Question of the Week: What traits do you see being passed from generation to generation in your family?

Question

What sorts of traits do you see being passed from generation to generation in your family? 

PS Reshare the question on Facebook to get your family and friends talking.

Comments

That's very interesting--supports what I'm saying. Lots of people have the downturned U mouth---but have no idea they have any Asian or Indigenous blood--& it may not even show-up in their DNA if at conception those ancestors' DNA wasn't pulled from.

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There is a trace amount of Amerindian and Sami in my DNA.

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• My great-grandfather died from a "stomach problem".
• My paternal grandfather died from abdominal cancer.
• My father suffered from "heartburn"
• I had heartburn and GERDS until it was treated.
• My son has heartburn and lactose intolerance (inherited from his mother).

And I inherited my paternal grandmother's long eye lashes.

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I also have a severe lactose intolerance. And in the last year and a half or so I found I am very sensitive to both brewers and bakers yeast (which is in everything). I knew I had an additional issue since I would be careful and it didn't matter. I have to be very selective as to what I eat.

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So do you or any of your elders, Laura (Morin) have the down-turned mouths, or not? : )

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Yes, unfortunately, I do. And so does my mother, both of her sisters and my female cousins.  It is a very common trait of the women on my maternal side. I can trace it back to my 4th GGM, Dorcas Hyatt Traywick.

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Question to Laura.  Is it greatly downturned?  I had to actually check for my downturn.  But it is there. I guess we just have to smile a lot. Which I guess I do anyway.

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it's All good....we are unique w/ our down-turned mouths : )

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Linda, it is down turned enough that it's quite noticeable. When my face is "resting" it makes me look like I'm mad all the time.  When I smile, my smile is straight instead of up turned like most. 

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Just remember you smile with your whole face like  your eyes and your cheeks and your personality. Like I saId I never even noticed at all mine are downturned but they clearly are. And I have never once noticed anyone elses are. But I am going to check now to see out of curiosity.  I would say most people but us would not notice.

Answer 1

Light skin, light hair, light eyes and high IQ.

Funny - my father died 6 years before my son was born. When my son was a toddler/young child and I was trying to tell him off he would stand just like my Dad and cock his head the same way. Kinda hard to tell him off when I am spooked by it!

Comments

Ever contemplate reincarnation with your son? Being your dad? Does he ever say things there’s no way for him to know due to his young age, when those events happened?

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I would caution you to not delve into Reincarnation.   The Bible teaches that it is Anti-God, and designed by Satan, to keep people away from trusting in God.     It is practice mostly by the Hindu people from India.    When they die, they are placed on a large Burn pile, to be incinerated, or cremated into ashes.   With the belief that they are to completely destroy every part of the dead body, so that whatever they are reincarnated into, will have a clean start, with something new, until death when the process is repeated, hoping that in one of their lives they will achieve perfection.  Until then they must be exterminated, with no guarantee they will ever complete this process.

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Please worry about your soul and I’ll worry about mine. I wholeheartedly believe in God and speak to him all the time. Born and raised catholic and I know who I am and what I believe in. Take good care of yourself! Have a nice day!

Answer 2

My height, I suppose, comes from the Shepherd side. Several generations consecutively.

Diabetes shows up regularly in descendants of one of my great-grandfathers.

Having a full head of hair is definitely a trait of male Underwood descendants.

A love of oral history comes from both sides of the family!

Answer 3

On the Hughey side,there seems to be a prevelance for red hair--three of my brothers, several of my Hughey aunts and uncles (blood kin). The Sills line also shows an abundance of red hair.I'm the once without it!

Some of my nieces don't either.  Red hair genes are recessive and don't usually show up in people with black hair genes and often times not in people with people with brown hair genes.

Comments

We have red hair that pops up from time to time.  My uncle has it.  No one in our family had it.  But a couple of nieces and then some grand nieces have it big time.

Answer 4

A tendency to violence.

Comments

I hope that your generation will break the cycle and be known for even tempers, and caring attitudes.

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It is wonderful that you recognize the generational trait, because with that recognition hopefully you can tell your children and break it as a trait.If you aren't aware of generational passage, you can't stop it.

In my family I have found we have repeated patterns we did not know about until I started doing genealogy. I have found family often does not understand why you are telling them things they don't want to know,they even become hostile.

Thank you for sharing

Answer 5

Height. My grandfather on my mom’s side was tall. As a result, I have a cousin who is tall. Comes in handy when decorating Christmas trees. Then again I am kind of tall. Like 5 foot 10.

Most of my family wears glasses. Including me.

And ya know....I got my dad’s nose.

Dark hair is also a common trait. Not many people have light hair on either side of the family.

Curly hair is a trait from my father’s side. Though his grandfather had light hair.

Comments

My brothers and I swore the reason my short mother had three tall boys was so she could say, “Can you get that down for me?”

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Haha! My mom would say "Can't argue with that logic!" My brother and I are a bit tall.  I used to be really short. Then I hit a really painful growth spurt. Talk about regeneration.....

Answer 6

Hmm.... diabetes and high blood pressure.

Stubbornness. Kentucky side is still generating clanishness three generations out of the hills. We don't take to outlanders. Meaning anyone who isn't family, and not all of them either.

Hard to say much more, personally, I'm a fairly atypical member of the family. Kind of a mutant.

