The Forgotten Faces Project

11/25/2025

New! ✨ Forgotten Faces Project has a NEW website that makes searching for photos of your family easy and seamless. I’m also working on a feature to search by photographer, which is helpful if you are looking for photos from a specific studio.

Check it out!

Telling life stories, one photo at a time The Forgotten Faces Project is a repository of found photos with a mission to reunite them with their families through genealogical research. Search below to see if your family is amongst the film. Search by surname Featured Faces Featured Sarah Ellen Davis....

11/25/2025

Sister, sister! 👯‍♀️👯‍♀️ Here is your sign to pay attention to the photography studio details on your cabinet cards and CDVs because HOW SPECIAL IS THIS: a collection of portraits of a mother and her daughters clearly all taken on the same day, together! I just love imagining them all making their way to Norristown for this special occasion. This is Hannah Slingluff Davis and her daughters Sarah Ellen, Charlotte, and Hannah. I found a total of 15 of their family portraits together. You can read more about the Davis family on the blog.

01/21/2023

The last photo in our family saga from Upper Penns Neck, NJ - Hester Cable Crispin, who sent my research in circles because her maiden name was actually Esther Davies. Thanks, girl. Esther was married twice - first to Jacob Cable (previously featured on the blog) - until Jacob fell down a flight of stairs and died. What I love about the writing on the back of this photo is that it says so much with only 3 words. Because the photo is labeled “Hester Crispin”, with Cable added in almost as a footnote, it tells us that Esther stayed close to the Cable family even after Jacob’s death and her second marriage to Josiah Crispin: the labeler (who would have been from the Cable family, since this photo was from the Cable family album) knew her by her Crispin surname, and only at the end realized they might as well add Cable in for good measure. Those obscure family ties are what make genealogical research so special.

01/21/2023

Alice Watson marks a return to an older family saga I had left unfinished - that of the Cable /Hewitt / Dalbow / Clark / Humphries families who lived mostly around Upper Penns Neck, NJ and Wilmington, DE. Read about her life - and see the rest of the photos from the same family album - at the link in bio. Alice’s story actually isn’t as fascinating as the story of the photographer whose name is on the back of this little CDV. E Webb, short for Emily Webb, was one of Delaware’s first female photographers and one of the founders of the Wilmington SPCA. The made an incredible video about her, which you can watch on their YouTube channel. Thank you Delaware Historical Society for shedding light on the people behind the camera!

01/19/2023

I am back, up and running after a long hiatus, with a brand new face: Alice Watson of Wilmington, Delaware. Her photo has been added to her FindaGrave profile, and you can read her life story (really the tragic story of her two sons) on the BRAND NEW website! Check it out ➡️ https://www.forgottenfacesproject.org/faces/alice-watson

01/28/2022

~photo looking for its home~

This photo of Hannah Slingluff Davis was one of a big bunch of Davis family photos found at an antique store in Wi******er, VA! (Which I may or may not have spent over $40 on in order to ensure they all stay together…👀) Hannah was from Montgomery Co., PA and while there isn’t much to say about her, the next few posts will all be of her and her family - who apparently had a field day at the photographer!

A searchable repository of antique photos with genealogy research conducted to return them to descendants.

10/02/2020

~photo looking for its home~
Mrs. Ann King must have been a very special landlady for her tenant to have kept this photo of her. See what's written on the back, and read more about Ann at the link below - you could be related!

Ann King of Wadsworth, OH

07/08/2020

~photo looking for its home~
Whoever labeled the back of this photo was likely related to Effie's playmate, as the photo describes Effie as the 'playmate' of another girl. Little would that family know that young Effie here would grow up to be a widow and a single mother. This research case brings us to the South Boston Lunatic Asylum...read about it!⬇️

Antique photo of a young girl from Boston. Carte de Visite from Boston. 19th Century Boston.

07/01/2020

Everyone loves a good organization video! I FINALLY got around to organizing all the photos in my collection that I either haven't returned to families yet, or that I have yet to research. The video is posted on the Roam Your Roots Youtube Channel - my other genealogy blog! ⬇️

Who doesn't love a good Ikea Alex drawer organization video?! The Forgotten Faces Project is an online repository of antique photos waiting to be returned to...

06/23/2020

The Morgan family - James, Mary, and their two daughters Flora and Mira - moved from Ohio, to Iowa, and eventually to California. While elder sister Flora married and raised three sons, younger sister Mira remained dedicated to her profession in juvenile justice and worked her way up the ranks. If you have Morgan, Belding, Ladd, or Packard surnames in your tree, you may be related ⬇️

A searchable repository of antique photos with genealogy research conducted to return them to descendants.