More Slides from the 1950s

More progress on my Slide to Digital image project this week!

I visited my parents two weeks ago and picked up another big box of slides from the 1950s and 1960s. The first thing I did was to sort the slides by year and jot down the who, what, where and when of each slide.

A few days later I started scanning the slides. I had already decided which groups of slides I wasn't going to bother with due to their poor quality color/exposure and the fact that the subject matter wasn't particularly interesting to me.

I am using the Wolverine Slide and Negative Scanner that I found on Amazon last year. It does a good job of duplicating the quality of the slides and is easy to use. I found that setting up an old slide light table is the easiest way for me to get through the slides and keep track of what I've scanned. I am working on one year at a time on the light table - for the most part I have between 20 and 40 slides per year. Dad and I weeded out the slides that were not of our family before I even brought them home.

Yesterday I got about 130 more slides from 1953-1959 scanned, catalogued, and uploaded to Adobe Photoshop Elements. Here is the setup I'm using - my light table, my slide scanner, and my list of slides to be scanned - along with the box of chronologically sorted slides.

 

The scanner is easy to use, but takes some getting used to. You have to put three slides at a time in the tray that feeds through the scanner. Once the tray is closed an pushed into the scanner,  you just push the scan button once to get the image, then press the button again to save the photo image to the memory card that is in the scanner. This little black box is plugged into a power strip to run, but doesn't need to be plugged into a computer to scan. I find it much easier to work at my kitchen table than up in the computer room which has very little space to spread out on.

 

The middle slide in this photo has to be turned 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise to be scanned since the opening on the top of the tray is rectangular. You can rotate the image on the scanner before you save it to the memory card, or I just wait until the image is uploaded to PhotoShop to fix it.

The most time consuming part of the process is on PhotoShop once the images are uploaded. Uploading from the scanner to PhotoShop is simple - I just plug the scanner into the computer via USB cable and use PhotoShop to find the photos on the memory card that I haven't uploaded yet.

Once in PhotoShop Elements, I follow these steps (sometimes in batches):

1. I immediately tag them all with a category (for example, Slides 1954_1964) so that they are easy to find later.
2. I add a caption to each photo with names, place and a date.
3. I use Autocorrect to fix lighting, levels and color on the image - many times this is good enough for the slides that aren't damaged or had bad lighting.
4. I set the internal date on each photo based on what I could figure out from the slide - some of them were already written on by my dad or grandpa. Some of them have the date they were developed, although this is not usually the date that they were taken. Sometimes it's over a year later than the original shot date. I can usually figure out from who it is, what we are wearing, where we are, if it's a holiday, the time of year, etc.
5. Then I start working on the slides that I want to get prints of right away and decide if they need to be fixed in PhotoShop. I try to get all the dirt and dust particles cleaned up, taking the most time on people's faces and anything that really detracts from looking at the photo. Sometimes I have to fix dark or overexposed photos. Sometimes I crop a little to remove things in the background, but for the most part I want to see the background because it's an important part of the story behind the photo.

I did all five steps for 30 photos that I wanted to get prints of, and today I uploaded those to my Persnickety Prints account and ordered my 4" by 6" matte prints. Three of the photos were vertically oriented, so I decided to order those as 3" by 4" matte prints. I can either put them in the small pockets of my pages, or I can mount them on a 4" by 6" card and use them that way.

Here's one of my favorite photos from this batch. My two great-grandmas at our 1957 Christmas party in Ohio.

I already received an e-mail that my prints are done and will be shipping out tonight. Can't wait for the next step of the project - putting them in my scrapbook. It's starting to look pretty good now, and I think I've got all the photos and memorabilia from 1954 - 1957 that I wanted to save in my scrapbook now. Next time I will document how I'm planning my layouts by year.

Bell Family History - Book Manuscript

I worked on the Bell Family section of my paternal grandmother's family history book yesterday and today. I had more information than I thought about the Bells. There is still no real evidence of where Lewis Bell was born or any clue as to who his parents were, but from Harrison Bell down the line to my great-grandmother, Bertha Mae Bell, there is a lot of good information that I've collected.

Here is the Lewis Bell Deed of Trust that at least shows he was married to Mary Anderson, daughter of James and Mary Anderson and that Lewis lived in Fauquier County, VA and had a son named William Bell.

And at the other end of the Spectrum, here's my great-grandmother's Birth Certificate.

Now I just need to insert all the digital files into my Word document, format them and make sure the manuscript still makes sense. 

