In a 2007 newsletter, by the Franconia Museum in Franconia, Virginia, Mary Evelyn Smith of the Broders Lineage shared an account written by Laura Ruth Riston Meek (Franconia Museum Inc. 7). According to some brief research on the exact identity of Mary Evelyn, she and Laura share a common ancestor in John Hewitson Broders Sr. His son, John Hewitson Broders Jr., is Evelyn’s grandfather. John Hewitson Broders Jr.’s sister is Laura Broders Harrison Riston, Laura Ruth’s mother. I am not related to the Broders, but through some evidence I’ve assembled over the years, I believe I have a common ancestor through Laura Ruth’s father’s side. Laura Ruth’s father George Washington Riston is the grandson of Zadock Clifford Riston, who is our common ancestor through my mother’s maternal grandfather, Francis Schanberger. His mother was Mary Jane Riston. My goal in this story is to share my thought process on each important piece of evidence connecting my lineage to Zadock.

According to this 2007 document, Laura Ruth Riston Meek was born in 1874 in Fairfax, Virginia (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Her Mother was Laura Broders Harrison Riston, who was previously married to Henry Thomas Harrison, a Confederate spy during the Civil War (Tenkotte and Claypool 434). He eventually rose in the ranks and reported to Robert E. Lee through Lieutenant General James Longstreet. Harrison’s intelligence gathering eventually sparked the Battle of Gettysburg, arguably the Civil War’s most famous battle and a turning point for the war as a whole. After the war, Harrison took Laura and their family to Mexico, who eventually abandoned them to prospect for gold in Montana (National Park Service). Laura and the Harrison family hired detectives to search for him, but he remained reclusive and was presumed dead (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Harrison eventually turned up in Ohio in 1893, but by then Laura had already moved on, remarried, and had more children (National Park Service).

Laura Harrison married George Washington Riston in Fairfax, Virginia in 1873, and he helped raise her children from her previous marriage (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Laura Ruth spoke a lot about her family and lineage in this 2007 document, which is a useful link to our shared family history. This account was written in 1956 when Laura Ruth was 82, and three years before her death in 1959 (Franconia Museum Inc. 14). Though she recalls many great details that I can confirm through census data, death certificates, and other official documents, some of the names and birthplaces she recalls do not match the official record. To be fair, I am writing this in 2023 at 38 years old and have access to a massive database of indexed documents and records to help prove connections. Often in my research, the official record has misspellings and errors, but I tend to look at the context in relationships. That said, this document is helpful in proving (or disproving) my lineage in a roundabout way.

In Laura Ruth’s account, she begins to discuss the Riston lineage. In it she mentions her grandfather Thomas who was born in France in 1818. He married a woman named Mary Mullikin. She mentions her father, George Washington Riston’s birthdate as March 25, 1838 (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Laura Ruth also mentioned his death date as December 23, 1926 (Franconia Museum Inc. 7). In another clue that came up in further research, she mentions her sister Kate’s husband, Thadeus Hopkins (Franconia Museum Inc. 13). In my research, I found George Washington Riston’s death certificate from 1926. In it, his parents are listed as “Benjimen” Riston (birthplace unknown) and Elizabeth Millikin, born in Prince George County, Maryland (Virginia, “Death Records”). While it is possible this is a different George Washington Riston, the context of the other information is hard to deny. His late wife is listed as Laura Harrison Borders, the informant is Kate R. Hopkins from Fairfax, VA, and the birth and death dates match Laura Ruth’s account  (Virginia, “Death Records”). I would argue it is safe to say this document from 1926 has more plausibility in confirming George’s parents’ names than Laura Ruth’s account in 1956. That’s not to say there isn’t a Thomas or Mary in the family, but it’s possible Laura Ruth recalled the wrong people when referring to her grandparents.

Though Laura Ruth misremembered a few details, her comprehensive recollection allowed me to get a few key elements to look for in connecting my branch to hers. Including locating George Washington Riston and his parents Benjamin and Elizabeth, much of the Riston lineage comes from Prince George County, MD, which is just outside Washington, D.C. Francis Shanberger’s mother is Mary Jane Riston and his maternal grandfather is Joseph B Riston who was born in or just outside Washington, D.C. in 1849 (Kaye 126). I have in my archive, Francis Shanberger’s parents’ marriage certificate, which I scanned in 2003 along with some family photos (Church of St. Peter). This document gives me the names of George (Francis’s father) and Charles Schanberger, Mary Jane (his mother) and Elizabeth Riston.

With this marriage certificate and an 1880 Federal Census from Baltimore, I can begin to prove Elizabeth (Bessie) and Mary Jane’s connection to each other and the rest of their family. In the 1880 census, Mary Jane was 5, Elizabeth was 3, and their brother Thomas B was 6 (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”). The dates and names match with other, similar records.The 1880 census also includes Mary Jane’s parents, Joseph Benjamin and Mary Jane [Conney] (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”). He was about 33 and she was 37 at the time.This census, as well as several other censuses, show Joseph was born in Washington, D.C., putting him closer to the general source of the other Ristons I am looking for. This census also indicates his parents were born in Virginia (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”). And a 1910 census shows Joseph, Mary, and Elizabeth living in George Schanberger’s house, which makes this proof pretty obvious (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”). Additionally a marriage record from Washington, D.C.’s list of marriages confirms Joseph and Mary were married in the Capital (Washington, D.C., “Marriage Index”).

This is where the record gets hairy. The census information only lists ages and not birthdates, and all of this is documented by enumerators, who of course are human and make mistakes. The 1880 census lists Joseph as 33 (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”), 1900 as 50 (Ancestry.com, “1900 Census”), and 1910 indicates he’s 60 (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”), meaning he was born either in 1847 or 1850. Maybe he was even born in 1846 or 1849 depending on his birthday. At this point I have Joseph Benjamin Riston born between 1846 and 1850 in Washington, D.C., and I have George Washington Riston born in 1838 in Prince George’s County, MD, which surrounds the eastern side of the Capital. George Washington Riston died in Fairfax, VA (Virginia, “Death Records”), which is on the western side of the Capital, so there’s definitely some movement going on.

