Ancestors anonymous ....

Everyone who deals with old photographs is required at least annually to deliver a brief sermon on the topic of identification. This is mine, based on the text provided by these images from the historical society collection.

We have no idea who these people are, where the tintypes originated, if they had any connection to Lucas County. They live, with their mates, in a series of binder boxes labeled "Unidentified" in the hope that someday someone will turn the pages and recognize an ancestor.

Based on clothing and hairstyles, I'd date the couple from the 1880s. Perhaps it's a wedding portrait. The images of the two young women most likely date from the 1870s. The tintypes are very small; the images here about the same size as the originals. There are no identifying marks other than the object numbers assigned when the three images were accessioned as a unit.

The donor no longer lives in Lucas County and had no family roots here when he did. I'm reasonably certain whoever accepted the photos back in 1980 asked where they came from --- but didn't write the information down (there are three paper records and one digital record of the accession). Even knowing, for example, that they were unknown family or purchased at a Lucas County auction or fell out of a found book would help.

So if you have a collection of images, inherited or otherwise acquired, write identities on the back when you know them. If you can't identify those portrayed, at least explain briefly how you came by the images. And if you acquire a falling-apart family album and decide to remove the images, at least try to keep them together. Context by association is useful information to have, too.

If you're in the practice of acquiring or collecting images, ask for their stories when you can and if that's not possible, at least note where they came from.