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Saturday, April 20, 2013

The Tanner Family Daguerreotype -- A Photo Identification Mystery

The above daguerreotype was reportedly of my Great-great-great-grandfather, John Tanner. However, after some extensive research and using historical and genealogical data gleaned from dozens of sources, my daughter Amy has finally made a positive identification of the people in the photograph. Unfortunately, the daguerreotype was made after John Tanner had already died. The full story is extremely complicated and reads like a novel in our blog called TheAncestorFiles. To read the entire story you have to read through this entire series of blog posts:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: We Meet the Tanners
Part 3: What is a Daguerreotype?
Part 4: Technology Meets the Tanners
Part 5: Woman at Right
Part 6: Woman in Center
Part 7: Boy in Back — First Possibility
Part 7: Boy in Back — Additional Possibilities
Part 8: Man at Left — John Tanner?
Part 8: Man at Left — Options
Part 9: Conclusion

It will be well worth your time to read through the entire series because this is a classic example of the steps in photo identification and doing in depth genealogical and historical research.

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