Tracing George Washington Riston’s parents is a little easier thanks to Laura Ruth’s information and the moderate celebrity status of his wife and her ex-husband. I had already proved Benjamin Riston and Elizibeth Mullican are his parents, but in digging further, an 1850 census from Fairfax, VA shows Benjamin and Elizabeth with a 13 year old George W Riston (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – Fairfax”). The dates and family match as well, which gives me an approximate 1799 birthdate for Benjamin. Benjamin Riston’s father is Zadock Clifford Riston (Brumbaugh, “Vol 2” 386), born, married, and died in Prince George’s County, MD in 1754 (Ancestry.com, “Revolutionary War Records”), 1786 (Brumbaugh, “Vol 1” 148), and 1839 (Brumbaugh, “Vol 2” 386) respectively. He was 85 at the time of his death, and according to his Revolutionary War pension record, his son, Benjamin, and daughter, Cassandra Ann King, were listed as recipients (Brumbaugh, “Vol 2” 386).

A “Mrs. Anne King,” was a separate entry in the 1820 census right next to Zadock Riston Jr, which at the time, only listed heads of households (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census-Hydes”). Is this “Ann,” Cassandra Ann? In these records, every other person in the household would just be a tally mark. This makes sense, but leaves a mystery as to who is who when researching archives. That said, Zadock Riston Jr. married Mary Ann King in 1818 according to a transcribed marriage record (Scott 273). I don’t think he married his sister, but the naming does make this detail confusing when trying to verify who’s who.

So far, Zadock Clifford Riston has two sons, Benjamin and Zadock Jr. On the same 1820 census in the Piscataway area of Prince George’s County, Zadock Sr. can be found in a separate entry from his son (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census-Piscataway”), who was listed living in Hydes (this name is defunct) . Piscataway, by the way, is near the location of the church many of my Riston records point to in Baptisms and other events. This church is known as St. John’s but is used interchangeably with Piscataway Parish (Skirven 135).

Zadock Sr. (spelled Zydock Ryston in this 1820 record) is the head of the household with four men and five women living under his roof. Two are over 45 (presumably Zadock and his wife Elizabeth), one boy and two girls under 10, one boy 16 to 18, one boy 16 to 26, one girl up to 16, and one girl up to 26 (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census – Piscataway”). If these are all his remaining children, the birth ranges are from 1794 to the 1810s (possibly the early 1810s if Zadock and his wife are in their mid 40s). So assuming these people are his children, Zadock and Elizabeth had nine kids. Some of my unverified sources claim he had six kids so maybe his adult children were living in this household before moving out. I only need to worry about the men as Riston is Francis Schanberger’s mother’s maiden name, so one of his five sons is my relative. The three in the 1820 census are unnamed. 

My search takes me to FamilySeach, which is semi-related to Ancestry.com. Unlike Ancestry, which allows users to create family trees however they want (many just point to each other), FamilySearch operates more like Wikipedia – each person is a unique entry that can be modified and shared by different users. If I want to change Francis Schanberger to “Frank” everyone with my great-grandfather in their tree would get affected. It would tag me as the one who made the change so they do have ways to keep abuse to a minimum, but I will say like some of the trees on Ancestry.com, there are a lot of unsourced facts. Both sites have their pros and cons. I prefer Ancestry so I can work on something with minimal interference. FamilySearch already has the Shanberger to Zadock link, and while that is great news, I want to make my remaining research on this connection a little more watertight with all the logic I’ve provided. Spoiler: Francis Schanberger’s grandfather, Joseph B. Riston is the great-grandson of Zadock. His father is James Thomas and his grandfather is Dennis. Who is this according to?

If this is true, George Washington Riston’s uncle is Dennis and cousin is James Thomas. Perhaps that is the “Thomas” that Laura Ruth recalled (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). OR, in some other records I’ve seen, “Thomas” is Laura Ruth’s uncle and George Washington Riston’s brother, and Dennis is not correct – he doesn’t even show up in these records. I can’t get ahead of myself though. I would like to connect these people with the right logic. I want to better confirm Joseph B. Riston’s father. The best lead I have is an 1851 baptism record from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Alexandria, VA (Kaye 126). This church is across the Potomac and less than eight miles from the Ristons of Piscataway in Maryland. Washington, D.C. is just across the Potomac River, but here’s the thing… At that time Alexandria, VA had just retroceded from Washington, D.C. in 1846 (Historical Society of Washington, D.C.). This is something to keep in mind as the 1840s-1850s era of DC might have some interchangeable records. The record, from the First-Fifty Two Years of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church by Ruth Lincoln Kaye lists a “Joseph Benjamin Reston” born to Thomas and Mary on August 9, 1849 and baptized on July 29, 1851 (Kaye 126). If not for the slight name discrepancy, the date and first and middle names of Joseph Benjamin Reston are spot on. Piscataway Parish in Maryland, by the way, is Episcipalian (Maryland Historical Trust).

Are “Thomas & Mary Reston” the same as FamilySearch’s James Thomas Riston and Mary Amanda Trunnel? If so, this marriage announcement from August 13, 1846 might help prove that (Alexandria Gazette 3). Thomas and Mary’s son, Joseph Benjamin would be born three years later. The Fairfax County, Virginia detail gives credence to Joseph’s claim that his father was born in Virginia in the 1880 census (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”).

Interestingly, in that very same newspaper as the Riston-Trunnel marriage announcement, the retrocession of Alexandria from Washington, D.C. is mentioned (Alexandria Gazette 4). It’s possible this information was reprinted daily in those days, but this definitely solidifies the Riston family’s place in history.

The 1850 Federal Census in Washington, D.C. offers additional proof of Thomas, Mary, and Joseph. Thomas and Mary Riston are listed and they are both 27, giving them a birth year of 1822 or 1823. Thomas claims he was from Maryland and Mary from Virginia. Joseph Benjamin is listed as James (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”). This could be wrong, but it’s also possible the enumerator didn’t record his name properly or his parents changed his name. “James” is written as ½ so he would have been a newborn, roughly matching the dates from St. Paul’s and the general age in other records on Joseph Benjamin Riston. His birthplace is also written to be DC just like all the other records for Joseph Benjamin. Is this an entirely different Joseph and Mary Riston who had a newborn in Washington, D.C., or just an error? I believe this record has some plausibility, and I believe it might explain the two year gap between Joseph Benjamin’s birth and baptism (Kaye 126). I would need more information to understand this moment in their lives, but otherwise the data checks a lot of boxes.

Looking again at the FamilySearch tree, the name “James” in James Thomas Riston might be true as many men go by their middle name, no record of this name exists… at least none that I can find in his adult life. I will address this later, as well as some interesting clues laid out in the data provided. Needless to say, the name “Thomas Riston” keeps appearing, sometimes with the middle initial “B” but never with the name “James”.

On December 19, 1852, my 4th great-grandmother, Mary Riston died at the age of 30 (The Daily Republic 3). Joseph Benjamin was three. 

