Adding Life to Old Photos is Easy!

Last week AncestryInsider.org posted about an interview with FamilySearch's Michael Benson that was aptly called, 'Darned Wonderful Color Images'. It was all about the different colored inks that are invisible when the image being studied is black and white.

 In his blog post he explains how because of the different inks that were sometimes used, important information is lost. If you look closely at the image here you can see where not only was the first half written in light green, but most of the stamps are in light purple! Now look below the officiators name in the bottom right.

Did you notice before who the officiator was? What difference would it make if you couldn't read that small line below?

I wish I could have shown the above image in black and white, but as an example look at this one...

Can you imagine how much nicer that would look with a bit of color?

Well, that got me to thinking... If you are like me, you have dozens of old photos that were taken long before color photos were possible and sadly they look very dead and flat.

I'd come across a delicate photo, just about 2" square of a Great Great Grandmother, but the image was lifeless and the more I thought about how she might have been thinking as she sat unmoving for the 10 min. needed to take this photo. It should be more than black & white!

So I went to Google and asked if there was a free website for coloring photos, and yes there is, and it is called Colorizephoto.com and is quite simple. First you can practice on the photos given, I'm sure you recognize the actors faces. Then, when you have learned how to color within the lines (not leaving any 'make-up' on Newman's color) and how to change the amount of color opacity and hardness (just click on the center dots and arrows) which takes about 15 minutes, you'll be ready to bring your images to life.

Here is the image I had found of Matilda Henrietta Krause; a lovely bride I'm sure, but the black and white photo certainly does not do her justice. I understand that some people like the black and white statement, and for some images the subtle differences in b/w create a statement whether it is of innocence or great age. However, I tend to want emotion to be touched by viewing a photo and that seldom can be done without color.


After a few minutes of tinkering on Colorizephoto.com I had created this...

What an amazing difference a bit of color made. Now she is alive, even vibrant and all it took was a few minutes of my time to bring her to life.

Because it is a very small image it's nearly impossible to see the imperfections, even though I can assure you they are there. To my old eyes she now looks as regal as she must have been in real life, from the golden mirror backdrop to the lilac corsage at her left shoulder.

The only closing comments I would share would to remember, less is more. Don't overdo the colors or you might end up with this...

Summer Is Almost Here...Plan Family History Ways To Spend It

Want to have fun as a family and teach your children about Who they really are? I'm positive they are thinking of how much fun you can have searching through cemeteries. Right? No? Really?

If you mention to your children that you are planning a Family History Vacation you'd better have a ear muffs to protect you from the shouts of, No Way! So let's go about this from left field and under the cover of 3 Flags or whatever.

Start by making a list of places your ancestors lived, traveled through, were buried. Now look up what FUN things are happening in those areas and there you go! Ok, maybe it won't be quite that easy, but it does help to have what kids think are fun.

Imagine teaching them how to play a game of horseshoes under the trees at the end of a day of swimming, have a container of old photos to sort through on rainy days. If you have older relatives you could visit and share or hear stories about life when they were young, then according to socialologists you will be helping them develop a foundation of Self that can give them the strength to stand strong through difficult times, as I wrote about a few weeks ago.

Let me share with you about one such family get together I was blessed to be at... At the time our Grandmother Dorothy turning 75, and her brothers and sister gathered to swap stories of their lives just after the turn of the century.

That was during a time when kids rode a bus to and from school but still tilled the fields with horses or oxen and drove a horse and buggy to and from Church or on a date. I remember Great Uncle Bill talking about picking up his best girl, that became his wife of 50+ years.

Everyone in the family knew his plans, and to tease him they made sure to have every horse off either getting shoed or running errands except for the one buggy trained horse nick-named appropriately, Toots. Yep! Toots had a very gas-sy disposition, and tooted with every step she took, making a nervous gent sweat bullets the night he asked her to marry him.

This started a series of 'I can do one better than that' stories that were hilarious! From stealing Old Man Tate's watermelons to the manuer pile that exploded. Since that time I've found that when you want the best 'never told' stories, you just gather the old folks and ask them about the most embarrassing thing that ever happened as they were growing up. You will hear things long forgotten.

Another hint I was given a few years ago was to find where your ancestor lived and find the oldest living neighbors. Even if they were only children when your family lived next door, the stories of 'remember when' will often be passed down through the decades about the old woman who always cared for the sick, or the soldier who came back without his left arm but never asked help from anyone.

At the beginning of the next school year the 'Cool' kids will crow about spending time at 6 Flags while your kids have memories that will last a life time.

French American Migration of the Huguenots

How much to we really know about our own history? True, the English settled along the bank of the James River in 1607, so migration began over 400 years ago. Our country was founded not by the prosperous, but by the Skilled men and their families  who were determined to build an inheritance and future for their children that would have been unthinkable in the European Countries where about the only way to have land was to inherit it or gain it through war, which wasn't an option for the 50-60% who were peasants surviving on what little food they could keep that was grown on rented land. 

By 1650 five European Countries had staked out land in the Americas; Dutch, English, French, Spanish, and Swedish Settlements spread from Spanish Florida to New France’s Montreal, yet they still had no idea how much land was untouched by Settlers.

In the American School system our youth were usually taught about the English Establishing a Foothold at Jamestown from 1606-1610, but were also Huguenot or Dutch region that became New York, or the two million German Huguenots (French Protestants) who fled France in 1865? The Blue of the Rt hand map was New France.

Huge numbers of these Huguenot artisans, craftsmen and professionals migrated to the Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York from France.[i] Many of America's best Artisans were Huguenots that settled in New Amsterdam (Now New York City), northern New Jersey, and western Connecticut. (You can find both Huguenot Strangers and Quakers on the manifest of the Mayflower.) 

Our Schnee family came from Germany through my 6th great grandfather, Johannes Christian Schnee, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of 21 in 1743. Although we don't know if they were Huguenots, he went straight to Lebanon County Pennsylvania where he died in 1794. He and his wife, Anna Elisabeth Jacob had 8 children, as far as I have been able to discover, however we do not know as yet who his parents were of where in Germany our family resided except that according to German maps and research, there were several small Schnee townships in lower Saxony.

Did your family migrate to America to escape religious persecution? If not, why did they come to America?

BTW, if you have ancestors who were Huguenots, there will be an annual Meeting of the Huguenot Society of America on Wed. 29 April 2015 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at The Union Club, New York, N.Y.[1]

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[i] http://bit.ly/1EeXeb9 The National Huguenot Society

²http://bit.ly/18oZCn4 The Huguenot Society of America, est. 1883