Restorations

Meet Harman Ruth, he was born July 4,1846 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he's my great, great grandfather. He served in the Civil War in the 10rth Pennsylvania regiment, entering the war as an under aged young man.  After the war, he married Kate Vandergrift, had about 8 children (we're working on verifying his children, our records have some errors) worked as a farmer and moved west.

I love this picture, but to me it's a little dark.  I'd like to be able to see some of the details in his face. So I lightened it up and I really like the way it turned out.

 I have been learning about my family and through the wonders of technology, I have been able to meet some distant cousins.  Harman has been a man that has created confusion in our family because different records show different first names.  Some records show Herman and others show Harman.  One of my goals is to try and correct errors in my family history, but I was stumped which name was correct.  Finally, an answer was found when I was researching old newspapers. I found an article in the Montana Roundup newspaper dated November 16, 1933 in which Harman actually answers the question.  The article says "He is sensitive about his name. Most people insist, he declares, on calling him 'Herman'.
It isn't 'Herman.' It's 'Harman, no 'e' in it. And the middle initial is Y, don't forget that."

Here's to Harman Ruth.  I can't wait to discover more history about my ancestors and along the way maybe find more pictures that I can restore.  It has a special meaning when it's your own family you're working on.