Thomas remarried in 1854. His new wife’s name was also Mary – Mary Jane McLane (Ancestry.com, “DC Marriage Records”). They had a daughter, Alice in 1857, and son, Charles in 1858 (Ancestry.com, “1870 Census”). Thomas served for three months in the Civil War and served the Union side as a private (Historical Data Systems, comp). He died on September 16, 1866, and he is buried in Glenwood Cemetery in Washington, D.C. (Find a Grave). Taking it back to his son Joseph Benjamin briefly, an 1870 Federal Census for Washington, D.C. shows Mary Riston as the head and her step-son Joseph at 20 years old, working as a painter (Ancestry.com, “1870 Census”). Joseph’s step siblings, Alice and Clark are listed to help confirm the relationships. Joseph remained a painter the rest of his life (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”).

Now how does Thomas Riston connect to Zadock? Dennis comes up on FamilySearch, but there’s no substance to it. Thomas was born in 1822 or 1823 according to the 1850 census (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”). Laura Ruth Riston Meek recalled a “Thomas” in the family as her grandfather who turned out to be Benjamin, and a second Thomas as her uncle (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Could it be that Thomas Riston, my 4th great-grandfather, and George Washington Riston are both sons of Benjamin Riston? In the 1840 Prince George’s County, MD census, Benjamin Riston (and his neighbors/in-laws, the Mullikins and Kings) is listed, showing a single son 20 and under (Ancestry.com, “1840 Census”). Thomas would have been 17/18. 

Even more interesting is somewhere between 1840 and 1850, the Benjamin Riston family moved to Fairfax, VA. The 1840 census listing Benjamin was from Prince George’s County, MD (Ancestry.com, “1840 Census”) where all the Ristons hailed from, but by 1850, Benjamin and Laura Ruth’s George Washington Riston are now in Fairfax (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – Fairfax”). Thomas Riston is not listed in this group but off with his new wife, Mary,  and newborn son, Joseph, in Washington, D.C. (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”). And let’s not forget the August 1846 marriage announcement for Thomas and Mary, in which “Thomas Riston of Fairfax County, VA [married] Miss Mary M.,” providing a proximity connection to Benjamin and George Washington Riston (Alexandria Gazette 3). At this time, no Ristons turn up in the Prince George’s County, MD census. Additionally, in Joseph B’s 1910 census taken in Baltimore, he reported his father, Thomas, was born in Maryland (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”). Despite Thomas Riston’s marriage article saying he was from Fairfax, VA, his birthplace is documented to be Maryland. Piecing together all these clues, it appears a tally mark for Thomas Riston was in an 1840 Prince George’s County, MD census at around 17/18 years old, with a 1910 census to back up his birth place, and a story from Laura Ruth Riston Meek to confirm a Thomas in the family. After 1840, the Riston family moved to Fairfax, VA which is later proven by an 1850 census and names matching Laura Ruth’s story. Thomas Riston turns up at 23 years old in an 1846  marriage announcement that claims he’s from Fairfax, and three years later his son, Joseph is baptized in an Alexandrian Episopal church, matching the religious background of the Prince George’s County Ristons. To me this is all incredibly interesting.

I cannot discount the Dennis Riston path however. He does show up on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch records. He is supposedly Zadock’s son and Benjamin’s brother, but likely died before Zadock, hence not getting mentioned in his Revolutionary War pension (Brumbaugh, “Vol 2” 386). Many records show Dennis had a son named Dennis Washington Riston (St. John’s Parish 89). According to a Maryland Births and Christenings record on both FamilySearch and Ancestry.com, there is a “James Thomas Riston” born to a Dennis Riston on September 24, 1822 (St. John’s Parish 90), the same general year as Thomas B Riston, son of Benjamin. Both Benjamin and Dennis are sons of Zadock on the FamilySearch tree and some Ancestry.com trees. I browsed the Maryland Births and Christenings for Piscataway Church, and on page 90 of the record, I found “December 12 [1822] James Thomas son of Dennis Riston and wife born 24 Sep 1822. (St. John’s Parish 90)” This is hard to ignore considering the names “Thomas” and  “Riston,” and the date in Prince George’s County. It’s just a single line of information but it connects someone with the Thomas to Dennis. There is no concrete connection between Thomas and Benjamin other than a nameless tally mark and the interesting aforementioned coincidences. Even Laura Ruth Riston Meek, sadly, doesn’t mention the name Benjamin, despite the clear connections her father, George Washington Riston and Benjamin have in other sources.

Proving Dennis Riston exists is a lot harder than that Benjamin connection I would have wanted to see. In reviewing my notes, open web browser tabs, and Riston family tree dead ends of all the Thomases, Benjamins, and their wives and mothers named Mary, this is a good time to pause the research and look at the confirmed facts.

My maternal grandmother’s father is Francis Schanberger. Easy. I grew up knowing that name and even met his wife, my great-grandmother Charlotte when I was young. I have enough pictures, stories, and records to prove this. Next, Francis’s mother is Mary Jane Riston. She married George Schanberger, brother to the well known Frederick Schanberger who ran Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theater in the heyday of Vaudeville (Donellan). There’s lots of data here. I have George and Mary Jane’s marriage with her sister, Elizabeth Riston’s name (Church of St. Peter). I have census data proving Mary Jane and Elizibeth living with their father Joseph B. Riston (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”). And I have census data proving an older Joseph B. living with George and Mary Jane (and young Francis) (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”). Joesph’s a painter in all of them.

Francis Schanberger > Mary Jane Riston > Joseph B Riston are all confirmed.

Joseph B’s father Thomas is tricky because his two different wives named Mary, which led to some confusion. But Joseph B. is in a census as a painter and the correct age with the second Mary and her confirmed children (Ancestry.com, “1870 Census”). Joseph B. lists his DC/Virginia origins in all census records and fits the bill of Episcopalian baptismal records in Alexandria with his parents, Thomas and Mary (Kaye 126). I should note my family has very Catholic roots on all sides and it’s apparent in this branch going back to George and Mary Jane’s wedding, so this religion switch is kind of an interesting discovery.

Thomas and Mary show up in an 1850 Washington, D.C. census with their infant son “James” who is really Joseph (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”) in a time when Alexandria was retroceding from the District of Columbia (Historical Society of Washington, D.C.). In clearing some of the confusion of the two Riston wives named Mary and the tale of two cities all around the same time, finding Thomas Riston’s gravesite helped me expand the 1822 birth year from the 1850 census (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – DC”) to the September 24, 1822 birthdate (Find a Grave) – but I should note that this information is user entered and I have not seen a record of September 24th. I put in a request for a photo to be taken of the grave, but as of this writing, this information is questionable. The census data from 1910 also helped me get a Maryland origin for Thomas (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”).

