Tombstone Tuesday: Porcelain Photo

I have read about porcelain photographs of the deceased being added to their headstones, but never imagined any of my ancestors would have had the money to do so. On my recent research trip, I accidentally found the headstone of my great-grandmother's brother, who died in World War I. It was between his father's headstone and the headstone the woman I hypothesize to be his mother.

Two things stood out to me immediately. First, his name is listed as Antoni, rather than Andrew, as I found in the census and an index for his military record. Not unusual, as his other family members' headstones are written entirely in Polish as well.

Second was a photograph of him in his military uniform. I was ecstatic! I have precious few photographs of this part of my family and I would have never expected to find one of this young man, who died at age eighteen. I have since ordered his National Guard records from the Maryland Archives.

You never know what genealogical finds await you...even ones you did not know you were looking for.