Last night, while tracing ancestors, I noticed that my first cousin once removed had posted a gorgeous ancestor picture of our great grandmother, Jessie Alice Shurr Reddig, on a family photo sharing platform. The old family photo was misidentified with her grandmother’s name. I messaged her to properly identify our great grandmother in the family tree images, even sent a corresponding genealogy record to prove the name and spelling. We exchanged messages many times, me trying to clarify and she sticking to her guns because her very aged mother was reporting it differently.

My cousin’s copy of this gorgeous family old photo had not been labeled and now she did not want to go against what her mother was saying. I had made my case and will try to remember this frustrating experience as a motivator to get my photos labeled. Often, I set time aside for photo restoration and labeling sessions because I know that my children would struggle labeling hundreds of my family tree photos, especially pre 1984 when I got married. I schedule these sessions just like I set my timer for the newest episode of Julian Fellowes Gilded Age series. This is my winter task, to preserve my family memories in well-labeled, searchable photo albums in my computer. As the cold weather and short days find us inside, grab a cup of your favorite drink, sit down with some holiday music and label those family photos, the true heirloom preservation.