what a great find!!

he looked like. A few years ago I found a picture of an unidentified Union cavalry soldier who resembled my eldest son in a Mathew Brady Civil War book, and that is who I imagined my gr gr gf to be, but now I know what he really looked like, and there's no resemblance at all between my great-grandfather and my son.

I am thrilled the long search is over.

Still, I wonder why the soldier in the Mathew Brady book and my son look so much alike. Mere chance, I guess.

I was lucky too, in having a distant relative send me pictures of some of my ancestors. It's amazing to line them up beside family members now and see how striking the similarities are. I have a niece who could stand in for a twin to her gr. gr. grandmother.

can tell from our old family photos, none of us look like any of our ancestors. It would be fun if we could compare old photos with living family members and see resemblances, as you and your family have. How neat that your niece looks like her great-great-grandmother. That is really something!

and in Buffalo, NY in 1862 he enlisted in the 27th NY Light Artillery. A month later he re-enlisted in the newly formed 5th Regiment of United States Artillery and about a year later was discharged as a Sergeant in Capt. Truman Seymour’s E Battery. The reason for his discharge was so that he could accept his commission as a 1st lieutenant in the 22nd New York Cavalry, Co. G, where he served till the end of the war.

He died at the Sawtelle Soldier's Home in 1898, and was buried in the cemetery there.

Can imagine how thrilled you must be.
I was fortunate enough to know one of mine quite well. He died when
i was nineteen. He was ten during part of the Civil War. Had many long talks with him. Good memories. Met my dad's twin sister when she was older and i
was in my late thirties. It was like i was looking at myself now. Brother resembles our grandfather more than any of his sons. Interesting to know about one's ancestors, isn't it?......z

especially one in his Union uniform. Do you see any family resemblances between him and your relatives on that side? I was surprised to see one in my civil war ancestor and my father (his great grandfather) when I looked at photos of both of them. Have you looked at your ancestor's civil war file at the National Archives? Sometimes you might find out some interesting things there. Oh, very handsome man too, at both ages!

resembled him a lot. My dad didn't.

I don't look anything like my gr gf, either, and my kids all look like their dad and his family.

Yes, my cousins and I have found a lot of information about him at the National Archives. We were amazed!

I agree with you that he was handsome. I also think that his wife, my great-grandmother, was nice looking.



She died of consumption (tuberculosis) a few years after they were married. He never married again.

Sorry the picture is so huge. I don't know how to make it smaller.

And how sad that she died so young. Sorry to hear that.

sad. My grandfather was a toddler when she died, and his sister a baby. Very sad indeed.

How sad that she died so young.

I know how you feel, believe me.

I recently found a picture of my great great great grandfather born in Georgia in 1810 before the Trail of Tears.

He was Cherokee.

It is such a great feeling to find an actual picture of an old ancestor isn't it?

Congratulations!!!

Oh, my gosh, how AMAZING you've found a picture of your Cherokee great-great-great grandfather! Would you mind posting it so we can see it too? What an exciting find! (Two of my granddaughters are half Lakota, and they would love to see pictures of some of their long-ago Native American ancestors. I would love to see the pictures too.)

Yes, it's a great feeling to see a real picture of a long-ago ancestor. I'd always pictured my great-grandfather to have resembled my dad, but he didn't at all. My great-grandfather didn't look like his own son, my dad's father, either, and my dad didn't resemble his father. In their pictures, none of them even look related, which I think is kind of unusual in a family.

He was a confederate and held slaves (!). He was quite well-off it seems as I found his father, my great-great-great-great grandfather in the Georgia census in the 1800's.

I do not know what happened but his daughter, my great great grandmother was said to be born in Arkansas. Was she?

My cousin doesn't seem to know (she is about 80 years old).

It was a shock I tell you, a shock.

His name was William Johnston.

It is amazing I found a picture of him IMO!



Great info. you have there too!

Keep looking.

Seek and ye shall find!