The September 24, 1822 date (if true), Maryland origin, “Thomas” name, and of course, “Riston” surname ties this all together to that baptismal record for James Thomas Riston, son of Dennis. (Why is everyone in this family named James as a child? And why did James Thomas Riston become Thomas B Riston?) This record proves in some way that a Thomas Riston existed in Piscataway Parish in Prince George’s County, MD – the same Episcopal church as all the other Ristons, especially Zadock (Ancestry.com, “1790 Census”). 

So Francis Schanberger > Mary Jane Riston > Joseph B Riston > “James” Thomas Riston > Dennis all have connections, but adult Thomas never uses James and Dennis is only mentioned once in a single church record – well twice, but in the same source.

It has crossed my mind that “Dennis” could be a transcription error and he’s one in the same as Benjamin Riston, who is misremembered as Thomas Sr. from France in Laura Ruth’s story (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). Nearly every record I used to piece this together has an incorrect name. The church record of James Thomas Riston’s baptism is a legitimate record and proves the location and date, but Dennis can also be one of Zadock’s five (at least!) sons (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census – Piscataway”) – three of which I did not identify. But is the information contained in the record accurate? If Dennis is correct, the only other information I have to prove he existed is his first born son and James Thomas Riston’s brother, Dennis Washington Riston (St. John’s Parish 89). Dennis Washington Riston was born two years before Thomas and baptized in Piscataway like his brother. Dennis Jr., and moved to Pittsburgh at some point in his life to make cigars, eventually dying in 1907 (The Star 5). (Interestingly and tangentially related, my dad’s paternal grandfather was from Pittsburgh in the late 1800s and liked smoking cigars.)

Additionally, I found a small, but hopeful 1830 census of Dennis Riston existing in the Alexandria side of Washington, D.C. (not yet Alexandria, VA) with two boys under 5, one boy 5 – 10, and he and his wife between 40 and 50 years old (Ancestry.com, “1830 Census”). It gives an approximate birth year of 1790, but his sons were older and he would have been younger. I don’t think this is the guy, but I want to put this out there to eliminate.

Unfortunately at this point I don’t have much to go on to prove Dennis is Zadock’s son other than a few inferences. Dennis Riston appears as the father of two boys in St. John’s (Piscataway Parish) in 1820 and 1822 (St. John’s Parish 89-90). Assuming he’s in his 20s when Dennis Jr. is born, he would be born in the late 1790s, roughly when Benjamin and Zadock Jr. had their children. Zadock’s 1820 census, again, shows two plausible sons – one 16 to 18 and another 16 to 26 (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census – Piscataway”). Zadock Jr. is out as he’s already listed elsewhere on the census (Ancestry.com, “1820 Census – Hydes”. This leaves Benjamin and Dennis. The 1850 Fairfax, VA census, and the only document giving Benjamin’s rough birth year, lists him at 51 (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – Fairfax”). Is he the 16-26 tally mark on the 1820 census? The FamilySearch data I found places Dennis as the older sibling of the two. Maybe he’s the 16-26 tally mark. Maybe tally marks with age ranges are not helpful at all. Maybe Dennis and Benjamin are the same person. Maybe Laura Ruth’s recollection of Thomas is in fact true albeit slightly misplaced.

Here’s the other issue I’m having with Dennis, outside his mysteriousness: he’s just not mentioned anywhere outside the baptismal records (St. John’s Parish 89-90). Other than that, anything I research gets very complicated. His first son, Dennis Washington Riston definitely existed, but was he a Riston from Piscataway? According to DW’s obituary from 1907, he was born in “Alexandria, Maryland” (what?) in 1817 (The Star 5). He also was a Presbyterian, and “not a member of any secret societies,” (which is what they want you to think). He was baptized in an Episcopalian church. I’m sure it wasn’t uncommon as one of the Ristons down the line did marry into Catholicism, but seeing a religion change raises more questions unless there is more evidence to prove other relationships. Also the 1917 in Alexandria thing might make him the son of the Dennis Riston from that 1830 census, which is a stretch (Ancestry.com, “1830 Census”). Maybe that census taker made a mistake that is causing a lot of confusion for me 200 years later. On top of all that, the only mention of “Washington” as his middle name is in his baptism record (St. John’s Parish 89).

My other big issue with this is that the obituary and grave record for DW gives him a birthday of December 20, 1817 (The Star 5). The obituary even made a big deal about dying at ninety and  almost reaching four score and ten mark, which is 90 (The Star 5).

This is a great milestone and all, but as I mentioned, a few paragraphs before, Dennis Washington was two years older than the other son of Dennis Riston, “James Thomas,” not five (St. John’s Parish 89-90). As a matter of fact, Dennis Washington’s birth date on his baptism record is September 24, 1820 (St. John’s Parish 89). James Thomas’s is also September 24, but 1822 (St. John’s Parish 90). It can happen. My grandmother and her mother shared the same birthday, but maybe what really happened is someone wrote the wrong record down. I mean if you look at this record book, it looks like this information was written all at once, maybe even transcribing all documents into one book. This book presents years of information all written in the same handwriting for pages upon pages. It’s a clear case of 19th century data entry.

Here’s more proof that all of this information was written somewhat out of order. This is from the top of the same page as the Dennis Washington Riston record. In my opinion, someone was handed copies of baptismal records and transcribed them into this book. As they received more information, they couldn’t simply amend the document like we can in a spreadsheet on a basic computer. And just like any data entry job, mistakes happen. All the census data I cited has many, many inconsistencies. 

