Very rarely do I dream about anything related to genealogy. My dreams usually involve very confusing themes whose symbolism is best left unexplored.
In last night’s dream I was in my old bedroom where I lived at home, but I was an adult. With me were my mom and her mom, who are both deceased. I had enlarged a picture of my paternal grandfather. I remember thinking that I would get an unbiased opinion on the photo because they did not know the subject. (Ok, I know what you’re thinking -- if I was there, then my mom would have been married to my dad and certainly they would know my dad’s father. Alas, such is the logic of dreams. Let’s move on, shall we?) Oddly enough, the picture that I showed them is an actual photo that I have, and have seen many times over the years. My grandmother commented on a bit of text in one of the corners that read “mixed race”. Now I know for a fact that my grandfather was not of mixed race. However, the point that I took away from that comment was this: even though I’d seen this photo several times my grandmother pointed out something that I had missed every time I’d seen it. My eyes just focused on the same points in the photo each time I looked at it.
I have been exploring the concept of forensic genealogy, but have not been thinking actively about it for a few months. My brief foray into the field has been limited to new and strange photos where I do not know the subject, nor the time frame or the geographic area in which it was taken. The fact that I would now dream of it has me wanting to examine my collection of photos with a new, discerning eye. Perhaps I can glean some new clues from my photos. It’s worth a try!