Krista Luttrell

Every day on marketplace websites like eBay, Etsy, Craigslist, and Facebook, fragments of family history quietly change hands. Among them are old photographs, personal letters, postcards, diaries, scrapbooks, school yearbooks, and much more. These items, once much cherished by a deceased relative, are sold off to strangers. How do these family treasures end up on the online marketplace? Too often, when an older relative passes away, surviving family members may be left feeling overwhelmed by the task of going through the deceased’s lifelong accumulation of “things.” These ‘things’ were stuffed into boxes, cabinets, and drawers, and surviving relatives, without the resources of assistance, energy, time, or willingness to sort through them, offload them at a yard or estate sale, or simply toss them in a recycling or trash bin. A wedding photo or diary that could have told stories of one’s great-grandparents’ lives may instead end up in a stranger’s hand and then sold for a few dollars to another stranger.

These objects are so much more than musty old stuff; they are family memory keepers. Every faded photograph and handwritten letter tells a unique story, and they are viable links to unlocking the lives and relationships that help to shape a family’s present. Pause and make the effort to go through great grandma’s boxes, no matter how overwhelming it seems or how long it may take. The effort can mean rescuing irreplaceable parts of a family’s history before they are lost forever. And, if you do not want to take on the task, offer it to another family member who does.

Frances Craven, the pretty young woman in the above photograph¹, was born in 1888 in Portland, Maine, to Irish immigrants, Patrick Craven of Annaghdown, County Galway, and Margaret Colleran, of Donaghpatrick, County Galway. Her parents married at St. Dominic’s Church in Portland in 1874², and, according to information provided in the 1900 U.S. census³, the couple had eight of twelve surviving children, including Frances, then called Bridget. She went on to marry a man named William Harvey, and they had a son, William, Jr., who, too, married and ⁴had children. This bit of information suggests Frances likely has living relatives. Are you one? If so, and as of today’s date, her photograph is selling on eBay for $24.75 or best offer.

♥︎ Krista

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Notes:

1. eBay. “Frances Craven Harvey photo #1, eBay ID:313084315431.” Last accessed August 15, 2025. https://ebay.us/m/4MOPnx. ↩︎
2. Ancestry.com, “Maine, U.S., Birth, Marriage and Death Records,” accessed August 2, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com. ↩︎
3. Ancestry.com. “1900-1950 U.S. census population schedules,” Last accessed August 2, 2025. https://www.ancestry.com. ↩︎
4. Maine, U.S. Department of Human Services. “Marriage Record for Frances Craven and William J Harvey, 6 October 1923.” Maine, U.S., Marriage Index, 1892–1996. Ancestry.com. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6904/records/1110640. ↩︎