When you start getting into 200 year old documents, things start getting extra vague and you see that not everything is documented as neatly as you’d expect. Just the way every baptismal record says “+ wife” instead of giving a proper record makes this process more frustrating. Sometimes, outside of burnt out, volunteer church record keepers and messy census data, the best information you’re going to get is keepsakes and good stories. Based on all of my research on the Riston line to Zadock in Prince George’s County, I think Laura Ruth Riston Meek has the best recollection I’m going to get. All the data I found helps strengthen her memories, even if some of the relationships were uncertain. Thomas is definitely a common name, but she must have remembered something to recall that particular name. Further, if you look at some of the family names, like Benjamin, it comes up often. Zadock’s confirmed son is Benjamin. Thomas has a ‘B’ in his middle name. Is that Benjamin? If not, then his son, Joseph’s, middle name is Benjamin. And Joseph’s son’s name, Francis Schanberger’s uncle, is Thomas B Riston (Ancestry.com, “1880 Census”). All of these connections fit so well verses the Dennis question mark; not to mention the fact that “James” is not in any other record for Thomas B Riston’s name other than the baptism (St. John’s Parish 90). However, without the baptism (or the assumption that the baptism record was written poorly) I can’t prove Thomas was from Prince George’s County other than a blip about Maryland in census data (Ancestry.com, “1910 Census”) and Laura Ruth’s story (Franconia Museum Inc. 9). I can prove he was from Fairfax around the same time (Alexandria Gazette 3) as his alleged father Benjamin and brother George Washington Riston (Ancestry.com, “1850 Census – Fairfax”). 

Based on all the information I presented, I am going to commit Thomas B Riston to being Benjamin’s son with Dennis as an alternate on my Ancestry.com family tree. Short of raiding old churches in unfamiliar places for hidden records, I believe I have exhausted the research I am going to get out of the Riston lineage in 2023. A few years ago, some of this data wasn’t available to me, so perhaps more clues will be unlocked as more information is added in the future. I hope this document serves as a way to help future generations and distant cousins who wish to pick at it some more. While I am not a professional researcher, I do enjoy a good puzzle. I spent a little extra time identifying my sources to the best of my abilities. I walked through my thought process on each individual leading from my great-grandfather, Francis Schanberger to his confirmed great-grandfather, Thomas Riston, to a loose connection to his grandfather Zadock, the Revolutionary War veteran. I hope this information makes sense, eliminates unproven facts, and clears the confusion. And if you are reading this from the future, look me up.

-Jimmy Kastner

Sources

Alexandria Gazette. “An Act.” Alexandria Gazette [Alexandria, VA], 22 August 1846, p. 4, https://www.newspapers.com/image/767178484/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Alexandria Gazette. “Riston – Trunnel Marriage.” Alexandria Gazette [Alexandria, VA], 22 August 1843, p. 3, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/116891594/riston-trunnel-marriage/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. District of Columbia, Marriage Records, 1810-1953. Riston – McLane marriage record. 2016. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1880 United States Federal Census. Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Fairfax, Virginia; Roll: 942; Page: 121a. 2009. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com, https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census. Year: 1850; Census Place: Washington Ward 3, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M432_56; Page: 188B; Image: 382. 2009. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census. Year: 1840; Census Place: District 5, Prince Georges, Maryland; Page: 56; Family History Library Film: 0013186. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census. Year: 1870; Census Place: Washington Ward 1, Washington, District of Columbia; Roll: M593_123; Page: 167B. 2009. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1830 United States Federal Census. Fifth Census of the United States, 1830. (NARA microfilm publication M19, 201 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census. 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Election District 5, Prince George, Maryland; Page: 222; NARA Roll: M33_44; Image: 198. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1820 United States Federal Census. 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Hydes, Prince George, Maryland; Page: 46; NARA Roll: M33_44; Image: 181. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. Maryland Revolutionary War Records. Zadock Riston Records. 2000. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census. United States of America, Bureau of the Census, Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. 2004. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census. Database online. Year: 1910; Census Place: Baltimore Ward 9, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland. 2006. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Ancestry.com. 1790 United States Federal Census. Year: 1790; Census Place: Prince Georges, Maryland; Series: M637; Roll: 3; Page: 312; Image: 181; Family History Library Film: 0568143. 2010. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus. Maryland Records – Colonial, Revolutionary, County and Church from Original Sources. vol. 2, Lancaster, PA, Lancaster Press, Inc., 1928.

Brumbaugh, Gaius Marcus. Maryland Records – Colonial, Revolutionary, County, and Church from Original Sources. vol. 1, Baltimore, MD, Williams & Wilkins Company, 1915.

Church of St. Peter. Certificate of marriage for George W. Schanberger and Mary J. Riston. 5 June 1901, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

The Daily Republic. “Mary Riston Obituary.” The Daily Republic [Washington, D.C.], 20 December 1852, p. 3, https://www.newspapers.com/image/320785728/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Donellan, Katharine Z. Roads to Success: An Inspirational Text Book for Use in Schools and Colleges. Baltimore, MD, Calvert Text Book Company, 1927.

Find a Grave. memorial page for Thomas B Riston. Find a Grave Memorial ID 204378836. 2 November 2019, Lehi, Utah, United States, Find a Grave. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Franconia Museum Inc. “Laura Ruth Riston Meek Document.” Historic Franconia Legacies, vol. 6, no. 1, 2007, p. 24. Franconia Museum Newsletters, https://myrosehill.snappages.site/newsletters. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Historical Data Systems, comp. U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861-1865. Historical Data Systems, Inc.; Duxbury, MA 02331; American Civil War Research Database. 2009. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., https://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Historical Society of Washington, D.C. “Frequently Asked Questions About Washington, D.C.” The Historical Society of Washington, D.C., 2014, http://www.historydc.org/aboutdc.html. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Kaye, Ruth Lincoln. National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 70, First Fifty-Two Years of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Alexandria, VA. vol. 70, Falls Church, VA, National Genealogical Society, 1982.

Maryland Historical Trust. “St. John’s Church.” National Register Properties in Maryland, 2018, https://mht.maryland.gov/nr/NRDetail.aspx?NRID=215. Accessed 24 January 2023.

National Park Service. “Henry Thomas Harrison.” National Park Service, 2 December 2016, https://www.nps.gov/people/henry-thomas-harrison.htm. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Scott, Henry Edwards, editor. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. vol. 73, Boston, MA, The Society at the Robert Henry Eddy Memorial Rooms, 1919.

Skirven, Percy G. The First Parishes of the Province of Maryland. Baltimore, MD, The Norman, Remington Company, 1923.

The Star. “Dead at Age of Ninety Years.” The Star [Reynoldsville, PA], 20 March 1907, p. 5, https://panewsarchive.psu.edu/lccn/sn87078321/1907-03-20/ed-1/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

St. John’s Parish. Church records, 1824-1839 [Prince George’s County, Maryland]. Microfilm of originals at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. These are the records of the Accokeek Church of the parish and are the vestry minutes from 1824 to 1839. The vestry met at Accokeek and at Piscataway. Washington, D.C., Library of Congress, 1954, 1 microfilm reel.

