How old are your oldest family photos?

[espresso2x]

How old are your oldest family photos?

 

[weepete]

1940's I think for my extended family, there's one of my Grandad in his WWII army uniform, possibly a bit earlier as there's one of his parent's too I believe but I don't know when that was taken. They were miners, so photographs were not high on the list of priorites. Ther's photos my dad took from the 70's before I was born right the way through to my daughter who's now just turning 18. I think I may have photos for every year of my life but I know my daughter has.

 

[smoke665]

I still have boxes in storage that I need to go through, but so far the oldest I've found is a photo of my Great Grandparents, and my Grandfather at 1 yr old taken in 1898. It was their wedding picture Photographers were not as plentiful back then, so it was a couple years after the marriage before they had a chance. Surprisingly still in better shape then some much newer.

 

[espresso2x]

That's very fine Smoke, excellent! Thanks for posting. The oldest i have is a studio picture; my GGgrandmother seated, with my Ggrandfather (aged about ten y.o), my GGaunt, similar aged to him. His daughter (my grandmother) was born in 1902, so it's pretty early.

Another one (engagement, studio pictures) i notice the focus is on my Ggrandmother's ring finger, the hand atop a bible, rather than on her eyes. Nice point of style- it's subtle, i guess someone who wasn't a photographer might not notice.

 

[smoke665]

My maternal side wasn't much on pictures until about the 40's which is surprising because there's so much history on their side that I've managed to trace them back over 500 years to England. All I know from that point is that they immigrated from Scotland. Unfortunately my Paternal side wasn't big on keeping records, and I am the sole repository of much of the family history, but they did like to be photographed. Here's one of my grandfather, in 1920 at Camp Custer, MI.

 

[480sparky]

The oldest photo I have of a family member of a known date is my grandfather's school photo taken in 1914. He's the tall one in back on the left in the second row.

The oldest unknown date is one of my G-G-Grandmother, b. 1852 d. 1886. She appears about 25 or 30, so I'll put a date of 1877-1882 on it.

 

[dennybeall]

How old are your oldest family photos?

This is prior to 1900 but not sure the exact date. A number of folks on the Forum took a shot at repairing this in the Challenges thread elsewhere on the Forum.

 

[RowdyRay]

I'd have to ask dad. I KNOW there are some from the very early 1900's. Dad was born in 1940. My grandparents had trouble conceiving. Took about 10 years. (only child). So they had to have been married and built their house around 1930. One of the first to settle in the town I grew up in. THE first to build a house with a basement. There are pictures of the horse team that dug the hole. They are on display in the town hall and a local restaurant.

But.....Grandma had a photo album of pictures before that. When she was a kid and her siblings. Who knows when that was. I'll have to see if it still exists and when it was.

 

[espresso2x]

That's very interesting to read Smoke. You've done well to trace links that far, parish records get pretty sketchy by the 1700s.

My maternal side wasn't much on pictures until about the 40's which is surprising because there's so much history on their side that I've managed to trace them back over 500 years to England. All I know from that point is that they immigrated from Scotland. Unfortunately my Paternal side wasn't big on keeping records, and I am the sole repository of much of the family history, but they did like to be photographed. Here's one of my grandfather, in 1920 at Camp Custer, MI.
View attachment 157113

 

[espresso2x]

That's the oldest school photo i've ever seen Sparky! What a lovely lady!

The oldest photo I have of a family member of a known date is my grandfather's school photo taken in 1914. He's the tall one in back on the left in the second row.

The oldest unknown date is one of my G-G-Grandmother, b. 1852 d. 1886. She appears about 25 or 30, so I'll put a date of 1877-1882 on it.

 

[espresso2x]

I love the tonality of the image, the lady's face! Beautiful !

How old are your oldest family photos?

This is prior to 1900 but not sure the exact date. A number of folks on the Forum took a shot at repairing this in the Challenges thread elsewhere on the Forum.View attachment 157114

 

[espresso2x]

Excellent! it's worth locating them. I'm amazed by the 10x8s and 7x5s i've been able to make digitally from some of the tiny prints passed down to me. Also seeing them on a 24" monitor, corrected for levels, contrast etc and restored.

I'd have to ask dad. I KNOW there are some from the very early 1900's. Dad was born in 1940. My grandparents had trouble conceiving. Took about 10 years. (only child). So they had to have been married and built their house around 1930. One of the first to settle in the town I grew up in. THE first to build a house with a basement. There are pictures of the horse team that dug the hole. They are on display in the town hall and a local restaurant.

But.....Grandma had a photo album of pictures before that. When she was a kid and her siblings. Who knows when that was. I'll have to see if it still exists and when it was.

 

[terri]

There are a few that I haven't scanned yet from my mom, but here are a couple I've had for awhile. The first one is from a photo I had to restore digitally and print out to hand color for her with photo oils. The second is an actual silver gelatin print (I had a 4x5 copy negative), also hand colored with photo oils.

Here's one, circa 1910. The little girl is my grandmother. They lived on a farm in rural Missouri, and getting dressed up for the photo was an event. You can see how happy they were to do it.

This one is also my grandmother when she started dating my grandfather, when she was 16 (she claimed). Not certain of the year.

 

[Fujidave]

I would have to ask my mum as she has old photos of her parents, my grandfather took a lot of photos back in the early 1900s time, plus I know mum has one from my great x2 grandfather.

 

[480sparky]

..............This one is also my grandmother when she started dating my grandfather, when she was 16 (she claimed). Not certain of the year.


View attachment 157180

Total déjà vu! My grandmother started dating my grandfather when she was 16!