Richard 3rd’s facial reconstruction illustrates how family traits can span generations.

Published February 5, 2013 | By

Portrait of Isaac Shelby I’ve been keeping tabs on the progress of the successful effort to positively identify the remains found in a Leicester parking lot as those of Richard III, as described in a recent post.

Interestingly enough, news was just released that a facial reconstrunction from the skull of the remains was just completed and a photo is published on News Leicester next to that of his 17th generation nephew, Michael Ibsen.

I hope it’s not just me, but I can see a familial resemblance and wonder if the likeness of Michael Ibsen had any bearing on the artist’s rendering, or if it was indeed solely based on the skull. If it is only based on Richard III’s skull, the resemblance is quite striking.

Marsh Blythe In an earlier post, I posted images of, and described the remarkable resemblance between my father-in-law (see right) and Isaac Shelby, nephew of my father-in-law’s seventh great grandfather (see above left), Governor of Kentucky and hero of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. I only wish I could one day compare these images with images of the original Shelby family immigrant, Evan (Dhu) Isaac Shelby (direct ancestor to both).

In another instance I had conducted research into a family friend’s background with the story surrounding the mysterious ‘aunt’ of another ancestor in mind. This aunt had always intriqued the family as they never knew much about her. My research led me to the story of a young, single girl working as a domestic in the home of a wealthy business man, and soon becoming pregnant and bearing an illegitimate child. This girl turned out to be the mysterious aunt, only the ancestor, although believing she was an aunt, never learned she was actually her mother.

I wondered if this ‘aunt’ had become pregnant by her employer as there were no other males of an age to be candidates in the household. I managed to locate photos of a second generation descendant and his son who still owned and operated the family business. Upon comparison, I could see a definite likeness, although not quite as marked as in the two examples above. This likeness strengthened my belief that my conjecture was correct. Without documentary proof of any kind and with no possibility of DNA testing, this is the best I can do.

It’s truly amazing to me how true and consistent family traits remain over the generations.

Posted in American, Blythe, British, Canada, Canadian, Culture, DNA, England, Genealogy, Location, Photos, Richard III, Shelby, Surnames, USA

Richard 3rd’s facial reconstruction illustrates how family traits can span generations.

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