Let's Play...Name that Ethnicity!

[Zaru]

I'm hoping that this photo upload works.

Background:

My Y-Line carries an NPE and I am trying to identify possibilities of ethnicity. About a year ago I started to instinctively think that we might be Russian/Baltic/Finnish. In looking at this photo, my great grandfather and grandfather are on the far right. Look at their eyes (yes, I understand that phenotypes can come from anywhere!) but to me it screams Asian influence. Many Russians and Eastern Europeans also have these eye types (Pres. Putin comes to mind, as well as many of the Russian Olympic athletes).

My PF results including the Gedmatch also reflect high percentages from that area. My L21>DF13 keeps that theory in check (for the moment).

Anyone care to have some fun with this and take some educated guesses?

[Biblioteque]

No Asian influence. The boy looks like he has one swollen eye. I have traveled in Russia, the Baltics and have been to Helsinki; and the mother, not the dad, looks like she could have that influence. The little girl has round eyes, blond hair and does look finnish. The dad looks northern European. A really beautiful family! Enlarge, and you can view it better.

[madman]

It looks like there all 100% European the older male looks like he is from england or germany and the older female looks Russian.

I'm hoping that this photo upload works.

Background:

My Y-Line carries an NPE and I am trying to identify possibilities of ethnicity. About a year ago I started to instinctively think that we might be Russian/Baltic/Finnish. In looking at this photo, my great grandfather and grandfather are on the far right. Look at their eyes (yes, I understand that phenotypes can come from anywhere!) but to me it screams Asian influence. Many Russians and Eastern Europeans also have these eye types (Pres. Putin comes to mind, as well as many of the Russian Olympic athletes).

My PF results including the Gedmatch also reflect high percentages from that area. My L21>DF13 keeps that theory in check (for the moment).

Anyone care to have some fun with this and take some educated guesses?

[Zaru]

No Asian influence. The boy looks like he has one swollen eye. I have traveled in Russia, the Baltics and have been to Helsinki; and the mother, not the dad, looks like she could have that influence. The little girl has round eyes, blond hair and does look finnish. The dad looks northern European. A really beautiful family! Enlarge, and you can view it better.

Thank you for the kind comments.

The young boy was my grandfather. His eyes remained that way his entire life . His nose however, was quite pronounced and "hooked", and his father's was quite large as well.


Ironically, the mother's father is German(Schmidt), and her mother was Manx/Scottish mix. In her wedding picture she is much thinner and looks like a different person.

When I say Asian, I don't mean East Asia, but more Caucasus or even Poland.

If I am wrong about the NPE(which at this point I do not see how), then this Y line is traceable to Antwerp 1550.

[Biblioteque]

You said she was thinner in her wedding pic. Actually, in this pic, she appears to have a "bun in the oven". Yes, I originally thought she looked Polish (Poland abuts Luthuania (Baltics). But, with the blurring of ethnicities........ And, I am glad his eyes stayed the same throughout his life. LOL

[Zaru]

Wedding Pic.

You said she was thinner in her wedding pic. Actually, in this pic, she appears to have a "bun in the oven". Yes, I originally thought she looked Polish (Poland abuts Luthuania (Baltics). But, with the blurring of ethnicities........ And, I am glad his eyes stayed the same throughout his life. LOL

[Biblioteque]

To make your determination factor these in:

The cathedral in the background looks very English in architecture. Lancet windows, round arch window, round dome (not a Russian dome). Style of dress looks rather English. The boutonnieres are in an odd place. Note the pin attached to her costume on the right side. It looks rather emblematic of something nobility would wear. The balustrade on which they are sitting...... Maybe they are just standing in front of a prop, but would not the photographer use a prop to signify his country? Look at the whole picture.

They have very soft features/bone structure......Nothing sharp about their features to differentiate them from northern European/English.
JMO.

[Zaru]

To make your determination factor these in:

The cathedral in the background looks very English in architecture. Lancet windows, round arch window, round dome (not a Russian dome). Style of dress looks rather English. The boutonnieres are in an odd place. Note the pin attached to her costume on the right side. It looks rather emblematic of something nobility would wear. The balustrade on which they are sitting...... Maybe they are just standing in front of a prop, but would not the photographer use a prop to signify his country? Look at the whole picture.

They have very soft features/bone structure......Nothing sharp about their features to differentiate them from northern European/English.
JMO.

These are all props. These were all taken in a photo studio in Vermont as opposed to another nation. They were simple farmers and nothing more. I have the whole family history well established but the DNA screams NPE (I am a gd=22 @67 with the 15 other project members who all claim the identical immigrant ancestor, and they all match each other, and are not a cluster of close cousins).

The frustrating part for me is that I can document their parents in every generation back to 1550, either through death records, birth records, or probate records. I do know that this area of Vermont had a heavy influx of immigrant workers due to the slate/marble/granite industry during the 19th-20th centuries. I just cannot figure this out.

[Biblioteque]

If they were simple farmers, they must haven been "high end" farmers because she looks smashing, although she had no jewels. She obviously took great pride in her appearance and made the most of what she had.

[Zaru]

If they were simple farmers, they must haven been "high end" farmers because she looks smashing, although she had no jewels. She obviously took great pride in her appearance and made the most of what she had.

She "owned it" for sure!

I don't know what kind of farming they were in, but then he was also listed as a wallpaper hanger on his death certificate. My grandfather (the young man) worked in labor his whole life, primarily as a trucker. He too, was of very modest means. Most folks from that area were(and still are), unless you owned a slate or marble/granite quarry.

[ragnar]

My great grandmother had a photo taken when she was 5 months pregnant & her dress fitted on her the same way. Have you enlarged (greatly) the tie tack your great grandfather is wearing? Even this small it kind of looks like a Mason symbol.

[Zaru]

GOOD CATCH!

My great grandmother had a photo taken when she was 5 months pregnant & her dress fitted on her the same way. Have you enlarged (greatly) the tie tack your great grandfather is wearing? Even this small it kind of looks like a Mason symbol.

Yes, that is a masonic lodge tie tack. There is a lodge two towns over from where they lived, so perhaps that's where he was a member. I also have my grandfather's Masonic handbook.