Historical Photos and Sketches of People (Wednesday's Webpage for Genealogy)

This week's featured Web page is Historical Photos and Sketches of People.

All family historians are curious to know what the people in their family tree looked like. With that in mind, I am searching through various series of records in Government Archives and creating a name index for photographs or sketches of people. The original records include biographical or background details about the subject. This is a superb resource for family history!

My index includes photos (portraits) or sketches of:

• people sought by anxious relatives/friends
• people believed drowned or murdered
• other missing persons (some were children)
• wife / child deserters
• deserters from ships or military service
• fathers of illegitimate children
• prison escapees
• criminals and suspects.

Most of the subjects were born in the United Kingdom, Ireland, western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, USA or Canada. A few were from other countries.

This is an ongoing indexing project, with 1,700 names online now and about 1,000 names yet to be added. Check the list of names, which is spread over two pages. If you find a name of interest, scroll down to the 'Copying Service' section on that page. It explains how to get a copy of the photograph or sketch and its associated document.

This post is number 3 in my Wednesday's Webpage series. Each week I will focus on one page that either describes genealogy sources or research strategies, or lists names from indexes to original records in Archives or elsewhere.

(This post first appeared on http://genie-leftovers.blogspot.com/2016/02/historical-photos-and-sketches-of.html.)

'Accentuate the Positive' 2012 Geneameme

Glenelg jetty at sunset

With the 'Accentuate the Positive' 2012 Geneameme, Jill (Geniaus) encourages us to focus on our recent genealogical achievements, not the things that are still on our To-Do list. If you want to join in, Jill's blog has the full list of 20 questions. Some were not relevant to me, so my list is shorter.

• An elusive ancestor I found was Mary PEACOCK (nee HUGILL, born c.1813 Hull, Yorkshire, England) whom I finally found in the 1881 British census... incorrectly listed as UPRIGHT, her son-in-law's surname!


• An important vital record I found was the 1841 death certificate of my gr-gr-gr-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Harley WEBSTER nee PORTER (widow of William WEBSTER, a dyer). She died at 5 Lawson Street, Great Dover Road (St Mary Newington, Surrey, England). The informant was Cecelia RUSHWORTH of Lambeth.


• A geneasurprise I received was finding out (via FamilySearch) that Charles Peacock BOWSER (born in Stockton-on-Tees, Durham, England) died in Ontario, Canada. His mother Rebecca was a sister of my great-grandmother, Mary HUDSON nee PEACOCK.


• My 2012 blog post that I was particularly proud of was... hmmm... either B is for Birth Place (a long list of sources that may mention an exact place of birth) or Year 1: Genealogy Benefits and Team Achievements (about the Genealogists for Families project).


• My 2012 blog post that received a large number of hits was J is for Jurors and Justice Department (part of the Family History through the Alphabet series).


• A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Twitter.


• A genealogy conference/seminar/webinar from which I learnt something new... My top three for 2012 were the webinar Plan Your Way to Research Success by Marian Pierre-Louis; the Society of Australian Genealogists' 'Lost in England' seminar in Sydney; and the Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry in Adelaide.


• I am proud of the presentation I gave to Coffs Harbour Family History Society (Nov 2012). It was the first time I'd done an all-day seminar on my own; and I was pleased to find that many of the sources and research strategies I described were new to my audience.


• I taught a friend how to make the most of a one-day visit to Queensland State Archives.


• A genealogy book that taught me something new was My Ancestor was a Bastard: A Family Historian's Guide to Sources for Illegitimacy in England and Wales (Ruth Paley, 2008).


• A great repository I visited was Queensland State Archives - but I often go there, so 2012 was less exciting than 2011 when I made my first trip to the Borthwick Institute in York, England.


• A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was The New Findmypast.com.au: Gateway to the World Collection (Rosemary Kopittke, 2012).


• It was exciting to finally meet many members of the 'Genealogists for Families' Kiva team. We held get-togethers for local and interstate members in Brisbane and Adelaide, and I also spent a very pleasant afternoon in Sydney with Julie Goucher before she flew home to the UK.


• A geneadventure I enjoyed was a 'tourist day' after the Australasian Congress, when Sharn White, Helen Smith and I explored the historic town of Hahndorf near Adelaide. Afterwards Sharn and I caught a tram to Glenelg, arriving just in time to see a spectacular sunset. (My biggest genealogy adventure in a long time was in 2011, when I attended Yorksgen - something that I hope to do again in the future.)


• Another positive I would like to share is that more than 16,000 names from three of my indexes to Archives sources will soon be included in the collection at FindMyPast.com.au.