1950 Census - Using Photos To Help Find Addresses

     We are officially less than a month away from the release of the 1950 census. Are you ready? Have you found the addresses of the ancestors you hope to find? Have you looked them up at the Steve Morse website? Are you still struggling to find an address? In my previous posts, I've discussed some ways to find addresses for your ancestors. Read the following blog posts:

The 1950 Census - How to find addresses beforehand

The 1950 Census - Who do you hope to find?

    Going back to the post, Who Do You Hope To Find, I was looking at photos from around that time to get an idea of where my family might have been in 1950. Some photos contain dates, like the photos I shared. But there is something else you find in photos.

    After reviewing some other photos, I came across one that had a specific detail that can be very helpful. The photo below is of my Uncle Les sitting on the front porch with their dogs. It was mixed with a collection of random photos. But there is one detail that caught my attention. Do you know what it is?

Uncle Les sitting on porch
abt. 1949
St. Louis, Missouri

    Do you see the number on the door in the background? "7258". That's the address of the house. I have many photos of this house that I was able to group together because of the number on the front and the style of the house. Have you ever thought of looking at some photos from around that time to see if there was an address in the background?
    I do have quite a few photos of my family members standing in front of their houses, so I assume many of you will probably have that in your collection as well. Check the photos closely to see if there is a number on the house in the background. If you are bouncing back and forth between two addresses that your ancestors could have lived at, this might narrow it down.

    Right around the 1950 Census, there were a lot of changes happening to my mom's family. First, my mom was born in March. Second, my mom told me they moved from their house in St. Louis to their home in House Springs sometime in 1950. So there are two possibilities of where they could be living. So more sources were needed to help me narrow down the timeframe.
    As I mentioned in my blog, Who Do You Hope To Find, I had my mom's birth certificate which lists the address of her parents when she was born in 1950. That address is in St. Louis. Again, mom was born in March, but the Census was in April. So it's still possible they moved in April. Well, these pictures are also a helpful clue. I know this is my Uncle on the front porch based on his birthday. The weather looks warm cause he is wearing shorts. These are clues that could help you determine the dates of the photos. 

    So my suggestion is if you haven't been able to narrow down some locations for your ancestors, check out your photo collection. Then talk to some family. Once I started showing my mom some photos, she just blurted out that she was told they moved to House Springs when she was about six months old. Well, there you go. Based on that information, more than likely the family will still be in St. Louis at the time of the 1950 census. 

Have any of your photos led you to any answers?