Family Photo Project - Getting Started

I spent the long weekend over at my parents’ house to go through and scan photos and documents.  So, I have a lot of interesting things to share over the coming weeks!

I accomplished my goal which was to scan all the items on my maternal side.  I scanned about 500 photos – most of which we could identify but we do have a stack we need to examine and compare and see if we can maybe figure out who is who.

Mom & my uncle feeding a raccoon at Allegheny State Park
(Don't try this at home boys & girls!)

There were a lot of interesting and fun finds: my grandmother’s baby book, family letters confirming a theory I had, photos of some of my immigrant ancestors, my grandfather’s photos he took when he was abroad during WWII.

Lots of interesting stories from my Mom about food, family rumors, funny facts.

Carl & Dagmar Grann and Walt & Dorothy Grann

I think my favorite photo from this weekend is this one.  I also really, really like their hats!
It is a photo of my maternal great-uncles & great-aunts.  From left to right: Carl Grann & his wife, Dagmar Kallander and his brother, Walter Grann & his wife, Dorothy Walden.  I don’t have an exact date on the photo but judging from their clothes and ages it should be sometime in the mid-1920s. 

Carl and Dagmar were both born in Sweden (although married in the US), Walt was born after his parents immigrated to the US.

I find it’s funny how sometimes you can form an opinion or feeling just from photos.  For whatever reason, I have always been drawn to my great-aunt Dagmar.  She died in 1985 so I did meet her, but I don’t have any memories of her since I was young when she passed.  I don’t know, maybe it’s just her unusual name, or perhaps this photo below (which I just find fantastic).

Dagmar Kallander

I asked my Mom this weekend what Dagmar was like.  I asked if she was kind of spunky, because she looks like she would be.  Mom said that she did think that she was and always liked her (she was one of her favorite aunts).

One of the reasons I love genealogy research is creating these connections with my family (both living and not), discovering their stories and the different lives they have had.  I look forward to getting back into my family records & photos (we have bins full of stuff from my paternal side I still have to go through and scan) and helping to piece together more of these stories.