Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Tintype

Photography was invented during the life time of my great grandparents. So I have a few photos of some of them.  Mostly they look very stiff and serious, having had to hold very still for the long time exposures.

However it made it possible for me to send to my great grandson, age six weeks, photos of his great-great-great-great grandfather (four greats) for "your baby book. You do have a baby book, don't you?"

They wont mean much to him until he is, perhaps, forty or so. I wonder if he will send them to his great grandchildren when he is 82, in 2088.  I fact, with medical advances and a lot of good luck, he may see the year 2101 or beyond. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am doing my family tree, on one side i have gone back to 1646.  It seems the older i get the more interested i am in my past, the young ones, like i used to be, do not want to know, but one day they may be glad to find out where they came from.
Jenny <><
http://journals.aol.co.uk/jennyp51/stop-the-clock-times-moving-too-/

Anonymous said...

Nice little time capsule for the lad!

Anonymous said...

I am sure that one day the baby will appreciate those photos. Helen

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful gift!!!!  And if his parents make a big issue of it with him as he grows up, he will appreicate it more and earlier in life! I think it's a wonderful gift!
Jackie

Anonymous said...

what a great gift:)

Deb

Anonymous said...

My mama had some tintype pictures but she didn't know how they were of. She offered them to eack of her kids and we all declined thinking she would just keep them. Some time later the subject came up and she told us she had buried them in the back yard. I could kick myself. I have always noticied in old pictures the people always look angry or very serious. I always wondered why. Paula

Anonymous said...

I have a family genealogy on my father's side that was due to a cousin in England contacting my brother on the Internet in the 90's.     My parent's eventually went to London and met his Grandfather's brother's great (?) grandson.    I will have to look at it to be sure.     My father was an orphan by the age of 9 due to the early death of both his parent's and did not know much about his ancestory.     At the start of Dad's onset of luekemia he was able to meet two of his cousin's and their wives.     Were it not for the Internet he would never have known about his grandfather that was a Royal Mariner and signed with an X on his enlistment and other documents.     There is even the 'Sunshine Cottage' that still exists that the family once lived in pictured in the folder I have on the geneology.     My parent's photo is included with Dad's cousin's and their wives in London.    Unfortunately Leslie, our cousin, who did the research died several years following of a stroke being only in his 50's.      My mother has stories of her ancestory and migration to the U.S. ending up in the Peoria, Illinois area where I was born.     mark