Tenkotte, Paul A., and James C. Claypool, editors. The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2009. University Press of Kentucky, https://www.kentuckypress.com/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Virginia. U.S., Death Records, 1912-2014. George Washington Riston’s certificate of death. 2015. Ancestry.com, Lehi, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9278/. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Washington, D.C. U.S., Compiled Marriage Index, 1830-1921. 2014. Ancestry.com, Provo, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., http://ancestry.com. Accessed 24 January 2023.

Filed under: genealogy by Jimmy Kastner
Comments Off on Is Zadock Riston my 6th great-grandfather?

Twenty years ago this month between my junior and senior years of high school, I got my first job at a place called Moto Photo, and I entered the world of photography from the unique vantage point of a photo technician. 2002 was an in the midst of an interesting era in the history of photography. For the first time ever, consumer-grade digital cameras were at a marginally passable level in affordability and resolution, but decent quality was still a long way off. As the digital revolution was unfolding the analog era was quietly fading, but there was still a demand for the photo lab and people still wanted their film processed in an hour or less. And so, with the help of my parents nudging me out of the nest, I answered an ad in the paper (another bygone era) for summer help at the local photo lab.

I remember my first day of work. School had just let out for the summer and I needed a ride, but no one was able to help me, so my mom got this guy Pader, who was just about to graduate and had a crush on my sister, to drop me off. Though I’m sure he probably thought he had the best intentions and was playing around, Pader was a guy who took things a little too far. Recalling the previous summer when my mom had me stay at his house so he could be my personal trainer – and how awful an experience that was for me what with could be considered borderline torture in the guise of sadistic exercises – all I could do is dread the car ride to work. I already had a lot to worry about in showing up and making good first impressions, so it didn’t help I needed to worry about my first ride to work.

My worries were justified. Pader showed up at my house wearing a straw cowboy hat and he was in a very good mood, but I was nervous. I got in the car and he blasted some country music. I didn’t know what music he normally listened to, but I didn’t think “country” and this hat of his seemed out of place for him and what you’d expect from a teenager in New Jersey. Just outside my development, which was fairly remote from civilization by New Jersey standards, there were miles of forested backroads that lead to more populated areas. As soon as we turned onto the main road out of my development, Pader stopped the car in the middle of the road, lowered the music, and told me to get out. Ha ha. Some favor this was turning out to be. My heart sunk. He told me to go into this field by the road and pick out two blades of straw – one for him and one for me. He said the only way he’d let me back in the car and take me to work was if I placed the hay in my mouth the entire car ride while we listened to country music. So there I was, standing in the middle of the street with stalks of hay in my hands, deciding if this job was worth the embarrassment I’d have to endure. Then I thought about the embarrassment of not showing up to work or what I’d say to my parents… lots of things went trough my head really.

A lot was on my mind as I was about to start my first day of work at my first job, so that stalk of hay resting on my lips, twirling in the wind from the open widows of Pader’s car as he blasted and sang along to country music along Route 9 was honestly a blur. He pulled up to the Moto Photo in Marlboro Plaza and told me he better see me walk into the store with that straw in my mouth. As soon as I got out of the car, I spit it out and that was the last time I saw that madman. It became a quickly forgotten experience as I was almost immediately introduced to my awesome new coworkers and the crash course of operating a photo lab and store.

Moto Photo had three elements to it. The front of the store had a retail space for frames and photo nick nacks like camera cases and disposable cameras. Towards the left and to the back was the portrait studio. And just behind the main counter was the meat of the operation: the lab. The customer facing area had the register, an area for accessing envelopes containing developed photos, a shelf for boxes of film, a passport photo section, and an area for discussing studio work. Behind that was the film processing machine which was about the size of a large refrigerator on its side, and just next to that was the printer, which was the size of a Zamboni. In that area was a place to sort photos, cut negatives, copy prints, and a Windows NT computer for scanning film to CD-ROM (and playing Hoyle Texas Hold’Em).

In the early days of this job, my task was to help with the register, help sort photos, and clean the machines. The film processor was able to automatically develop rolls of film within about 15-20 minutes. There was a tool for extracting the tips of film from their canisters which needed to be cut and spliced to these plastic cards with slots. Each card could hold two rolls of film and you’d place it into the feeder, and seal it up to prevent light from leaking in. It would move up and down through different vats of chemicals inside the machine and come out the other end fully developed. Each night, I would need to open the machine up and remove all the rollers as I topped off the chemicals. The rollers would need to be cleaned and soaked in the back of the store. I remember my first week, I accidentally misplaced one of the screws that held the rollers in place and got an angry phone call from my boss the next day who told me I ruined her business for the day. I thought I was fired and didn’t show up that afternoon, but it seems she found the screw and didn’t tell me, so yeah (but who doesn’t have a backup of something that important???)

As I gained more responsibilities, I learned how to print, which overall wasn’t that hard, but I can imagine is very wasteful if you don’t know what you’re doing. It was certainly a lot easier than changing out the light sensitive photo paper in pitch black. Basically you sit at the head of the printer and take in freshly developed film hanging from a rack and run it through a special plate. The machine projects a light through the film and you see the image on a TV screen. Then you apply the most rudimentary brightness and color corrections. The machine would print out a few prints on special paper and you’d make adjustments based on a few test prints. If the photo was too yellow, you’d shift the correction to blue. Too red would need a cyan increase. Too magenta would need more green. It’s stuff I can easily do in Photoshop today, but even still today, what you see on the screen almost never comes out of the printer the same way. There’s lots of waste in photo printing.

Yes, photo technicians saw everything. If you wanted your film developed back in the day, most good photo labs had guys like me checking every photo for color. I saw it all, but most of what I saw was the usual birthday party, family gathering, and vacation. I saw a few sexual things and a few drug-related stuff, but most of it was typical photos we all have in photo albums and shoeboxes under our beds. The worst thing I ever saw was documentation of a dead body being exhumed from an improper burial. It was gruesome. While I was employed at Moto Photo, the Robin Williams film, One Hour Photo, was released which prompted public scrutiny over what goes on in photo labs. In the film, Robin Williams’s character, Sy Parrish, works at a photo lab and seems to get a little overly invested in his customers’ lives. Sy becomes involved in one of his customers’ marital issues and is also shown keeping copies of their prints on a wall in his house. I personally think the timing of this movie with the rising interest in digital cameras ushered in the end of consumer film developing.

