Several months ago I began to scan/digitize the many pictures we have stored in our house. Not every single one, but our favorites and the ones with special meaning. I'm storing the scans on a flash drive. Yes, I have a backup. To date I've scanned almost 3,000 pictures, and I've barely scratched the surface.

Here are 2 of the oldest pictures I've scanned to date. On the left is my mother's dad; my grandfather. His name is Richard McCullough. His friends called him Dick and in his working days he was the local barber. [Added on Oct 24: For the record, I recall that he also worked as a janitor at the school where my mother taught 3rd grade. On his death certificate, provided by my niece Anissa, it also indicates that his occupation was janitor.] At least 3 of his descendents have Richard as their middle name including me. It looks like mom's handwriting on the bottom of the picture. She was raised, as I was, in Nanty-Glo, Pennsylvania. I don't know when granddad moved to Nanty-Glo, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime before WWI. That is before 1914.

I can easily date the picture on the right. That's Nancy's mother Mary in the middle standing on a chair with 2 of her brothers and her dad; Nancy's grandfather. It says on the picture that Mary was 8 months old when the picture was taken. That would say the picture was taken sometime in May 1919. Nancy's grandfather was Joseph Novak a coal miner who (legally) immigrated to the States from Poland around 1910.