It seems to me how far someone will go and how much they would spend to obtain a family heirloom is subjective to the person. How valuable is the heirloom to you? We don't feel the same about all heirlooms. How much "work" is required? Just phone calls or a road trip? And how much money do I have to spend? Can I afford the cost?
I get "pats on the back" and accolades from many relatives on how hard I will work and how far I will go to obtain genealogical information, much less family heirlooms. But to me there is little question. I aim to do what is necessary. It might take me a day or a dozen years, but I at least aim to do what is necessary.
Some generous soul posted a picture on Findagrave.com of my gg-grandfather Arthur Herrick Needham (1831-1921) in his Hospital Steward uniform during the Civil War.
At first, I was stunned and elated, but no genealogist is going to stop there! I had questions! (An axiom of genealogy: answers create questions). Who has this picture? Do they have more? Are they related? And on and on.
First off, there was no question it was him. I have lots of pictures of him as a senior; Change the color of his beard and hair to gray and it is definitely the same man. Second, he signed the CDV and his signature matches those I have collected.
First Step: Contact the person that uploaded the pic to FindaGrave. He knew nothing about it! He captured the image off a listing on eBay.
Second Step: Track down the listing on eBay. It had sold more than six months previously, so the listing was no longer publicly available, but I figured out a way to access older listings and got the seller's name.
Third Step: Track down and contact the Seller. He was an individual using a company name to sell items. This took some time-consuming detective work, but I succeeded. When I contacted him, he said he didn't keep meticulous records and would need to do some research himself to find the name of the Buyer. After a few days, all he found was an email address. That will work!
Fourth Step: Email the Buyer. Yes, he still owns it. No, he cannot make a high-resolution scan for me, because he no longer has it! He put it up for sale on consignment at an antique store in Gettysburg. He would sell it to me if I wanted, and because I am a descendent, he would even discount it from $250 to $200 for me. My heart sunk. That sounded like a rip-off?! But I did not give up.
Fifth Step: Contact the antique store in Gettysburg. Yes, they still had it. Yes, they ship, and they charge $35 to ship. "$35" to ship a photograph?!? The lady said to me, "This is our business." She emailed me a picture --
-- Ironic that the seller was trying to bolster the bona fides by claiming the same picture is used for the FindaGrave memorial. Not realizing that a complete stranger saw this very CDV for sale on eBay, captured the picture, and uploaded it to the memorial.
So now I had to wrestle with the price and the cost to ship. I asked around and every one of my genealogy friends said they would jump at the chance to pay $200 for a picture of their gg-grandfather. Most of them have no pictures at all! Then I researched the costs of civil war era pictures of soldiers, and actually the seller's price was quite reasonable! I had no idea there was a collector's market out there. So after negotiating the shipping price down, I bit the bullet (pardon the pun) and pulled the trigger (two is too much). And here it is.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin W. Walker
