WHY?!?!?! The Photo Edition

Before we get to the WHY?!!? part of the post (after the jump) I thought I'd share some of the creative ways people have come up with to mark their trees.

On family trees we all know that the photo area is not limited to pictures of people. We might have photos of gravestones and scans of any paperwork regarding our ancestors: vital records, newspaper articles, wills, pension records... The list is endless. Looking through other trees to see if someone else has found that record we're missing or a photo of the great-grandparent we've never seen before there is sometimes a photo that seems a bit random. Here are a few I've found that are unusual but useful.

Items in bold are quoted directly from the person who originally submitted the image.
My apologies if the formatting is jumbled because of all the photos. It looks great in Firefox on a Mac. No idea what it will look like to everyone else.

Name of photo:   Confusing or Questionable Data

Description:   STOP: Significant Unresolved Questions! The documentation for this individual reflect significant unresolved questions that challenge the validity (accuracy) of some of the information contained within. Further research is deemed necessary for some items.

It should come as no surprise that I would like this automatically added to every profile on a clickophile's tree.

The number of tree images is endless. Most of the time they're used to designate the direct line of the home person.









 Whether our ancestors immigrated to North America or Australia we always want to find the first.

Photo Title: End of the line
Used to mark the spouse of a relative or anyone on your tree whose line you don't intend to research further. I may need to use this, or something similar, considering how many messages I get saying, "I have more on [name] if you're interested." Sometimes the messages are long and detailed and I feel bad that the person wasted their time. Maybe adding something like this could save their time and mine.

This could be used as
an "end of the line" photo
or for a brick wall.








Or for those who prefer a literal take:

While I like some of these I hope that they are uploaded to a tree only once with multiple profiles attached. Uploading the photo to each appropriate profile adds to the space your (free) tree takes up. In fact it's a good idea with all your photos. Have a group photo from a past reunion? Don't upload the photo 50 times, attach everyone to the same photo. Please have some consideration for the entire Ancestry.com community. Next time there's a site slow down think about how much space that one flag photo that you uploaded 100 times is taking. Some people may think, "No one would do that!" Well, I looked through countless media galleries preparing this post and can say, "Yes people do that." All the photos had the same title and usually no description at all.

I can also tell you that if you find a lot of flags or COAs, especially the latter, on a tree there's a much higher probability that it is a fantasy tree (Roman emperors, Adam & Eve, etc.) and most likely has no reliable sources. I did find some potential posts in those but after the jump you'll find no flags or family crests. Most are posted with no comment because my only comment would be WHY?!!?

ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ  ⓤⓟ  ⓣⓗⓔ  ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ  ⓣⓡⓔⓔ

Attached to the profile of a man born in Louisiana in the early 1800s.

Portrait of Charles the Bold

 By Rogier van der Weyden (15th century)

Attached to a Roman Emperor on one tree
and to a former 20th century Governor of Queensland on another.

Statue of King Arthur, Hofkirche, Innsbruck

Designed by Albrecht Dürer

Cast by Peter Vischer the Elder

circa 1520

Attached to a female ancestor of President George Washington.

The ancestor was born about 1568.

The owner of the tree titled the photo "Medivial Lady."

  

Portrait de jeune femme un chat

by Florencesco Bacchiacca (1494-1557)

On another tree the same Washington ancestor has this photo:

I cannot find a credible source for this image online.
It's on a page about Sir William Washington here
and another about Lawrence Washington here.
The latter has a caption but it gives no information about the image.

The photo on the left is attached to a profile for First Lady Martha Washington.
A Google image search brings up the photo on the right as a close match.
They look exactly the same to me.
There is no reliable online source for the photo on the left.
The photo on the right is Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (Source: firstladies.org).

                                          

Apparently people have commented that the photo on the left is not Martha Washington because the original submitter has added this: 

THIS IS A PICTURE OF MARTHA AS A TEENAGE GIRL... IF YOU DOUBT IT COMPARE THE NOSE AND MOUTH IN HER OLDER PAINTINGS AND PICTURES AND YOU WILL SEE THAT THEY ARE THE SAME WOMAN.

THIS PHOTO OF A PHOTO [HENCE THE GRAINY QUALITY] WAS TAKEN FROM AN ARCHIVE FOR THE DANDRIDGE FAMILY ...... IT IS MARTHA AS A TEENAGER ... SO IT DOES NOT COMPARE TO MARTHA AS WE KNOW HER AS GEORGE'S WIFE. IF YOU FIND THE PICTURE NOT TO YOUR LIKING, DO NOT INCLUDE IT. IT WAS AN OBSCURE FIND AND IT IS CREDITABLE ......

Sorry for the yelling but I cut and pasted exactly what was on the photo description.

Photo name: ted neely

Name on profile: Yehoshusa ben Joseph (Jesus the Christ)

Photo still from Jesus Christ Superstar

Photo Title: The Time of Singing
Description: Synopsis: Historical Fiction (2010) by Elizabeth Chadwick. Based on the true story of a royal mistress (Ida de Tosny) and a knight (Roger Bigod) in search of his inheritance. The Time of Singing is a bittersweet tale of love and loss and discovery set in late 12th century England. Published 2010 in the United States as "For the King's Favor". If fiction is not your thing, Ms. Chadwick also maintains an excellent blog of her historical research located at http://www.elizabethchadwick.com/Bigods/roger_bigod-p1.html which is full af facts of Roger's life, pictures, and useful links.

Attached to profiles for the two main characters in over a dozen trees.

Photo Title: 107.9 BIG-FM

Date: March 2011
Location: East Ridge, Tennessee

Attached to someone born in England in 1430:

It has been attached to the same person in 6 other trees.
Maybe it's some sort of inside family joke.

Thanks to Janet for finding "The Time of Singing" image in the trees!

UPDATE: Thanks to Susan for pointing out that "end of line" can also mean a person with no descendants. Ana who writes the Everyman Genealogy blog has icons for "sans progeny" and "never married."


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