Photo Restorations by Tim G.

Breathing new life into old photos since 2012.

Month: August 2015

Vindicating an Ancestor: My Recent Visit to the National Archives of Philadelphia

August 23, 2015 / / 0 Comments
Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

Liar, liar. Pants on fire.

The newspapers at FultonHistory.com have a way of busting my bubble. Just when I get to thinking about how clean all of my perfect ancestors’ hands were, along comes a FultonHistory.com article to sully them. I call it “The Bad News Report”. So far, the bad news has been that an ancestor of mine hit somebody with a car. To date, I believe the investigations have found no fault, but it’s still unfortunate to read.

newspaperarticleMy most recent Fulton discovery turned up something a little more criminally culpable. “William P. Harrison,” an article from the first day of March, 1898, stated, “pleaded guilty to a fraud in a pension matter,” and was sentenced to one year in prison by “Judge Butler”.

My grandmother’s great-grandfather was named William P. Harrison, who served honorably in the Civil War before marrying his wife, Harriet, and fathering five children with her. He worked as a car inspector for the Pennsylvania Rail Road for most of his adult life. To the best of my knowledge, William was a model American citizen.  Continue reading

Major Restoration: Replacing missing parts

August 19, 2015 / / 0 Comments

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Here is one of my better efforts. I’m guessing is that this one got wet in a picture frame and stuck to the glass. If you have a photo stuck to glass, you’re better off leaving it stuck. Don’t try to peel it away. You can scan the photo while it’s still on the glass and send it my way for a quick clean-up. If however, you’ve got hold of a photo that’s had some portions peeled away, not all is lost. With some time and imagination, I can set it right. I’d quote this one in in the upper range: $60 for a major restoration.

Tutorial: How I prepare my newspaper articles for genealogy

August 7, 2015 / / 0 Comments

I’ve got new tutorial video up today. In this one, I basically ramble as I prepare a newspaper article for presentation in my genealogy. When researching on such sites as Chronicling America and Fulton History, I like to download the full page containing the relevant article. I then crop out the relevant article and make that the first page of a PDF file. I leave the full page as the second page of the PDF file, but I highlight the relevant portions. If, as in this case, only a small portion of an article is relevant, I’ll make faux tears in it to show that I’ve skipped some of the article. The software I’m using here is the GIMP image editor and the PDF Split and Merge document editor. Although I’m using Linux in this video, the software is available for all platforms. Enjoy!

Photo Restorations by Tim G. to table the Bucks County Ancestry Fair

August 3, 2015 / / 0 Comments

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It is with great pleasure that I announce my attendance at the upcoming 9th Annual Bucks County Ancestry Fair! This will be my second fair, albeit this time at it’s new location at the Bucks County Community College. I had a splendid at last year’s fair, and I look forward to doing the same this September. I will have my scanner with me again, so bring a small photo or two from your collection that is in need of repair! I will scan your photos at the fair and repair them over the following few weeks. First come, first served! I’ve also got a door prize this time around: Two free repairs via e-mail for the lucky winner! For further information about the Bucks County Ancestry Fair, visit the event web site at ancestryfair.org. I look forward to meeting you and your ancestors!

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