I am loving all the yearbook photos that come up as hints on Ancestry. It’s fun to see photos of family from ‘back in the day.’ Some ancestors I wouldn’t have a photo of it weren’t for these hints. I have to be careful and check where they were living at the time the photo was taken. It’s surprising how many people have the same name in very different parts of the country. It’s also surprising how many have the same name within extended family. I have to check the year of the photo and the date my ancestor was born to make sure I get those in the right place.
Remember to look at the staff as well. I had several relatives who were teachers and support staff at the schools. Including my uncle Morris Tonsfeldt who was custodian at the high school I attended.
My favorite is my dad’s yearbook from his freshman year of college at Loyola in Chicago. I have this book on my shelf of mementos. I think he was pretty proud of his schooling and the achievements he made.
My dad registered for the draft February 16, 1942. I’m guessing he continued at Loyola up until this date. I sent for his military records from the National Archives in St Louis. It turns out his were part of the records destroyed in a fire but my family rallied as much information as we could find and they are trying to fill in the gaps for us. I sent for his records a few months before the pandemic began and just heard from them about a month ago with the request for more information from us. They were completely shut down for quite awhile so I’m glad they are able to work again. I’m excited to see if they turn up any more information for us.
This is the first page where I found my dad. He is in the center of the second row from the bottom, right in the middle. I bet he loved his time at Loyola, he was very smart and always learning.
A second photo was found in the sports section. He also loved playing basketball and was pretty good. His high school team were the champions in 1938.
Here is a close up of the team.
As a bonus I found a just for fun picture of him way in the back of the book.
And a close up of the photo he is in, he is the one looking right at the camera.
So many wonderful options are available to those of searching for relatives now that weren’t around for people who were searching years ago. I would show some of the photos I have found but not sure about copy right with photos from yearbooks I don’t have in my possession. I do have a couple of high school yearbooks from my mom and may use those in a post in the future.
I hope you are able to find photos of long lost relatives when you go searching. I do plan to scan this yearbook in the future and have it added to ancestry or another data base. If you had a relative at Loyola in 1941 and would like me to scan their picture and send it to you just reach out.
My Tree in the Forest 