My "Baby Book"

Once I started printing the photos from my dad's 1950s and 60s slides, I remembered that Mom gave me my Baby Book and a box full of stuff from my childhood. I pulled it out of the closet and looked inside. Some of those things definitely belong in a scrapbook with my converted slide photos.

Mom wrote a few things in the book, but not that much, so I scanned the pages that she wrote on, and I will include them as I go along with the project.

Here's the box of stuff I have:

That's my Baby Book on top. The rest of the box is full of file folders that Mom carefully indexed for me - along with a Timeline. I inherited my love of Family History from her.

Today I completed a few more pages of my scrapbook, and I'm really pleased with my progress so far.

 

Cover

 

Title Page

 



 

First pages of my Baby Book (scanned and reprinted) along with pink borders to match my other cards.

 

 

A card from Great-Grandma Kraus, my Baptismal Certificate, my Birth Certificate (scanned)

 

Another page from my Baby Book - Family Tree, Newspapers with my Birth Announcement

 

 



I skipped forward a few pages in the Scrapbook to my favorite Christmas photos - I was almost 3 years old, and I loved Roy Rogers & Dale Evans. The card in the lower left is a scanned page from my Baby Book in Mom's handwriting about what we did for Christmas that year. I added the digital scrapbook paper and bow so that it matches the other cards I'm using in the book.

 

 

I have a few more pages completed, but several with missing information or photos, so I'll post those when they're finished.

 

I should credit the Scrapbook supplies that I used:

Cards and Papers - almost all are Becky Higgins Project Life, Olive Edition (digital version from AC Digitals); also Becky Higgins page protectors - many different sizes (designs) are being used here (from Amazon.com).

A few of the papers are from Reflections (Michael's) and My Mind's Eye.

Christmas papers and embellishments are October Afternoon, Holiday Style from 2011.

The Calendar style cards are from Heidi Swapp's free Calendar Download that I found on her blog at the end of 2012.

The stickers are almost all American Craft Thickers - various types and colors.

The actual 3 ring binder is by Reflections from Michael's.

Can't wait to get some more slides from Dad later this week and ask him and Mom about some of the photos that I already scanned.

Harrison Bell & Vincent Bell of Shelby County, OH

I'm finally getting around to posting these final few notes about the Bells.

Research Trip - August 2012 - Shelby County, Ohio

During my last trip to Ohio I searched the Shelby County probate courthouse records for any of our Bell relatives. There were no birth records at the time of Harrison Bell's birth (he was probably born in Hardin, Shelby Co, OH). There were no probate records for either Lewis or Harrison Bell, but I did find the last will and testament of Vincent Bell who left his estate to his brother, Harrison Bell of the same county, and his sister, Nancy Bell Bennet.

The will was filed on 22 July 1854.

The estate was settled on 14 June 1859 and signed by W. W. Skillen, Probate Judge.

This continues to link the names that were listed in the D.A.R. magazine as children of Lewis and Mary Anderson Bell. (Vincent, Harrison and Nancy were siblings.) It still doesn't give an actual primary source document listing Lewis and Mary Bell as their parents, however.



My parents and I also found two cemeteries in Hardin, Shelby Co, OH with some Bell connections.

The first was Carey Cemetery - a very old cemetery with mostly headstones that are unreadable, although one in particular was well preserved. It had the name of Elizabeth Davis, consort of the Rev. William F. R. Davis. This husband and wife were listed in the DAR query from 1918 as the parents of Rebecca Davis, who was the wife of William Bell, Lewis Bell's eldest son. They (William and Rebecca Bell) are supposed to be buried in this cemetery as well, according to Find-A-Grave information. We looked at every headstone, but most were unreadable.


The other cemetery, a mile or so south of the first, is Brookside Cemetery. It is being well maintained and there were some Bells in that cemetery as well, but none in our direct line.


All of these findings, although not direct proof of Harrison Bell's birth or parentage, supports the facts listed in the DAR magazine which makes me think that the author did have either a family bible, or some written record of the Lewis Bell family tree.

I also believe that the Bell family was moving along with other families who belonged to the same Methodist church. A history of Hardin in Shelby County says that the first church was at Joshua Cole's house in Hardin. I found tombstones for a son and a daughter of Joshua Cole at the Carey Cemetery quite near to Elizabeth Davis' tombstone. The cemetery is located on what appears to be private property - very similar to the Palmer Chapel cemetery in Miami County where many of the Slagles and Andersons are buried.

More research about the Methodist Episcopal Society might be helpful.

