Why not send them to Dead Fred? I did the same thing about three years ago. I purchased a bunch of photos at the flea market and then sent them to him for inclusion on his website. ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, March 06, 2006 6:10 AM Subject: [NJCUMBER] Album full of mid-1800's photos of a Bridgeton, NJ family > This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. > > Classification: Query > > Message Board URL: > > http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/wQB.2ACE/1174 > > Message Board Post: > > I purchased a lot of about 20 photos that by fashion, etc. seem to be > dated about the mid-1800's, and a few a little later. The photos are glued > to the thick photo card stock of that time with photos from mainly two or > three photo galleries of the Bridgeton area. > > I was interested in purchasing the antique album they were in, so I think > I can state with certainty that all the photo subjects were related. The > antique store I made the buy in is located in Frederica, DE. I may try to > return to the antique store and ask the man who owns it if he remembers > WHICH estate sale he got them from. > > I would really like to find the family descendants and give them the > photos, but I do NOT want to just turn them over to someone who buys and > sells antique photos. I could do that myself, although I have no idea why > someone would want an ancestor photo with no relation to them...what's the > point? > > I've had to deal with the frustration of having just a few of my ancestor > photos being unidentified, but this is so sad because of the number of > photos. > > If anyone has any ancestral photos that are available for viewing on the > internet so I could compare and see if there are any individuals that > might be in this collection, please let me know. > > I'd also be interested in hearing any suggestions you have for what I > might do with these if left unidentified. Is there an historical society > for Bridgeton that you know of? > > > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records added in the > last 12 months. Largest online collection in the world. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > > > > --- > avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean. > Virus Database (VPS): 0609-3, 03/03/2006 > Tested on: 3/6/2006 6:47:10 AM > avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software. > http://www.avast.com > > > --- avast! Antivirus: Outbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 0609-3, 03/03/2006 Tested on: 3/6/2006 7:12:37 AM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2004 ALWIL Software. http://www.avast.com

If you do send them to "Dead Fred," be sure to note the Bridgeton NJ and Frederica, DE areas as possible origins for the photo subjects. (Someone in Delaware may have had Bridgeton rellies who sent photos now and then, for their scrapbook). Also, there is a Cumberland County Historical Society in Greenwich, that you might call. But before you contact either, you said the photos were from "mainly two or three photo galleries of the Bridgeton area." If you will tell us which ones, and look for addresses on back (or logo changes), a true guru following this site may tell us what years these photo shops were in operation. This would narrow the years for the photo sittings. If you live in Cumberland County, you may also want to consult the owner of Steelman Photos in Millville (Dale) since he is a historian as well. If you have scans of them, I'd like to see them myself, just to compare clothing to a few ancestor photos I own. As for why people buy photos of ancestors other than their own, I believe it is to frame them and add "class" to their decor, if they don't have ancestor photos of their own. They might use them in restaurants, too, to add to the historic feeling. Some may even fake it, and pretend they ARE from their family history! The idea of total unknowns staring back at me gives me the creeps, but then again, it may be argued that some of these unknowns are "adopted" by the new photo owners. I'm not that broad-minded as to adopt them, as my own go-befores are giving me ENOUGH problems!