We all have them. Somewhere in a box or drawer there are old family photos of people we have absolutely no idea who are. 
What could be more frustrating?
One of the saddest and most frustrating parts of family research is coming across wonderful old family photos that no one alive remembers who they are of.
Sometimes we don't have any clues to go on at all. Other times there are cryptic inscriptions such as "mother's cousins". WHOSE mother? What cousins?
Sometimes we don't have any clues to go on at all. Other times there are cryptic inscriptions such as "mother's cousins". WHOSE mother? What cousins?
On more than one occasion I have pounded my head against a wall trying to identify people in old photographs that had been passed down with no notes.
Other times we may know EXACTLY who is in the photo, but have no context in which to place them. For instance, mixed in a drawer with other family photos belonging to my great-grandmother was an image of a handsome young man in a bow tie with the inscription "Leslie Bostwick" written on the back. For YEARS my mother and grandmother both poured over old correspondences, bible lists and family charts trying to figure out where this man fit in to our clan. It was all in vain.
Finally, when my great-grandmother was about 102 years old she finally admitted with a sheepish grin her secret of all those years. "He was my old beau." So he wasn't related at all.
Finally, when my great-grandmother was about 102 years old she finally admitted with a sheepish grin her secret of all those years. "He was my old beau." So he wasn't related at all.
On other occasions we will come across pictures that we know who is in and even where they belong in our family, but no one will be able to remember the when or the where or what the occasion was of the picture. That can be truly maddening!
I am deeply indebted to my grandchildren's OTHER grandmother. She was totally faithful in ALWAYS writing the name, date and place on the back of every family snapshot...something that I, alas, was not. I have been able to figure out several of my own family photographs only by comparing them to hers.
If you have old family photos you cannot quite pin down, there are a number of ways to find clues to guide you. Try THIS LINK for tips on how to sleuth your way to answers.
In order to properly tag family photos you have now for future reference, there are a number of methods. On of my favorites is taken from an old photo of a family reunion held at the George Cook home in Summit County, Ohio which was taken around 1910 (judging from the estimated age of the child who would grow up to be my grandmother, Florence Kurtz Krebs, and the fact that her mother was wearing black which would be appropriate considering her oldest child died in 1910.) This is the picture:
And THIS was my grandmother's method for keeping track who was at that long ago reunion:
She took a long sheet of heavy paper and made a hole with a pencil that fit precisely over each face in the photo. She numbered those holes and then made a list of the names. I can still hold that aging old card stock over the photograph and see the faces line up by their corresponding numbers. BLESS YOU forever, dear grandma. Finding this in her papers was like finding the Rosetta Stone.
These days I am converting most of my old pictures to digital format by scanning and labeling each one. Now that we can load photos
onto FamilySearch.org those photos will be preserved indefinitely, regardless
of what happens to the originals. They
are also publicly available so all the cousins for generations to come will
get the blessing of sharing them.
For those who are somewhat techie inclined there are various on line programs for sorting and storing photos such as Fotobounce. This is a great tool if you have LOTS of pictures to label with the same people being in a number of different views. You start identifying faces. The software then sorts through all the images in your collection and looks for possible matches. Of course, it still requires you to confirm or deny the match the machine thinks is the right one. And there COULD be confusion over family members with very similar features. But it has a simple facial recognition system that can save a lot of time, depending on the collection you have to work with.
Some folks, however, want nothing to do with computers. That's fine. Do what fits YOU best.
For writing directly on the backs of photographs your best bet it to use an acid free archival quality pen which can be purchased HERE for $5.99 You can also find these at any store that carries a good selection of scrap booking supplies.
Whatever method works best for you, just remember the old Chinese proverb: "The palest ink is better than the best memory." There are many ways of doing it - but find a method that works for you so that pictures of you and your immediate family do not one day wind up in an old shoe box marked "No one knows who".
