Old Picture ID - Your Thoughts?
Several months ago, I wrote an article about identifying an old picture in a family Bible as Reuben Richard Creighton. I need your help in deciding who the four other photos with him in the Bible are. For reference, here is Reuben:
He was born in 1864.
Below are photos I think are either his parents and siblings or his aunts and uncles. A little context of where I found them that may give clues. Reuben is the youngest of 4 kids. While he was still a baby, both of his parents died. I don’t know the exact year, but I do know they were gone by the 1870 census. The kids were spread out and adopted/cared for by other families. It obviously seems the children kept in touch with their original Creighton family, and that is how his uncle Richard ended up with his photo in the family Bible that I now have.
Looking at the photo of this couple, their clothes, and knowing about photography, could it be his parents who were deceased by 1870? His father, Reuben, and mother, Ruth, were born in or around 1836. If you think the photo would have been taken after 1870, then I suspect it would have been one of his aunts and uncles.
Richard Reuben also had three siblings:
Atwell, born 1857.
Jennie Ellen, born 1859.
Mary Louise, born 1861.
Do you think the following photos are them?
I go back and forth. Sometimes I think the photos and, especially the second woman, look too old to be his siblings. What are your thoughts?
Some of the other options would be these aunts and uncles:
Sarah “Sally” Creighton born about 1836
Jane Creighton born 1840
Mary Ann Creighton born 1845 but died 1872 (leaving baby Elizabeth born 1871)
John Creighton born 1849
None of these aunts and uncle ever married. They all would have been siblings to the Bible owner.
What are your thoughts?
If you’re interested in antique artifacts, here is a short video I made regarding the straight razor I believe to have been James Creighton’s: YouTube.
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I’ve heard rumors of AI that is fairly good at facial recognition of old photos, but have never found one that worked well. Maybe someone in the @missiongenealogy community can help? Best of luck!
I just inherited ie saved from the dumpster several boxes of unidentified family photos, so will be following your progress!
I can't solve this for you, but I do have experience with this sort of thing. I would start by dating each photo and then estimating the age of each person. There are many websites and books that address specific dating techniques such as the carte de visite prints and cabinet cards. The carte de visite (Car da Vee) are dated by identifying minute details on the back as well as front. The edging of the actual photo in some cases narrows the range down to a few years. An edge with sharp corners vs rounded corners is significant. If you are soliciting help from experts on this, it is important to have a high quality scan of the photo (without framing) front and back. The exact size should be measured to the nearest 1/16 of an inch as well. This is a very deep rabbit hole. Oh, and you need a good magnifying glass.