When researching your family history, finding photos of your ancestors can make your journey more meaningful (and give you one of those WOOHOO moments!). These images bring their stories to life and connect you more closely to your roots.

You might find these precious photos in family albums, archives, online databases, or local libraries. In this blog post, I’ll share practical tips and resources to help you find the images you’re looking for and give you an example of how I found the picture of my great-grandfather.

My Story:

I’ve always known my great-grandfather was a doctor and died as a young father. My grandmother was only nine months old so she never knew him. Learning more about him and his medical career was a project on my genealogy to-do list for the longest time. Here’s how it played out…

I had just finished my homework for the ProGen Study Group. This assignment had two parts. First, we had to contact or visit two repositories to learn about their genealogy records or special collections. We couldn’t send emails; we had to talk with someone.

The second part involved creating a Locality Guide, which is like a one-stop shopping guide for records in a particular area. Find more on that here.

I made my two calls – one to the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania (which looks amazing!), and the other to the Bucks County Register of Wills. Both times, the people were very nice and provided me with valuable information I can use for future research.

After completing my assignment, I decided to stay in the phone-calling mindset to research my great-grandfather, Samuel Patrick Donahoo, M.D.

Finding Samuel

Medical School

Samuel graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Louisville (Kentucky) in 1892, which I already knew from documents. Yet, I wanted more details about his time there. It took five calls to find the right person who could help, but the effort paid off.

My last call was to the Kornhauser – Health Sciences Library. The librarian not only provided details about his classes, tuition fees, and more, but she had his graduation picture!

(INSERT GENEALOGY HAPPY DANCE!!)

I have never known what he looked like…until now:

Showing My Mom

My mom had never seen her grandfather’s picture and was excited by what I found. We were trying to see if his three daughters looked like him, but we decided they looked more like their mother, Effie Eans Dennis Donahoo Rankin. Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.

Why Become A Doctor?

I have no idea why Samuel wanted to become a doctor. Was he sick as a child? Did he admire the doctor in town and want to help people the way he did? Or perhaps he just liked science and that was his calling. Whatever the reason, he did it the right way.

Up until 1889 when Tennessee started mandating licensing procedures, anyone could claim they were a physician. ¹ Samuel’s graduating class was 163 strong. Their studies included clinical medicine and surgery, practical anatomy, microscopy, and midwifery/gynecology. ²

To graduate, “the candidate for the degree of Doctor of Medicine must have attained the age of twenty-one years. He must have studied medicine not less than three years, and have sustained a good moral character.”⁴

I’m sure the people of Jefferson County where he practiced medicine were happy to have him. The population of Jefferson County in 1900 was just a little over 18, 500.⁵ And of those, only 33 categorized themselves as a physician on the 1900 census.⁶

Samuel’s Obituary

Samuel died in 1905. Since death certificates weren’t required by Jefferson County until 1908, I only have his obituary to tell me he died of an illness of only four weeks.⁷

In our research, sometimes all we collect are places and dates. For a long time, that’s all I had of Samuel. It’s nice to finally put a face to a name.

Other places you may find your ancestors’ photos:

Obituaries: I mentioned Samuel’s obituary. His did not include a photo, but some might. Make sure to look at all the locations where your ancestor may be mentioned.

Passport Applications: These are another wonderful source for photos. Ancestry has a vast collection of them and most have a photo. When you find the application of your ancestor, make sure to look at the back of the first page as that’s usually where the photo is located.

Military Records: Some military records may contain photos. I haven’t had the good fortune to find one, but you may.

Yearbooks: Self-explanatory, but don’t forget yearbooks!

Family Albums: Find out who in your family holds all the wonderful items passed through generations. There may be a scrapbook or album.

Newspapers (especially local newspapers): These may contain engagement photos or community events your ancestor participated in.

Finally

You never know where a photo may be found, whether it’s an obituary, yearbook, or family album. Make sure to look at every source you can to find photos of your family. When you do you’ll be doing the genealogy happy dance too!

Happy researching!

Genealogy tip: Email is not the end-all-be-all. Yes, it’s easy, but it may not get what you want. Take the time to make a phone call or two. Explaining what you want to a live person is so much easier than typing.

I gotta tell you…that happy dance felt good! If I can help you find your long-lost ancestors, give me a call.

¹ Jane Crumpler DeFiore, “Medicine,” Tennessee Encyclopedia (https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/medicine/ : accessed 30 Sep 2022).

² Fifty-Sixth Annual Announcement of the Medical Department of the University of Louisville Session of 1892 and 1893, (Louisville, Kentucky: The Courier-Journal Job Printing Company, 1892); Kornhauser-Health Sciences Library, Louisville.

³ Ibid.

⁴ Ibid.

⁵ FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Jefferson_County,_Tennessee_Genealogy: accessed 3 October 2022).

⁶ Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 3 October 2022), search for Jefferson County, Tennessee, and occupation physician.

⁷ “Obituary – Dr. S. P. Dannhoo,” Knoxville Sentinel, 22 June 1905, p. 11, col. 4; digital image Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com: accessed 19 October 2019).

There are many days, weeks, and months named for something. For example, in October we have National Homemade Cookies Day and World Card Making Day. I don’t know who comes up with these things, but they are fun and trivial.

October is also Family History Month and has its roots in the United States Congress…still fun, but not so trivial!

Back in September 2001, Utah Senator Orrin G. Hatch introduced a resolution to the 107th Congress (2001-2002) calling for October 2001 to be named “Family History Month.” ¹

S. Res. 160 passed on 26 September 2001 with a unanimous vote and has been in effect ever since. Being from Utah and of the Mormon faith, Senator Hatch knew the importance of family history. The internet as we know it was only about 6 years old at the time and genealogy was growing as an at-home hobby.

Fast forward 21 years and genealogy is a booming business with online databases galore that allow you to research at 2 a.m. in your pajamas if you want. Conferences, institutes, webinars, podcasts, and blogs are all dedicated to helping you research further, and faster.

So here are my goals for the rest of 2022:

Education and Skill-building:

Continue the ProGen Study Group (completion June 2023)

Take a tour of Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Continue listening to podcasts and webinars on the road and at home

Take a webinar on WordPress

Volunteering:

Fulfill Find A Grave headstone photo requests

Research:

Start Mayflower Application for husband’s family

Continue researching the Kroesen family, especially those in the 1800s

Pick an ancestor from my mom’s side to begin researching

Organization:

Start digitizing family photos and decide how to store them long-term

DNA:

Take one day a week to concentrate on using DNA – start applying principles from Your DNA Guide, The Book by Diahan Southard.

As the French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

Good luck making your list!

Genealogy Tip: Make a plan for what you want to achieve in genealogy. Your goals don’t have to be lofty…start small and be consistent.

Contact me if one of your goals is to go further with your genealogy research.

¹ Congress.gov (https://www.congress.gov/bill/107th-congress/senate-resolution/160: accessed 25 Sep 2022).