PROGRAM AGENDA: 1997-98

September 9 - Joe & Lois Reynolds "Researching & Dating Photos"
October 14 - Pauline Priest "Colonial Handwriting"
November 11 - Seldon Kempton "Slide Show of Outhouses"
December 13 - Christmas Party

Meetings are held at 6:30P.M. i n t he Sarah McCardle Room and are open to the public and admission is free.

H. Joseph Reynolds is the President of the Sequoia Genealogical Society. He has authored two books, one on his Emberson line and another on the history of the Orosi, California Seventh-day Adventist Church.

He and his wife, Lois, specialize in on-sight research. They have worked in 37 counties in 14 states where their relatives have at one time lived.

Mr. Reynolds has photographed thousands of old pictures which he found in the possession of cousins and relatives all over the United States. In the process of identifying who the persons were in some of the photographs, he has become familiar with the photographs of different time periods.

He will have with him pictures from each of the time periods from the 1840's to the 1950's. He will also have examples of these different types of photographs: Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, Tintype and Albumen prints.

You will be given principles that will enable you to identify the approximate decade of your unidentifiable photographs. You will also receive these principles in handout form.

Please bring one or two photographs you have not been able to date and Mr. Reynolds will attempt to identify the time perios.

Passports
An old passport application may help find an ancestor! If your ancestor
went back to the old country to visit, a passport was needed. The person would have to give date of birth, birthplace, personal description and etc. Write to the Diplomatic Records, Records Branch, National Archives, Room 5-E, Washingon, DC 20520. Be sure to give applicant's name, residence, and approximate date of application - a charge is made for the search and copies of the records.

Quite a bit, says the Privacy Newsletter, a monthly published in Philadelphia. The first three numbers generally tell where you were born or where recent immigrants lived when they received their working papers. Other clues to a person's identity may be found in these first three numbers; for instance between April 1975 and November 1979, southeast Asian refugees were given numbers beginning with 574, 580 and 586. Railroad workers were one issued numbers of 700 to 728.

The following area numbers cover most people; but many states have had to add numers as their population has grown faster than estimated.(Note: You may not rely on this information being totally accurate. It has been possible for someone to apply in another state and receive that state's 3 digit prefix.)

*Used by multiple areas

New England Historic Genealogical Society Homepage
Fresno Genealogical Society Homepage
National Genealogical Society
Electronic Orchard's Genealogy Page

Updated 8-22-97