As I mentioned earlier, part of my job was to clean the machines. Part of the film processer cleaning involved logging the film count on a chart on the wall. This number was important for many reasons, including keeping track of chemical usage, keeping tabs on the machine’s upkeep, seeing the industry slowly crumbling into obscurity. Moto Photo didn’t have the ability to process digital photos. Some labs had special kiosks for memory cards, but this particular lab was 100% analog with the exception of our film scanner. As the number of rolls of film decreased, the possibility of the lab shutting down was it’s inevitable fate unless my boss was willing to invest in digital. The photo studio did take in lots of work for Christmas cards and whatnot, but even then, as card templated became digital, there wasn’t much this lab could do to keep up.

By 2004, that Moto Photo store was sold to a new owner, Yuri. Moto Photo was a franchise operation so each store was privately owned and each owner would pay royalties to Moto Photo Corporate. Each store operated a little differently and had different equipment, but they all used the materials and whatnot corporate sent over. The new owner got rid of the old Zamboni-esque printer and brought in his new digital-ready printing equipment. He brought in a new computer that had Photoshop and even set up a kiosk for customers to import their digital photos to our print queue. During this transition, half the staff quit because he paid us under the table and the general vibe was ruined under Yuri’s reign. I stayed because I was happy to apply my newfound Photoshop abilities to the test, but in all honesty it was a miserable place. Yuri was a cheat and a liar and he made me miss my old boss. But times were changing and the photo lab was not future proof. I quit, primarily because I needed to attend college in New York City and this job wasn’t cutting it, but also because I didn’t want to be in that environment. And just like my first day on the job where I needed a ride to work, on my last day, I needed a ride home because my 1993 Grand Marquis finally died in the lot.

When I started Moto Photo, I had just finished my junior year of high school where I was just starting to learn Photoshop. My work at the photo lab taught me many things about photography and as I entered my senior year, I continued learning more about graphic design. This era of my life eventually lead to where I am to this day and it’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since it all began. After I quit Moto Photo, I finally got my first DSLR, the original Canon Rebel. And after that, it’s been another 18 years of learning and progressing in the world of photography.

Not many people getting into photography today can say they got into it after working at a photo lab. Not many photo labs even exist anymore. From the Fotomats found in many parking lots all over the country, to the labs within grocery stores, to the full service stores like Moto Photo, very few places like this exist. They are almost as rare as video rental stores. The Moto Photo I worked at is now a boutique as I observed in 2012. A few Moto Photos are in operation today, but I doubt they process film. It was truly a unique job to have at a very interesting era in photography.

Filed under: photography by Jimmy Kastner
Comments Off on Twenty Years of Photography

On February 9, 2012, I turned 10,000 days old. When you think about it, that’s actually a pretty significant milestone, because each 10,000 days represents 27 years and change. More precisely, it’s your 27th birthday plus roughly 20 weeks. 27 years later, you’d be 54 and after that, 82 years old. If you’re lucky, you’ll see your 40,000th day at 109 years old, but no one has lived to see even 5,000 more days let alone the 50,000 day milestone. When you think about life like that, it seems more precious. Then you look at the next milestone at 100,000 days and it’s nearly unfathomable. Just 100,000 days ago, it was April 26, 1748. The United States hasn’t even reached that milestone! And you can forget comprehending living 1 million days, putting you at 717 BC – only 36 years after the founding of Rome.

Yes I find these dates and numbers fascinating when they are broken down like that, but knowing when you turn 10,000 days old isn’t exactly a monumental occasion. Upon learning it after a quick inquiry on Wolfram Alpha ([birthday] plus 10,000 days) in 2009, I marked my calendar, making no official plans otherwise. More than two years later, I got a notification from my past self about the approaching date of February 9, 2012 and thought I should start a 365 project to commemorate the occasion. For those who don’t know what a 365 project is, it’s basically a daily challenge photographers do to take one picture per day for a year. Most people start on January 1st or their birthday, but I figure if you’re going to measure in days, why not start on day 10,000? And so with my trusty Canon Rebel XTi I photographed a picture of a clock in my parents’ basement. I’ll be honest, I wanted something more monumental, but it was a fine first entry to this daily photo challenge. I called the project 10Kplus365, which feels more like some marathon than a photo project.

By day two, I came down with something and I nearly called the project quits before it became a series. I pressed on and photographed a pill before ingesting it. And I powered through that illness while capturing a sort of introduction to my life as it was in the early days of 10Kplus365. Before I knew it, I got a job and was now faced with the challenge of how to photograph my daily life with the taboo of bringing a camera to an office run by old school businessmen. At that time in my life, I was a recent graduate of Monmouth University, still living at home, and looking to get moving. As you might have guessed by doing the math, I did take my sweet time getting through school, but I think it worked out for the better. With an associates in graphic design under my belt, I got my bachelors in communication with a minor in photography. By 2012, I had already been into photography for about a decade, but at Monmouth I really honed in on that skill. It was all around a good time to start a project of this nature.

2012 was a progressive year for me so being able to photograph things as life sort of unfolded felt pretty good. I started the year unemployed and mostly broke with a tired, old entry level camera. I had a good girlfriend who put up with my shenanigans for four years and though I was still at home under my parents’ roof, I was hoping to move out. The year finished with a new Canon 5D Mark III (my dream camera), a fiancée, a dog, and the prospect of having independence. All of it was captured along the way.

Because 2012 turned out pretty good and this photo project was more or less looking good to me, I decided to keep going after February 9, 2013 but changed the project from 10Kplus365 to 10,000+. I captured more good things and big changes like my new niece, househunting, moving, wedding planning, etc. My company put me in charge of a 3D printer and it gave me the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas and Miami for trade shows, which also gave me some interesting photo ops. One of which was on the flight itself to Miami when I captured the newly topped off One World Trade Center shimmering in the morning light. This photo was soon published in a special issue of Time Magazine and solidified my justification for continuing 10,000+ indefinitely. The thought of missing cool yet fleeting moments like that deterred me from ever going anywhere without my camera. Some call this FOMO, or the fear of missing out. This progress remained steady throughout 2014, after moving to Somerville, getting married, going on our honeymoon, and capturing so many novel things most people generally go through. It was a good time for a long term 365 project.

Life basically settled down in 2015. By then my big project at work, a 300 page catalog, was finished, the 3D printer hype was losing its luster, the novelty of homeownership was wearing out, and the routines that are a part of life were starting to cycle. I made a promise to myself to keep shooting 10,000+ no matter what. Life does have its ups and downs, and often life runs into ruts where you are kind of on autopilot just trying to survive. I started this 365 project looking to sharpen my skills in photography, but it evolved into a life logging project. There are many, many mundane moments throughout those early days of great progress, but as progress switched to maintenance, it did feel like the project got harder to shoot. 2015 had many nice opportunities for photography but the project was getting more difficult to shoot as those moments were few and far between. 