I can imagine what a shock it was to see the photograph! A thrilling shock, of course! It is amazing you found a photo of him.

Do you know what kind of photo it was? I read that many tintypes and ambrose types are mirror images, just as modern photograph negatives are.

Seek and ye shall find is very good advice! I found a photo of a portrait of my great-great grandfather, the dad of my Civil War great-grandfather, by contacting distant relatives in S. Africa I'd found online at a gen. site. The family emigrated from England to South Africa, as many English families did back then, to escape the cold dampness of England.

My great-great grandfather Isaac Austen (1797-1856), an Englishman, owned a grocery store in Godalming and one in Tonbridge and was a circuit Wesleyan Methodist preacher. He and my gr grandfather are listed in Jane Austen's family tree, but I haven't yet figured out exactly how they were related to her.

The facial spots are from paint discoloration on the original portrait.

I found it on ancestry.com on the tree linked to his daughter.

William Johnston is a history lesson within itself -- a perfect example of an "assimilated" Indian (a red man wearing the clothes of a white man ... )

His daughter raised my grandmother -- a grandmother I never knew.

My mother was adopted an no one ever told her who she was.

It was a major identity crisis for her. My late mother actually drove all the way to the deep south where she was born to try to find out WHO she was. She never found out despite all of those years she searched.

The only link I had to find out who she was was a bogus birth cert. I have with the name of her "real" mother and "real" father on it. It was given to her by her late foster mother who was Indian and my foster grandmother told her, "Don't ever tell your father (meaning foster father) that I gave this to you. If he knew, he'd kill me!". It also had a mysterious business card stapled to it bearing the name of a man whose surname was actually the same as the one on the birth cert. which had a bastardization of his name on it (same surname, different spelling). I found him too and his has quite the family history and lineage and his grandmother was considered to be from one of the "great southern families" of the time. My grandfather was was part Indian too it seems -- same thing too -- Cherokee, but don't tell anyone ok?

I swore on Mother's death bed that I would find out who she is/was and needless to say I have VERY mixed feelings re: the subject of "adoption". My mother was NOT treated well, not treated like a human being hardly and was dumped once the Depression hit.

When the 1930 census was released, I went to the place where she was born and typed in her real mother's name and *bingo* -- her mother was there!

I was able to trace her real mother, my grandmother back and found the line and all the cousins I have that I never knew existed; all of them are mixed blood Indian, likely Cherokee/Choctaw and/or Seminole too I think. My first cousin called me on the phone on Xmas eve in 2008 and said to me, Hello and BINGO! My 80+ year old first cousin has written a book about the family and sent it to me. How is that for a huge WOW!? She had no idea that my mother existed so it was a shock for her too!

It took 70+ years to find this info. I'd always suspected I was part Indian being most of my mother's friend were either part Indian or married to an Indian. My only wish is that I had found this info. out before my mother passed away but I kept my promise to her despite it all.

It seems that no one wanted my mother to find out that she was part Indian. The woman that adopted her was Indian too and was also Cherokee (and Choctaw). Doesn't our country do a good job covering up the truth of what they have done to our Native peoples?

I'm now working more on my father's line again, a fascinating ancient/old Irish line. I just heard from someone the other day in fact that is directly related to the line of priests in my late father's family (that I never knew existed!). These priests founded many of the Catholic churches in northern California during the Gold Rush years, including two of them that are not far from where I now live.

My father was from an old San Francisco family which is a whole fascinating story within itself.

I really should write a book!

That is an amazing portrait you have there. You were lucky to find it!

And yes, seek and ye shall find alright!

you should write a book about it. It's absolutely spellbinding!

It's a shame how oftentimes, especially in the past, "white" families tried to keep their Indian - or black, or other "non-white" - heritage a secret.

As for adoption, I'm all for it. I have a Japanese American step-sister whom my Dad and step-mom adopted when she was three days old, and my two African American grandsons are adopted as well. My birth mother was from India, and the mom of two of my granddaughters is Lakota. Our family's motto is vive la difference!