Watlingtons of West Tennessee

Hammond Ancestors

The pictures are divided into three pages, to minimize download time:

A larger version of each image may be seen by clicking on the image, or the "larger" link. Some images have an even larger version (the "very large" link) available. The "original" version of each image (as scanned in, before any image enhancements and downsampling for video displays) may be viewed by clicking on an image's "orig" link.

These pictures are mostly from a Hammond Ancestor photo book kept by Emma Mai Hammond. We have no indication as to whom was responsible for putting together this Hamond-Hale family album (ca. 1870). It was probably a family project, promoted by either Merwin K. or Julius A. Hammond. It was a treasured volume of the Hammond-Jameson family. The album is now in the care of Paul Hammond Watlington, Jackson, Tenn.

These pictures have been included in a book, Our Hammond Hale Ancestors ( HTML, PDF - 6.5 MBytes ). A booklet used for test printing is also available (but not recommended).

Please note that married women are indexed by their maiden name. All page numbers refer to the page in the original photo album.

Image Enhancement

The original images were scanned in at 1200dpi resolution, with automatic adjustment of contrast and brightness. The original photographs (some a copy of an earlier photograph) were in many cases overexposed, or faded. Each scanned-in original image (available through the "orig" link next to each picture) was individually processed to generate the image shown (and available in larger form through the "larger" link or clicking on the image itself). The main reason for this image enhancement was to adjust the image "brightness and contrast" (in both a linear and non-linear fashion) to correct for photographic decay and scanning software errors. The image resolution of the "larger" images was usually reduced to 150 dpi --- they show up roughly twice original size on a typical monitor. The smaller images are all a quarter the size of the "larger" oners. In some cases, a slight sharpening filter has been applied.

In many of the images, additional airbrushing, cut & paste, or smudging was used to remove obvious artifacts of either the scanning process or previous photographic copying (dust & hairs) and dirt. If there was any doubt about the image artifact (is that a piece of dirt or a scar ?) it was left untouched.

In all cases, the image enhancement may be improved. If you do so, please email us your new images and we will incorporate them into this page.