"Cousin Bait" lands Photos and Data

"Cousin Bait" Lands Photos and Data

A couple weeks back I received a note through my GENI.COM program.  It was from a distant relative, Greg Stern, who was researching my great grand Aunt, the wife of his great grandfather.    He was on the internet researching Mary Elizabeth Ritchhart and up came information from my book "Breathing Life Into Family Ancestors" indicating Mary had married a Stern.  Somehow, I knew Mary's married name; but not the given name of her husband.  The fact I put him in my tree as "Unk" Stern led to Greg being able to find my book and track me down.  

The big benefit, however, is the fact Greg had photos of Mary Elizabeth and her husband John, as well as additional family photos and additional vital records for John their two children.  

John & Mary Stern

Since I didn't have individual photos of John or Mary, I cropped the above photo and created individual photos.  I had previously blogged about how to do that using Photoshop Elements in my blog of September 27.

Mary (Ritchhart) Stern

John Stern

Since Mary died at the young age of 24, John remarried.  The following is a photo of John, his second wife, Leanna, and the children from both marriages.

John, Leanna and Children

We can figure out John and Leanna; but what about the names of the others in the photo?  Either Greg or another family member, was nice enough to put the names on this copy of the photo.  This is truly an exception to the normal photos that we find or are given to us!

Photo with  Names

I am a big advocate of putting your family trees and other family information on the web.  It not only helps others; but, as this case demonstrates, you often benefit.

You will note that I used the term "cousin bait" in the title.  I think it is a wonderfully descriptive term and I want to give credit to Randy Seaver, as I first heard the term in one of his presentations here in San Diego.