During my time at my grandmother's house, I dug around in her numerous old photo albums. She told me to take whatever photos I wanted, so I have a stack about six inches high which I will put into my own album.

Many of the photos were unlabelled, however, and I had to ask her about the identities of the people photographed.

Most of us could probably see a childhood photo of our mother or father and know who it is. But in the older photos, such as the ones of my grandmother or great-aunts and -uncles as children, I had no clue.

When my grandmother dies, these old photos will be a mystery. So next time I'm visiting, I plan to sift through the photos and ask my grandmother whom they depict, and if possible, the locations and approximate years they were taken. Then I'll write the info on the back of each photo.

I just hope she has the patience to tell me all this.

My mother has ancient photos, even old tintypes, but they were found stashed in my maternal grandmother's basement after she died. No one knows who the people in them were. Sometimes there is a first name written on them, but we don't know the branch of the family.

So my point is, if you have aging relatives, see what photos they have and what they know about them. And write the information on the backs of your own photos, in case they're still around seventy years from now.

Anyway, the coolest picture was of my great-great-grandfather and his two brothers, one of whom was found murdered in a hotel in California during the Gold Rush. No one knows if he had found gold or not.

--Jessica