Harrison Bell and Judah Slagle - Part 2

The next record that I found is the 1850 Census -

1850 Federal Census Record - Turtle Creek, Shelby, OH

Head of household: Harrison Bell, 44, Blacksmith, born VA

Also listed:
Judith Bell, age 44, born KY
James Bell, age 14, born OH
William Bell, age 13, born OH
Francis Bell, age 9, born OH
Jacob Bell, age 7, born OH
Sarah A Bell, age 3, born OH


1858 deed - Monroe Twp, Miami, OH

Harrison bought property from Ansom & Elizabeth Fuller in Monroe Twp, Miami Co, OH for $1,000.00.

"being part of Fractional Section 10, Town? 4, Range Six E. Beginning in the center of the Road leading from Dayton to Troy, and Colesville to the Pike ... [details about the exact boundries] ... containing 6 acres 30 perches? more or less."

I also found on Ancestry.com a township map made in 1875 showing the property of "Mrs. H. Ball(sic)" consisting of 6 acres in Section 10 of Monroe Township which must be the same property as described in the deed. This property is just south of what is now Tipp City, and is very near the Great Miami River.

1860 Federal Census Record - Monroe Twp, Miami, OH

Head of household: Harrison Bell, age 55, Blacksmith, born Virginia
Value of Real Estate: 1200, Value of Personal Goods: 100

Also listed:
Judah Bell, age 56, born Kentucky (cannot read or write was checked)
James Bell, age 25, Farming, Personal Goods 200, born Ohio
William Bell, age 22, no occupation listed, Personal Goods 200, born Ohio
Francis Bell, age 19, no occupation listed, no value listed, born Ohio
Jacob Bell, age 16, attending school, no value listed, born Ohio

Ohio Death Record, 1869, Monroe Twp, Miami, OH

Volume 1, Pg 24, No. 507
"Harrison Bell; Date of Death: 1869 Sept 23; Married; Age: (blank); Place of Death: Monroe Twp; Place of Birth: Virginia; Occupation: Blacksmith; Parents names: (blank); Race: White; Cause of Death: (blank); Place of Residence: Monroe Twp; By Whom Reported: G.B. Bruce"


Tombstone - Maple Hill Cemetery, Tipp City, Miami, OH

1806 - 1869
Harrison A Bell
GAR Star Marker (fought in Civil War)

1870 Federal Census Record - Monroe Twp, Miami Co, OH

Head of household: Judah Bell, age 67, Keeping house, Real Estate Value 1000, born Pennsylvania

This is the right name, right age, right location, but the place of birth doesn't match any other source document that I've seen, so it must be a mistake.

James Bell (34) and William Bell (32) are listed just above and below Judah as separate households. Neither has an Real Estate Value listed, so perhaps they each had a house on Judah's property.

James was married to Sarah E (28) and had a son Albert W (2).  William was married to Anna M (29).

1880 Federal Census Record - Adams Twp, Darke Co, OH

Head of household: James B Bell, age 44

Listed along with James' wife, children and in-laws we find:

Julia Bell, age 74, born Kentucky, Relation to Head of Household Mother, Father's Birthplace Germany, Mother's birthplace Virginia, Widowed, White, Female.

I need to follow-up on these clues about her parents, John Slagle and Anna Matheny, and their birth places.


Tombstone - Gettysburg Cemetery, Darke Co, OH

The Miami Valley Genealogical Index lists a Gravestone for "Judy Bell" wife of Harrison Bell. This is the information listed in the Index:

"Judy Bell, date of Birth: 1804; Source: Gravestone; Cem# 2005: Gettysburg Cemetery, Adams Twp, Darke Co; date of Death: 1881 wife of Harrison; County: Darke"

Those are the sources that I've found so far for Harrison and Judah Slagle Bell.

Slides to Digital Photos Project - 1950s

I have started a project to scan slides that my Dad and Grandpa Fuller took beginning in 1954. I tried three ways of printing the scanned images - at home, using HP's Snapfish service and Persnickety Prints online service. All three were very good, but Persnickety Prints offers the most options in terms of sizes, photo paper, and had as good or better quality photos than the other two.

Now I am putting the photos into a Three Ring Binder using Project Life photo sleeves and cards. Here are the first two double-page layouts that I completed this week.

I'm having lots of fun looking at the old photos, and have also scanned some things that Mom saved for me like the Birth Announcement she mailed out and my Baptismal Certificate. I am also going to try to incorporate scanned images of the Baby Book she started for me, but never had time to finish.

I think this project will take me quite some time to finish, but one thing I have now is time.