Share Your Story - Orphan Heirlooms

As you may or may not know, I write a column for Ancestry Daily News and one of my favorite topics is orphan heirloom rescues. It’s amazing how many people wind up with other families’ stuff for some reason. Maybe they buy a house and find an old family Bible in the attic or they just can’t resist that great sepia-toned photo at the flea market. However it happens, folks write to me with the details of the treasures they’ve found, I do the detective work to track down descendants of the original owners, and the item is returned to its rightful owner. Then I write about the “rescue” in an article.

If you’ve got such an item you’d like to get back into family hands, please use this form to tell me about it. Due to volume, I can’t tackle all cases, but just because you don’t hear from me immediately doesn’t mean I’m not on the case. I tend not to contact submitters unless I need clarification or until I’m fairly optimistic I can find a likely recipient for the item.

Name:	Email:
Address:	City:
State:	Zip:
Phone:	Fax:
How did you find this site? Just surfed in Word of mouth Search engine Link from another site In Search of Our Ancestors book Book signing Newspaper/magazine article Television/radio Other
I'd really appreciate it if you'd take a moment to tell me which search engine, other web site, newspaper article, etc. led you here:
Before you tell me your story, please fill me in on a few basics. Please briefly describe the item(s). Is it a photo, Bible, certificate, book, military medal or some other item?
Are there any places mentioned (e.g., the city of the photographer’s studio on an old photo, etc.)? If so, please elaborate:
Are there any dates or date clues provided? If so, please elaborate:
Are there any names given? If so, please elaborate:
OK, now please tell me anything else you’d like to share about your orphan heirloom. For instance, I’d love to hear how you came across it, any other clues you have that might help find the family of origin, why it matters so much to you to get this item to its rightful owners, and so forth.
If possible, it might help if you could attach a scanned image associated with the item, such as the writing on the back of a photo or some of the family details contained in a Bible. Use these fields to attach up to 3 images. If you have more, please send them by email and reference this Orphan Heirloom submission.
Attach 1st file
Attach 2nd file
Attach 3rd file