This week’s Sepia Saturday photo prompt challenges us to
focus on the face. As it turns out, I’ve
been studying a particular photo for quite some time hoping the names of the
subjects would be pronounced to me through some divine spirit.
So far, no spirit and no names.
However, the man’s face has become more familiar. Where have I seen this face before?
 |
| Closeup of man in previous photo |
Is it possible he is the brother of these Breeden
men?
 |
| Breeden Boys with Sullivan Girls |
Decatur Breeden (1877-1952) married my great grandaunt
Victoria Jollett, and his brother John Wesley Breeden (1879-1961) married
Minnie Sullivan, my first cousin twice removed.
 |
| Decatur Breeden |
|
| Unknown |
Compare this unknown with Decatur Breeden:
Am I imagining a strong resemblance? If not, then possibly this is Joel Vernon
Breeden (1876-1940) with his wife Zaida Maiden (1884-1962).
No doubt my dedication to family history keeps me
searching for the source of family traits manifested in the living. Where did this nose come from? Whose eyes were these? What about that chin and that forehead? So here is a little game. The rules are simple: Match the living member of my family to
someone from the past by studying their facial features.
Family Quiz
Let’s face it:
there are more fun photos at Sepia Saturday.
ANSWERS: Aren't they obvious??
1 and B - my nephew is my dad all day long from his facial features to his stance
2 and A - my younger daughter sometimes resembles Violetta in the shape of her face and mouth
3 and D - my sister is Sudie Rucker. Notice the cheek bone, jawline, and chin.
4 and C - my younger daughter is also like Velma especially her smile but even more so in spirit and style
©
2014, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
How interesting, strong genes to carry on the physical aspects but more exciting are the personality traits that are inherited (hopefully all the good ones).
ReplyDeleteI'm sure we have inherited the bad traits too, but it's fun and funny seeing how much my younger daughter is like my great-aunt Velma. Both were purple girls from a young age, both love(d) jewelry -- no such thing as too much, and both have/had a distinct creative bent.
DeleteA lovely set of distinctive portraits. But I was hopeless at your matching challenge! Pleased you gave the answers when, yes, I could see the likenesses.
ReplyDeleteAfter trying Sharon's quiz, mine is a snap! I think the likeness is obvious, but maybe not to people who haven't looked at my family day in and day out.
DeleteFun quiz! I can definitely see the resemblances.
ReplyDeleteWonderful. Happy LONG weekend, Dana.
Delete1-B
ReplyDelete2-A
3-D
4-C
You are correct. You may advance to the head of the class.
DeleteI wasn't very good at your matching game.
ReplyDeleteI often look at photos and hope that they will "speak" to me but unfortunately not! There is just a 'gut feeling' that they belong to a certain family but so frustrating when you can't prove it!
Really?? Mine is so easy compared to yours.
DeleteLol. I suppose we all find our own families easy :)
Delete1 - B
ReplyDelete2 - A
3 - D
4 - C
I notice now that mine are the same as Boobook. ARe we right??
HA -- apparently nobody has noticed the answers are already there under my signature. My sister missed it too, so don't feel bad.
DeleteI do this all the time - stare at my ancestors' photos and try to see resemblance to living people. So far I haven't had much luck.
ReplyDeleteWe have so many similarities with ancestors that I'm beginning to believe in reincarnation.
DeleteMe too. =) Clay has a lot of Granddaddy Davis' mannerisms.
DeleteZoe is Velma, Joel is Daddy. I wonder who we are?
I think there is a family resemblance between Unknown and Decatur Breeden, but I don't think they are the same person.
ReplyDelete1B (only man)
2A
3D
4C
No, I don't think Unknown and Decatur are the same person either because the woman is definitely not Decatur's wife.
Delete(Was 1-B just TOO easy?? I think 1 also resembles D.)
That was very interesting and I guessed right!
ReplyDeleteHi Terri, I'm glad! Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
DeleteWhat I want to know is how you get your photos side by side on the blog. Do you do this through another site? I've never been able to do it through Blogspot. I wanted to do it on today's post, but couldn't manage it. Any advice would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
Nancy
Are you talking about the Unknown and Decatur? It works best with portrait as opposed to landscape. Then I set one for left and one for right. Even then it takes some DRAGGING and coaxing to get them to be side by side. (I assume you do know that when you insert a photo, you have a whole table of commands to change the size and position, add a caption, etc.)
