Who's Face Was That?

by Jena Galifany

I love to spend time trying to back track my family history. We do have the occasional highlights in the family tree. On my mother's side, she is third cousin to Winston Churchill, a fact that shows up with a look at my brother.


The thing that amazes me the most is how the faces keep being handed down. They may skip a generation or two, but there are several repeat performances.


One such repeat had my father baffled at how my younger sister could be in a picture with our mother when Mom was only fifteen. It turned out that the one who Sherri shares a face with was my dad's sister, Julia. Daddy didn't figure it out until my uncle told him he should recognize his own baby sister.



Then there is my niece, Talena and my father's Aunt Cornie. The hair styles were definitely different, but the face is the same.

I have been privileged to share a face with my Grandmother Margie Pearl, my dad's mother. The older I get, the more I look like her.





The most fun I've had matching the faces in my family photo collection is this set. It shows me in the first photo. The second photo is me again, the baby sitting on my Grandmother's lap. The third photo is my son, Nick.

 It amazes me how the genetics work to pass a face down through the years. Last but not least, my mother has the Churchill look down pat. Don't you think? After all, they are third cousins.

I hope I've not bored you too much with my comparisons of the family faces that have been handed down over the years. There are others but I didn't want to be known as the blogger with the "old home movies".

I do want to point out that it is important to record all that you can about your family history. My mother is the last survivor of her family. She is the youngest of fifteen children. She never thought it was important to listen to the old stories Now she wishes she had because there is no one left to ask. We have a large collection of photographs from years gone by but there is no one to ask who the people are in the photos.

If you have elderly in your family and you have photos, have a reunion and spent time writing down who is who as well as anything else you can find out about your heritage. It will mean a lot to the generations that come after you. Especially if they happen to see their own face in one of those old photos.
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Cheers!

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