What did my Ancestor Look Like?

Last week, I shared information on how military records can provide guidance to an ancestor’s appearance.

This information includes height, color of eyes and color of hair.

So how can I go a step further to determine my ancestor’s appearance?

One of the first steps is to gather pictures of the ancestors children {if possible} or descendants.

For example, I have a picture of my great-great-grandfather but not his father, who died in 1869.  I do have a picture of his mother, though.  This is a help in determining facial features through the generations.

Out of 9 children, I had the picture for two sons and five grandsons.  The one feature that was common for each of these men was they had a box shaped face.  Some had more angular faces that resembled our ancestor’s wife, while others had shorter faces.

So using this information I was able to determine my ancestor’s appearance most likely resembled the following:

1. He had a box shaped face {this was supposition based on descendants}
2. His hair was red {this is from his Civil War records}
3. His eyes were blue {this was from Civil War records}
4. He probably had at least a mustache, if not a beard {this is based on the style of the time period in which he lived}.
5. He was six feet, one inch in height {this is from his Civil War records}

From this information I’m able to determine what my ancestor’s appearance may have been.

What information have you discovered in searching for how an ancestor appeared?