DeleteI don't think the young men are very alike, but of course that doesn't mean they weren't closely related.
ReplyDeleteOh, I thought everyone would agree with me. Now I have to rethink. Shucks ~
DeleteJoel says you should bump Zoe and put your picture in to match with Velma! I have to agree on that picture, but Zoe is DEFINITELY Velma.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can see the resemblance in THAT picture.
DeleteWendy, so interesting and wonderful to find features of ancestors resplendent in your own children. They are all so good looking, lucky them!
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed interesting to me. I wish I had photos of even older ancestors to compare. Yeah, I'm never satisfied ;-)
DeleteWe lovers of old photographs must spend great periods of our lives staring into photographs attempting to find clues from faces. I sometimes wish I had some decent facial recognition software, but perhaps that would spoil the fun. fascinating post - as usual.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do spend a lot of time looking for clues. I wonder why. Is it just curiosity? After all, what does it matter where those ears or that nose came from? Still, I keep looking.
DeleteInteresting post. Ican never see resemblances until they are pointed out - and thejn they are obvious!! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteFunny.
Delete1B; 2A; 3D; 4C;
ReplyDeleteI did not cheat....Now I see those before me have put the same. If we are all correct I find this exercise extraordinary as the likenesses are almost too easy !!
Well, they are easy. I wasn't clever like Sharon. It's just amazing to me that my sister looks so much like our great-grandmother and my daughter looks so much like her great-grandaunt -- so many generations separate them.
DeleteI'm hopeless at matching photographs so I was glad you told us which was which. Quite a collection for a quiz like this.
ReplyDeleteReally? Even with this EASY quiz?
DeleteOn one wall in my living room I have wedding photos as far back as I can find of parents, grandparents and the great, greats. My husband's family resemblance is so strong throughout the years...until it comes to our own kids...they all look just like me.
ReplyDeleteGreat post- you always inspire me to look more into my family ancestry.
Happy 3 Day Weekend!
My husband and I split our genes evenly between our daughters - the older one looks like his side of the family and the younger one looks like mine.
DeleteOh another family quiz, fun, so I will not look at others' guesses, 1-b, 2-a, 3-d, 4-c....I have some photographs that I cannot identify and staring at them the past few years has broght not a deeper hint!
ReplyDeleteVery good. But keep staring at the photos - you never know when the answer will come.
DeleteOne of these days I am sure a spirit will visit and solve these mysteries. I will be visited too and all will be revealed. Amen.
ReplyDeleteI hope sooner rather than later. I want to know NOW!
DeleteA got a 100% too! No cheating either. Sepians are good at faces, but reading complete blog pages, not so much. This was a very clever quiz and converting the modern faces to sepia-tone made it work. I wonder if reversing the layout and instead colorizing the old photo faces would have made it more challenging. So many historical figures are almost defined by their Sepia or B&W photographs, and vintage family members are much the same.
ReplyDeleteAs to the idea that personality is also a family gene, that goes back to the debate whether "nature or nourish" makes the child/adult. I think it is more about native intelligence and dominance of right/left brain. That would make some personality traits seem inherited because the respective individual brains have similar wiring. Of course electrical/computer phrases tell only a portion of the reasons. Sometimes it's just 'cause you slipped and fell on your head when when you were 4.
Oh Mike - you're a hoot. Look at the musical families you've written about. Did they fall on their heads at 4? I encouraged my children in music - REQUIRED them to take piano lessons until they joined the orchestra in 5th grade and stayed in orchestra through graduation. But Yo-Yo Ma, they ain't. I nurtured, I really did. So Daughter #2's Velma-like love of purple and jewelry (the more the better - no such thing as too many bracelets or rings) is as likely genetic as falling on her head at 4, I guess.
DeleteI was reassured to know that someone else peered into those sepia faces, hoping and hoping, that the name wings its way into our consciousness. Fun post, from the quiz to the answers and more.
ReplyDeleteHA -- yes, misery loves company. And thanks for the compliment.
Delete1-B
ReplyDelete2-C
3-D
4-A
:)~
HUGZ
A- Actually 2 and 4 are interchangeable with A and C because she looks like both. Thanks for playing - we have lovely parting gifts for you.
Delete