marked the beginning of a family history experiment on Instagram. I had tr…

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artofrecollection

🌱 Planting seeds of family history - one photo, one story at a time. #artofrecollection 📃 "In the end, we'll all become stories.". ~M.Atwood

Feeling as though I'm playing the Memory Matching

Feeling as though I'm playing the Memory Matching Game. 😃 I have a stack of orphan photos (didn't make it into any of the albums my in-laws assembled) that I'm trying to identify. On the back of this was written "Jenny Wood Pratt" - no such person in my husband's tree. But she looked familiar. I began leafing through albums and (tada!) found her!

Jennifer Pratt married Milton Wood on 18 Jan 1899. She was born in Blue Earth, Minnesota and died in Mountainair, New Mexico in 1926. (Ok, so her name on the back of the photo had her maiden and married surnames reversed. Just a little thing ... 😂 )

Milton is Carrie Wood's brother making Jennifer Carrie's sister-in-law.

It gives me pause to consider the hands that have held these photos. Jennie would have given this picture to Carrie. From Carrie it went to her son, Ray. From Grandpa Ray to his son, Bruce. From Bruce to my husband (and me).

And now I'm playing the Memory Matching Game. Do the faces look familiar? If so, in which album will I find similar images? Do the names ring a bell? If so, did I record all pertinent connections years ago?

Jenny looked familiar. Her name rang a bell. Found a photo of Aunt Jennie and Uncle Milton in another album. Now this portrait can move out of my orphan stack into a new and more descriptive home. 🥰

One (orphan photo) down....38 to go.😂

#telltheirstories #wood #familyhistorian #savefamilyphotos #memorykeeper #familiesareforever #familyhistory #familystories #familyhistoryresearch #oldphoto #familysearch #ancestors #antiquephoto #vintagephoto #artofrecollection #genealogyphotoaday #myheritage #research #genealogyresearch #genealogyphoto #heritage #familytree #ancestry #memorykeeping #familyalbum #photomemories

45 pages + 125 photos + 1/2 the thickness of the o

45 pages + 125 photos + 1/2 the thickness of the original magnetic album. = archival storage win.

I'm great at dreaming up and starting projects. Confession: I'm not great at finishing them. Sometimes what starts as a labor of love simply becomes labor.

Family historians continually research and discover new information. We know there is some exciting or enlightening tidbit waiting for us to uncover it. Sometimes, that keeps us from completing a project.

For me to "complete" this project, I had to create flexibility. The pages in this album are removable. The notes are written in pencil. I left plenty of white space to add new information as it becomes available.

Therefore, I declare this project "Done Enough". There are some people I couldn't identify. Some places I don't know. But the goal was to transfer the album into a safer storage medium - not to provide a comprehensive family history.

Yep, "Done Enough".👍

#telltheirstories #howard #familyhistorian #savefamilyphotos #memorykeeper #familiesareforever #familyhistory #familystories #familyhistoryresearch #oldphoto #familysearch #ancestors #vintage #vintagephoto #artofrecollection #genealogyphotoaday #myheritage #research #genealogyresearch #genealogyphoto #heritage #familytree #ancestry #memorykeeping #familyalbum #photomemories

Despite our best planning, we missed some family w

Despite our best planning, we missed some family when we visited Center Creek Cemetery.
⁠
“Martha Wood moved to Martin County in 1873 from a farm in the community of Sterling Center after the death of her husband George ... She brought her 5 children, Ruth, William G., Milton, Carrie, & Josie to an area near Silver Lake. She became a postmistress for a time, then married John Berry, a farmer who owned land four miles east of Granada. The family lived in a sod house on the open prairie...William was a boy of eleven and herded cattle on the prairie on horseback.⁠
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“The family later had a house built and William married Gertrude Andross, a neighbor’s daughter...There were seven children in the William G. Wood family, Leo, Harold, Hazel, twins Maudie and Mava, Rollo, and Florence. Mava died in infancy.⁠
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“In 1899 William took his family by covered wagon with a cow tied behind ... to provide milk for the children and a double buggy driven by Leo and Harold. They slept in a tent, staying a year. A hired man took care of the farm in their absence.⁠
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“In 1904 William G. Wood rented out his farm and took his family and household goods by freight train to Yakima, Washington. Leo and Harold earned their fare by caring for horses that were being shipped out to the west. All worked in the fruit orchards and hop fields. After two years they came back to Granada and lived for a while until they could return to the farm.⁠
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“Harold became a farmer on land he bought from his father, one half mile north of the home farm and adjoining the Center Creek Cemetery...
⁠
“William G. Wood, known as Will or W.G., called the farm his home until his death in June of 1941. A grandson Lowell Wood bought the farm and lives there today…”⁠

These folks are all buried at Center Creek - guess we will just have to go back to visit. ❤️

(see comments)

#telltheirstories #wood #savefamilyphotos #memorykeeper #familiesareforever #familyhistory #familystories #familyhistoryresearch #oldphoto #familysearch #ancestors #vintagephoto #artofrecollection
#genealogyphotoaday #myheritage #research #genealogyresearch #genealogyphoto #heritage #familytree #ancestry
#memorykeeping #familyalbum #photomemories

Now this is a treasure! This is my great grandfath

Now this is a treasure! This is my great grandfather, John Cooper and is one of two portraits my sisters remember from our grandparent's home. I don't remember it which at first seems odd, since I'm the one obsessed with family history. But here's why they remember this and I don't: I'm the first-born compliant child. They are not. 😃
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This portrait was displayed on a wall in the unheated upstairs of our grandparent's store. When we came to visit, Grandma and Grandpa would sleep upstairs and give us the downstairs bedrooms. Apparently, I was told it wasn't safe to go upstairs so I didn't.⁠
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However, my little sisters ... did. ⁠😂😂😂
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PS. cell phone cameras enhance images. The little video (swipe to view) more accurately shows the original and what it looks like after a little digital clean-up.⁠
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#telltheirstories #cooper #familyhistorian #savefamilyphotos #memorykeeper #familiesareforever #familyhistory #familystories #familyhistoryresearch #oldphoto #familysearch #ancestors #vintage #vintagephoto #artofrecollection⁠
#genealogyphotoaday #myheritage #research #genealogyresearch #genealogyphoto #heritage #familytree #ancestry⁠ #1900s
#restoration #photorestoration ⁠
#memorykeeping #familyalbum #photomemories #fridayfun

Well, this was fun! I used a Trading Card Template

Well, this was fun! I used a Trading Card Template from @thecreativefamilyhistorian to create this ancestor snapshot. In my imagination, these cards could go in an easy-to-find pocket album that individual family members choose for themselves.

I have considered a variety of print options for family history finds. I wanted something flexible. Something I could share with family as I research our ancestors. Something that doesn't contain an overwhelming amount of infirmation. Something that could be added to and rearranged as information becomes available. Something that is easy for them (and me) to execute. These trading cards just might be the answer!

I have a few things to work on before proclaiming this card "done" - including replacing the blade on my paper cutter 🙄 😂 but this format has real potential!

Color me excited!

#telltheirstories #cooper #familyhistorian #savefamilyphotos #memorykeeper #familiesareforever #familyhistory #familystories #familyhistoryresearch #oldphoto #familysearch #ancestor #vintagephoto #artofrecollection #genealogyphotoaday #myheritage #research #genealogyresearch #genealogyphoto #heritage #familytree #ancestry #memorykeeping #familyalbum #photomemories #myfamilyhistory #nostalgia #legacy #familyphotos #heritage

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