People smiling in photos wasn’t always a common thing. It didn’t become a standard thing until the 20s and 30s so this might have predated that by a few years or they were late adopters. In Japan people didn’t smile in photos until after the back half of the 20th century.

I’m sorry but this is a terrible idea. There has to be a thousand more productive and creative things you could have done with them.

I just commented this! Such a great service and enjoyable experience. I even paid for a 6 month membership and really dug deep. It’s totally worth it to do and share with family that might continue the quest or who would have otherwise never known.

Ancestry has free trials where you can really dig down into your family tree for up to two weeks. That’s more than long enough for an exhaustive search if you’re dedicated. It’s a lot of fun and you’d be really surprised at how far you can go back and the history you can put together. You’ll also be connected to a number of your relatives who also use the service. If the marriage and birth records don’t help you out, no doubt some of your distant relatives may be able to.

I will say it’s unfortunate there weren’t notes on the backs of the photos. I thought everyone from the pre-digital world did that. Maybe I just got lucky.