My ​52 Ancestors in 52 weeks Challenge; Week # 2: Favorite Photo

My 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #2: Favorite Photo

My ​52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge; Week #2: Favorite Photo

About 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

So, I joined the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge this year, put on by Amy Johnson Crow, for the first time. The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is a series of prompts that you get each week that gets you thinking about an ancestor and sharing about them, which also helps with you writing about them to preserve for future generations, one of the stressed objectives of Know Who Wears the Genes in Your Family. I have wanted to attempt it many times over the years, but I am flooded with work, and it seemed too overwhelming, so we'll see how it goes and if I can complete it or not. I had always thought that the challenge had to be done in blog form, but since I found out that it can be done in any form, even just a post on social media, I was in! They also modify the challenge to those that will find it overwhelming, to 12 Ancestors in 12 Months, which is what I may have to revert to if I can't find the time each week to continue with it. I will try to blog about some through the year, but many will be just a quick post on my Facebook Page, like the first one that I have already done, I'm sure. I am also not a very elaborate memoir writer, and more of a technical writer, so I apologize in advance.

#52Ancestors Challenge Week #2: Favorite Photo

I don't really have a favorite family history photo, but I do have many that stand out to me for various reasons, and this is one of them. This is a photo of one set of my maternal 2nd great grandparents and 7 of their children, including my great grandmother to the far right. They had a total of 9 children. One is not pictured because he's already off working in the coal mines at a very young age, and the last child wasn't born until a year and a half later.

My 2nd Great Grandparents and their Children, including My Great Grandmother, ca. 1901; ©Diane Henriks

Reasons This Family History Photo Stands Out to Me

• I love how it's not a professional portrait style photo, and although it is taken by a professional photographer, it's more like a snapshot, which I don't see very often for that time period, in family photos.
• I love how it shows a picture of a poor coal mining family and you can get a glimpse into their lives, just by this one photo.
• I love how it shows the dilapidated house of theirs, which really lets you deep dive into their lives and how many of the homes in the coal mining town of Marion County, West Virginia may have looked.
• Did you notice that none of the children are wearing shoes? Did they just like to go barefoot, or were they so poor that they couldn't afford them?
• This photo was the last known photo to have been taken of the family before my 2nd great grandfather died in a mining accident a year and a half later, as many of my ancestors had.
• It's interesting that the photographer is based in Pennsylvania, but they had lived in West Virginia. Was this photographer specifically out taking photos of the average coal mining town family for some sort of documentation?

​*Note: Photo is copyright protected and may not be downloaded, screenshot, etc.

You can check out my first week's challenge on my Facebook Page and below: 

Are you intereseted in getting prompts to help you to begin jotting down more about your ancestors than just names and dates? Give it a whirl! You can sign up for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks here! 

Follow my #52ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge here, and let's see if I can accomplish it this year!