As we entered 2016, 10,000+ was maturing and evolving into something beyond photography. It was like a daily photo essay. No words. Just pictures. Some good moments and some blah moments. There are days when the photo of the day comes natural and days where I feel like I’m forcing it. I would question the project and it would get philosophical. Like is this photo of a flower significant to my day when I wouldn’t bother with it at all if I wasn’t searching for something to quickly photograph? Then of course there is the act of posting a photo of the day, which is something I did on Twitter and Facebook since the beginning. I would usually post each daily photo the following day and I eventually prefixed it with “Day 1x,xxx” and a title. This helped me keep track but sometimes the titles would feel forced and stupid. If we went away, I would definitely keep shooting my daily photo, but I wouldn’t post anything until we got home. I mostly refuse to edit photos on the go. Even if they’re not that good, I still like to edit on my PC. So in those cases, I would fall behind. By 2016, I was falling behind on my postings more, and the more I fell behind, the more the work accumulated. And of course there are other obligations in life that need my attention far more than editing a photo of some bug or a scrap of paper.

Then the undefined but inevitable moment I dreaded happened: a good friend of ours suddenly passed. It was a devastating loss and a painful time that still hurts when I think about it. In the context of my 365 project it became a moment of uncertainty. It was a moment I mentally prepared for in any given situation. There were milestones of all kinds captured in 10,000+ that I happened to be a part of, so death, in a general way of thinking about it, was just another milestone. No. It was in a sense, but it was so much harder to accept it as reality in practice. I guess you can tell I had no real way to gauge it at the time. This was beyond me or my silly photo project no one was forcing me to do. I felt numb, but I captured what made sense to capture in the weeks that followed with no real fanfare. This moment made me look long and hard at the four years of daily consecutive photos I captured thus far. How fleeting it all is, but to me this daily photo project is important, and good day or bad, I should keep going. My friend Joe respected and supported what I did. I don’t think he would have ever wanted me to stop. So I didn’t. 

And as 2016 came to an end, life felt more real for some reason. It’s hard to put into words. Life just felt different. The project became a symbiotic part of my life. I defined it and it defined me. Though I kept posting this series to Facebook, I decided to delete my account. This part of me felt phony. Some of the relationships I had there felt disingenuous and forced. Drama ran rampant. I didn’t want to be part of it anymore. For the project, this was a major turn. Without a place for this series to be seen, did it matter if I kept shooting it? Is photography worth doing without an audience or likes? I think so, but don’t get me wrong, it does feel good when people enjoy something you made. And to be fair, Instagram was better for this kind of work, although I never shared my 365 project (aside from a few highlights) on that platform. Leaving Facebook did have fallout for some reason and strained some dwindling relationships. A number of people got upset with me and thought I blocked them. Other relationships pretty much fell into obscurity without Facebook keeping them on life support. And some other things happened I’d rather not mention, but let’s just say some of the subject matter in this series shifted gears quite a bit. The end of 2016 and beginning of 2017 marked a distinct new era for this project and for me as a photographer. 

Capturing a 365 photo project with no real audience seems unusual in this era of social media in which FOMO reigns supreme and where people ask, “If it happened and you didn’t share it, did it really happen?” And unless you are some jetsetter constantly traveling the world, capturing a daily photo well beyond the one year mark also gets very repetitive and more challenging with disappointments you’d rather not want to remember. In a post-Facebook life, 2017 offered me some really cool moments, many of which became my photo of the day. As I fell behind in my postings on Twitter, I opted to just share some of the highlights but also decided to keep this project on my website. I found a good way to display the series and update batches of it from time to time. As 10,000+ entered its fifth and sixth years I could honestly say it finally hit its stride in a daily snapshot of life. In 2018 we moved, giving me some fresh content of the home selling process. By 2019, I acquired a drone, giving me a new way to look at the world and even revisit past ideas and scenes, but from above. But overall the photo project kept moving. I embraced the repetitive nature of it and realized it’s just impossible to capture something totally unique every single day while also trying to live a normal enough life.

2020… We all know the story. I guess if you’re reading this from the distant future, look up the COVID-19 pandemic. Yeah. Anyway, the pandemic disrupted pretty much everything, but presented the world in a new perspective. It wasn’t just empty streets, people with masks, or toilet paper shortages, but the concept of solitude and navigating a world thrown off its axis. All of which I captured from my point of view. In addition to the pandemic and a little before it started, 2020 rocked my world as my mom got sick. Like my friend Joe passing in 2016, this was another mental exercise I anticipated in some form if I wanted to capture every single day from my point of view. You can’t ignore these things, but you don’t want to really address it. Photography is for weddings, birthdays, and celebrations of life – not moments of weakness, pain, suffering, or death. Everyone wants to see your new puppy. No one wants to see your old dog get put down. But these things happen regardless of a camera present. I don’t want to have sad moments or go through hard times. No one does. But as a photographer, how do you capture the essence of a difficult time?

My mom recovered and my project showed perseverance. 2020 ended and 2021 said, “Hold my beer.” 365 more days of photographing the novelty of hard times and hoping for the best to feeling like I am documenting the unraveling of society from within my lockdown bubble. Had I started a 365 project in 2020 or 2021, I probably would have stopped. Between house problems, my job loss, moments of doubt, nearly dying in the woods, and a world gone mad, I wondered why I kept doing it. Ultimately I decided to keep photographing each day because some voice inside of me knows this matters in some way. Not in some delusion of grandeur, but that one day I will need to look back on this time, and times in the past, to see when things were good and when things felt rock bottom.

For me, 10,000+ has touched on so many themes and experiences, it is hard for me to just stop. I suppose one day I will take my last photo for this series. Will it end with a bang or a whimper? Will I get to edit it? Where will I be when this happens? I can’t say for as much as when I started this project on February 9, 2012, I had no idea I would move twice well outside of where I grew up, get three dogs, have any success in photography, travel as much as I did, fly a drone, use a 3D printer, see an eclipse, or anything. What will February 9, 2032 look like? I don’t know, but I marked my calendar for that day on day 17,305. Even if I don’t do this anymore, I want to be able to look back at this moment and see all of this, and maybe even give an update. Here’s hoping for good things in the coming decade!

Yes, that’s the same clock from the first photo.

Filed under: photography by Jimmy Kastner
Comments Off on The Ten Year 365 Project