About Ancestor-Rescue

Ancestor-Rescue is run solely by yours truly. The advantage is you get the best I have to offer. I'm dedicated, handy and artistically inclined. I designed, organized, built and now maintain this website. You’ll often find me in front of a computer, repairing, enhancing, and organizing photos, collecting family history, writing or experimenting with technologies and techniques for sharing history.

I love pictures. And none have more meaning than those of my ancestors, some dating back to the days when photography was very young. I enjoy working with tin-types and daguerreotypes. So you see my life is graphical. But one might ask where I got such a passion for genealogy and history?

Once, when very young, I saw a documented genealogy of my mother's family back to England. It impressed me and gave me a new understanding of myself and what could be learned about family history. Yet it frustrated me because the format was hard to follow and sharing the experience with someone else was anticlimactic. My analytical side was crying out for something that could help me better follow their lives. That manuscript was neglected for many years.

Then one day I got a computer software program that helped me organize family information. As I entered this information my family began to come alive!

There was even a scrapbook feature which led me to learning how to properly scan and digitize my ancestors photos. The next step was a quest to find better pictures and any missing pictures.

I saw my grandfather's image for the first time when I found it hidden deep in the closet to "save" it. For 47 years I thought I would never know what my grandfathers had looked like. I never knew these pictures even existed! What a treat!

I soon scanned them into data files and eventually published them on CDs and shared them with brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles. Each of them received all the data and graphics gathered over the years including a set of original portraits that can be printed anytime or shared electronically.

But the thought that I could have talked with my grandmothers about the attire their husbands wore or their physical natures or the memory of having the portrait taken. I've thought long and hard about the disadvantages in the methods people have used to "protect" their family heirlooms up until now.

I see digital as the best way to go. It's a bit hard to get there but it can change the whole dynamics of family history in a most positive way. With digital, there are entertaining, educational, and downright exciting ways to preserve and share family history (pictures, heirlooms, etc.).

I’m dedicated to helping families properly preserve these memories. I’m ready to help but you need to take the first steps.

Find the pictures and other media that most deserve saving. Do it now--before its too late. Then e-mail me. Initial consultation is free and there is no obligation. If, at any time, you find you need help, e-mail me again. We’ll work together to protect your treasures and make them available to those who will appreciate them, forever. If you want, we can even put your family’s stories, pictures, and voices on the Internet or on CD. You'll be amazed at how fun and rewarding it can be!

I'll help anyway I can, every step of the way when necessary. Let me help with whatever tasks you cannot do on your own. Just look at what I've done with my family histories on this site and imagine what yours would look like online.

Now that I've rescued mine, my goal is to rescue YOUR ancestors.

Randy C. Smart - Graphic Artist, Writer, Programmer and Historian