The other day I was going through an old cardboard box my mother had
in the closet, and I found the most amazing thing. I came across an
original passport of my grandmother and grandfather that was dated
1920. Because of frequent travel overseas from Australia (not his
native New Zealand), he and his wife were issued an Australian
passport in 1920. As I opened the hard cover and unfolded the very
large page inside, I discovered their faces staring up at me in
perfect black and white, with their full signatures underneath. I
also found, to my great surprise, a photo of my grandmother and her
newborn child (my mother), which had been added to the passport after
1921 when my mother was born.
Needless to say, I was thrilled with this photo find, but I was even
more thrilled with the information the passport contained. Along with
wonderful stamps of the foreign countries and dates of their entries
and departures, there was a description of each of the bearers of the
passport. The description included each one's age, profession, place
and date of birth, height, forehead description, eye color, nose
shape, mouth shape, chin shape, hair color, complexion, face shape,
any special peculiarities, and national status, as well as my
grandmother's maiden name. To say how thrilled I was is an
understatement.
This may be a source many have never thought of checking. I don't
know if passport information is still kept by governments, but if so,
you can get, quite literally, all information about what your
ancestors looked like. To me it was the find that made my
grandparents real.
Thanks to Georgea Sharkey of Whangaparaoa, New Zealand for today's Quick Tip! If you have a tip you would like to share with researchers, you can send it to editor@ancestry-inc.com.
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