My Word with Douglas E. Welch

A great story on how old films, now uploaded to YouTube and elsewhere can hold genealogical resources for those researching families or general history. Also, just a great example of how to approach any research project. — Douglas

Also Check out the Update Video, where I interview a living descendant of the Lochowicz family

In this video I discuss how I was able to identify people in the film 1911 A Trip Through New York City. In one scene of the video there is a well to do looking family being driven around by a chauffeur. The license plate on the car can be clearly seen as 65465, so I wondered if I could identify them through this little piece of information.

I learned through the Federal Highway Administration that there were 81,370 auto-mobiles registered in NY by 1911. I also learned registration was published publicly and quickly found a listing for license plate 65465 in the Brooklyn Life Magazine showing a June 12th, 1911 registration E.M.F. – Mrs. Lochwicz 548 Eighth Street. The car in the video definitely looked like a 1911 E.M.F. Model 30 Touring Car, so I tried to find the family in the 1910 census and was able to find them living at 548 Eighth Street. The household consisted of six people; Head of house Florian Lochowicz, his wife Antoinette Lochowicz (listed as Antonie in the census), their children Francis, Emily, and Elsie, and a servant named Mary Moriarty.

Florian Lochowicz was born in Posen in 1871 and immigrated to America in 1890. His wife Antoinette was a distant cousin of his and she was the daughter of Konstantyn Cornelius Lochowicz and Julia Hectus. Konstantyn had immigrated in 1864, possibly due to the January Uprising in Poland. Florian worked as a barber and became very prominent because J.P. Morgan was patron of Florian’s. Florian died unexpectedly in 1918 but was worth $70,000 at the time of his death. His wife continued running the Barbershops into the 1950s and still lived at their Brownstone home in NYC at 548 Eighth Street.

See all the photos in this series

See all the photos in this series

We’ve all heard the stories of the Wild West. Saloon Brawls, duels at high noon, ladies being tied to Train Tracks by moustachioed gentlemen, Cowboys fighting Indians. But how true is any of this? To put it bluntly. Just how ‘Wild’ was the Wild West. Find out in this short animated simple history documentary.

In this film we look at some simple ideas to help you build on your creative photography skills. Looking at how to make the most out interesting locations and also how you can explore the world using photography.

00:08 – Overview of how I work through photography ideas while shooting
04:17 – Order, form and symmetry
09:25 – Low angle perspective
12:24 – Frame within a frame
15:20 – Close-up details
19:12 – Unexpected details, patterns and textures
22:47 – Historical recording, research using photographs
24:53 – Delicate and subtle light
27:53 – Painterly landscapes
29:24 – Colours
31:12 – Minimal photography
32:26 – Low light
36:12 – Strange and playful ideas

In the US, mascots are used to pump up crowds at sporting events, or for traumatizing generations of children at Chuck E. Cheese, but in Japan it’s different. There are mascots for towns, aquariums, dentists’ offices, even prisons. There are mascots in cities that tell people not to litter, or remind them to be quiet on the train. Everything has a mascot and anything can be a mascot. The reason why mascots and character culture flourish in Japan is connected with the nation’s fascinating history with mythical monsters known as Yokai.

Did Ancient Rome or Ancient (Han) China know about each other? Did these two empires communicate, did they trade and what did they think of each other?