By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

LOVELL — When Kate Kelley visits antique shops, she always feels bad to find discarded family photos from years gone by.

“They don’t belong in a dusty box in an antique store,” said Kate, a resident of Attleboro, Mass. 

Old photos, Kate believes, are treasures that should be cherished possessions of a family’s next generation.

Combining her longtime interest in genealogy along, an inquisitive mind and enjoyment of the “thrill of the hunt,” Kate embarked on a mission to rescue old photos and reunite them with family members.

A special education teacher in Plainville, Mass., Kate is known as the “Photo Angel.”

“It feels good to help someone piece together their family history,” she said. 

Cody and Hannah Guilford of Lovell hope they possess some missing pieces of some families’ history puzzle.

“When we purchased the home, we started going through all the belongings to be sure there was nothing important before moving it/getting rid of it and discovered the photos,” Hannah said. “I didn’t want any sentimental items that family may not have had a chance to get to go to waste, so that’s when I reached out and Cody came across the items while renovating a historic home in Lovell.”

The Guilfords had heard about the Photo Angel project when Kate posted a message on the Fryeburg Community Facebook page regarding a photo — “Meet Laura (Hill) Charles (1874–1950), her husband Stephen Charles (1838–1912), and their son, Wellington Charles, aka “Duke” (1903–1980), of Fryeburg, Maine — she had purchased at an antique store in Sturbridge, Mass. and reunited it with a cousin living in North Carolina.

Kate and her husband, Brian, zipped up to Lovell and were thrilled to find wooden trunks filled with countless photos and documents.

“This generous couple donated two boxes chock full of labeled photos, yearbooks, mementos, vital records, etc. and they invited me to return to Lovell to check out some more of their finds!” Kate said. “I felt as though I had hit the lottery as this was the largest treasure trove donated to The Photo Angel project to date!”

Kate has been intrigued by the life of Dr. Frank Hartman, whose personal items and photos are scattered amongst the Lovell trunk treasures.

“A newspaper clipping from The Seattle Timesin 1964 states, ‘Dr. Hartman, a noted physiologist and the first student to receive a doctorate from the University of Washington, discussed his field, endocrinology, with specialists at the university today.’ I am eager to learn more about this fascinating man and his relatives!” Kate said.

Kate discovered Lovell just recently.

“While I was helping my good friend with her Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) application, she proudly shared that several generations of her ancestors hailed from Fryeburg,” she said. “My family found the area to be absolutely breathtaking! The blanket of snow put us in the mood for Christmas and we reminisced about hiking to Mount Washington’s summit two years ago.”

A descendant of Gov. William Bradford, one of the original Plymouth settlers, as well as John Alcott, a Revolutionary War veteran, Kate is a DAR member.

So, how does Kate unlock the mysteries surrounding the old photos that enable her to find their rightful owners?

It starts with a name or other information on the back of the photograph. Kate then uses online search platforms such as Ancestry.com and findagrave.com to locate descendants. In most cases, family members are thrilled to be reunited with old photos. There are occasional, “not interested” responses, but that never deters Kate from tackling the next challenge.

“I begin by researching the photos and documents containing the most information. I have organized The Photo Angel project into a system with the following categories: ‘New,’ ‘Pending’ and ‘Challenges.’ The most challenging aspect of The Photo Angel project is when folks do not reply to my messages because they mistakenly believe that I am a spammer or a scammer,” she said.

She has reached out to several Lovell project family members via genealogy websites, and currently awaiting their responses.

“I have acquired hundreds of photos and pieces of ephemera from countless antique stores, flea markets, and donations so I am a busy bee. I have a speaking engagement at a library in Rhode Island next month and for two upcoming DAR meetings, as well as an upcoming “Facebook Live” with a popular genealogy company,” she said. “In addition, I have been invited to write articles for publications to include The Mayflower Quarterly. I am excited to share that The Photo Angel website will be available in the near future!”

In a recent Photo Angel Facebook post (she has over 6,000 members), Kate revealed that she had tracked down a relative in Missouri, who offered to distribute rescued Hartman photos and documents to the appropriate family members. 

When asked what she considers her greatest reward, Kate, who spends about three hours a night on her hobby, said, “Hand delivering photos to excited family members is by far the most rewarding part of this project! One family invited me to their Thanksgiving dinner to express their gratitude and share stories about the people in the photographs that I had purchased at an antique store. Everyone involved had such a wonderful time that they invited me to join them again next year!”

She takes pride in knowing that she preserved some families’ histories by rescuing old photos and locating ancestors. In one case, she had a photo of a couple from North Waterboro. Through research, Kate located a grandniece. Kate later learned that because of a fire, the photo was the only existing picture of the woman’s great aunt and uncle.

“When I make a connection, it’s absolute joy,” she said. “It feels good to help someone piece together their family history.”

And her greatest disappointment? “Is when I find photos at antique stores and flea markets with no information on them. It is heartbreaking because the photographed are somebody’s loved ones and the images are lost to history.”

So, when she visits antique shops, Kate looks for photos with the most identifiable information on them, which will greatly aid her in her searches.

In a recent TV interview, Kate showed an album with some empty slots on various pages. Those “holes” are success stories — a photo that has found its way home.

So, the next time you look at old photos in a family album, check to see if the photos include names — it could ultimately save them some day from sitting in a dusty box on an antique shop shelf rather than part of a family talk about ancestors.