Ancient family photos are like gold, but way better in my option. Those moments when you come across the photo of an ancestor you've never seen before - you start off by looking at the facial features to see any familiarities, what might the writing say, you look at the clothes, surroundings and wonder where it was taken.
The last time I saw a 'new ancestor' in a photo was during the first UK covid-19 lockdown. My great-great grandfather Marks was already in my family tree, I'd found and visited his grave but I didn't have a photo of him. A lovely 2nd cousin once removed found a box of lots of photos after we matched DNA and scanned/sent them all to me from America, which was amazing!! The power of DNA matching and the internet. She sent around a 100 photos in total of the family for which I will be forever grateful.
Without DNA, the next best thing I can do is ask around. Ask those distant relatives you only see at a specific persons family gettogethers. Ask the oldies. Ask them all. The worst that will happen is that they say no. The main difficulty during lockdown is seeing them. Not everyone can scan and as I write this it is currently illegal for me to go into another persons house to look at photos! I wish everyone good health during these difficult times, and may 2021 bring you much joy and happiness.
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