Flickr as a Genealogy Tool
8 04 2007My cousin Ray and I are the unofficial genealogy experts of our family. Ray is good at building our family tree, and I’m interested in the historical aspects of the family: locations, photos, stories etc.
My Dad was an official with the C&O Railroad, and in the early years of his marriage he was frequently transferred to different locations . In 1956 we moved from Greenville, South Carolina, to Charleston, WV, and that was the last move for the family. I was born in Huntington, WV in 1951, so I barely remember our home in Greenville, or the one before that in Norfolk, VA, although my older brother and sister remember both of them well.
Last week I started thinking about Greenville and called my sister to ask her the address. of our house. I easily found it on Google maps, and then went to flickr to see if any photos had been taken in the area. I found quite a few, mostly taken by one flickr member. I contacted him by email and he is going to take a picture of the house, and also Greenville High School, where my sister attended school. This will be a nice surprise for the family.
The picture below is part of the family on my Paternal Grandmother’s side. We know little of that side of the family, except that they were from England and probably involved in the coal mining industry. The photo was taken in Bishop Auckland by A.&G.Taylor Photographers, and the address was 68 Newgate Street. I found a flickr member who has taken lots of pictures in that area, and I’ve contacted him to see if I can get a photo of this location. There is also a companion photograph of the two girls in th photo below that appears to have been taken a few years later. The photo was shot in Witton Park, about three miles from Bishop Auckland. Looking through the flickr photos of that area, I learned today that Witton Park was the end point of the world’s first steam locomotive railroad line, established in 1825.
This kind of history and the ability to use flickr to enhance it is fascinating to me, and yet another good idea for use in schools.
technorati tags:flickr, genealogy, history, education technology, k-12
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[...] Flickr as a Genealogy Tool [...]
Great application. I haven’t jumped onto the Flickr bandwagon myself, but maybe it’s about time I started. Interesting idea to use it in school.
[...] back I posted about uses of flickr for Genealogy. When I opened my inbox this afternoon I had an email from pit-yacker who found 68 Newgate Street [...]
Wow, I did not think of using flickr for genealogy. This is really cool. You guys should combine flickr with Buildtrees.com where you can build your own family tree and have your family members participate.
Lams.