Family Photo Comes "Home" (Thanks to a Good Samaritan)

Have you ever seen an old photograph in an auction or antique store and felt a pang of sadness because family treasures had become lost to people who would care for them? I have recently come into contact with two people who try to restore those lost artifacts to people or places where they will be valued. 

As Director of the Oshkosh Public Library in Wisconsin, I recently received three letters that had been written in the 1860s by an area farmer to his mother in Michigan. The man who sent them visits sales and antique stores, purchases "orphaned" historical artifacts such as photos and letters, and tries to find suitable homes for them. While the Oshkosh Public Library does not collect such artifacts, our Local History Librarian will offer them to the historical society of the city where the letter writer lived.

A short time after receiving the 19th century letters in my professional role as a library director, I again encountered someone whose hobby is to help historic artifacts find their way to good "homes," although this time I had a personal interest in the matter. Through my account on Ancestry.com, I received the following message one day in May 2018:

Hello, I came across a photo at an antique store in Appleton that states on the back: Grandma & Grandpa Christensen, Property of E.J. Christensen. Matches up with the photo of Jens Christensen on your tree and includes who I think may be Caroline Sorensen. If interested, I can send it to you.

 Of course, I immediately expressed my interest. As it turns out, I pass by the fellow's workplace every day as I commute to and from my own work. We made arrangement for me to pay for the photo (he would accept only what he paid) and to pick it up. 

So, one morning in June, 2018, I stopped by the security desk of his workplace and, for the first time, got to see a photo of both my great-great grandparents together.

Here is the photo of Jens Peter Christensen and his wife Caroline Josephine (nee Sorensen), who immigrated in 1888 from their home near Aalborg, Denmark to Waupaca County in Wisconsin:

And here is the photo of Jens from his profile on my Ancestry.com family tree, which my Good Samaritan saw and recognized in the photo he had purchased:

When I carried my new acquisition and my story to the Christensen family reunion in Waupaca, Wisconsin on June 24, 2018, I was just a little anxious that fifteen people would see it and say "Oh, yes, I have a copy of that photo." I was glad to learn that there is at least one copy of the photo already in the family, but that my "treasure" was also a welcome addition.