Comments

Gotta laugh, Thomas. Clannishness runs in my family, too. North Carolina mountains. Must be a leftover from my Scots heritage.

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One day my mother and I were talking about how her side of the family sees my father's side (all northerners) as freakishly (read: typically) friendly to strangers (read: friends). My mother then said, "I guess we're rather clannish" meaning on her side. A light bulb came on, something clicked, and so much fell into place. It explains so much.

Like most Appalachians, my mom's parents seem to be mostly Scots and Scotch-Irish, maybe some Welsh, and rumors of Cherokee that aren't true.

Answer 7

Left-handedness.  I'm left-handed, my mom's sister is left-handed, my mom's mother's brother was left-handed, and my mom's maternal grandmother was left-handed-there's one of us per generation in my maternal line since at least my great-grandmother (and probably earlier than that).

Comments

You reminded me K, left-handed was not allowed when mum was growing up, so she had to try to be right-handed, but myself and all her grandchildren are lefties. We are taking over the world! Lol.

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Indeed we are!  

Fortunately, no one in my family was forced to write right-handed; all I can complain about is not getting a left-handed desk until high school and having gym teachers that never knew how to teach a left-handed person how to bowl/pitch/bat left-handed, so I did have to learn sports from a right-hander's perspective (and I insist this is why I'm so, so bad at sports!)

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As the only left handed person in my family, I'm with you on this. Not only am I bad at any sports having to do with a ball but never could knit properly or touch type.

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It's too bad-I have an especially hard time bowling, which I really used to like.  People told me to start bowling left-handed, but I'd been shown how to do it right-handed all my life so I can't adjust to left-handed bowling.  Oh well-that's what bumpers are for.

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We lefties are in our right minds

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Actually there is one sport I'm decent at: bowling. Must be the left-handedness. Also I was very good at gymnastics as was my dad.

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Yay for Lefties! My mother was ambidextrous until she broke her left arm and had it in a cast for quite awhile in the 1940’s or 1950’s. I was the only lefty out of 5 kids. My 3 are not lefties but at least 2 of my nephews are. As lefties we are awesome!

Answer 8

We are all as mad as hatters.

Comments

Madness spices the world!

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So, you're saying that the family coat of arms ties at the back?

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When you shake my tree all the nuts fall out.

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Mercury poisoning?

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Yup, my branch of Welburn descendants too Dave

Answer 9

At first I would say our blonde hair, however that has gradually started to disappear. Now I would have to say our kindness to others, we have always been there to help others when needed. I can remember watching and learning this from my grandparents.

Comments

@Dean “At first I would say our blonde hair, however that has gradually started to disappear.”  - it’s called balding

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I meant disappearing as changing color not balding, our hair color has been getting dark by the generation.

Answer 10

All of us tend to be tall and thin. We always considered this a Mosson trait, this side of the ocean, but its not. I've acquired pictures from my Grandma Mosson's family - the tall, thinness is a Parsons trait, from Ada Rose's side of the family. The Parsons men tend to go bald - also considered a Mosson trait over here!

 In my own part of the family we also have Scottish ancestry. What we get from the Camerons is fierce loyalty, love of tradition, love of our Tartan, and a fiery, but quick to calm temper. Like I told my new daughter-in-law - she joined a long line of women with both fists in the air and feisty as "h-e-double hockey sticks"! She fits right in!!! We also tend to be warriors, several of us having served in Canada's Military. I guess some of us just truly believe we are Sons of Hounds!

Comments

Scottish here, too, so I can identify.

Answer 11

What a great question as I have always been aware of specific traits from a couple of my family lines.

My paternal line - Small boned, slightly built, blue eyes and "peaches and cream" skintone. Very soft-spoken. The line originated in Scotland and England. Digestive issues and high blood pressure. Maybe if they raised their voices more, the blood pressure would lower!! I have most all of these traits. All of my cousins in this family have the digestive issues including me. I have photos from my Great grandfather on down and they all look alike.

My maternal side - Larger boned and sturdily built and physically strong. Blue eyes. German descent.

Comments

I come from a long line of German people on both sides of the family.   We are mostly blonde, blue eyes, some of the men are tall, hard workers, but the ladies are not tall, but they are very talented.   Not much that they can't do.

Answer 12

On my wife's side, everything and anything to do with gardening. Also on her side, left-handedness and a simian crease.

Answer 13

Hazel or green eyes, dimples and orneriness.  Since the definition of ornery is different depending on where you’re from, here is ours:    

“chiefly Midwest : having or showing a playful tendency to cause trouble: Mischievous

On a serious note: My mother had CREST Syndrome. It’s an autoimmune disorder, it doesn’t have to be CREST, but it just means we are prone to autoimmune disorders or disease.

Answer 14

Dad's side:  athletic ability, autoimmune disease, unibrow.

Mom's side:  good in school, issues with speech, viscous/sticky saliva.

Comments

What fascinates me is the "athletic ability" trait from my dad's line.  Dad was an above-average athlete (3 sports, including state finalist in one).  Overall, on a scale of 1-to-10 he might be an 8.  On the same scale, Mom would score 1 or 2.  The kids all ended up slightly athletic, but not remarkably so--say, a 6.  Contrast that to Dad's sister, who was above-average like her brother.  She married a guy who was significantly above-average, perhaps an 8 or 9.  The children of that union were all star athletes--the best in their high schools.  And one of them had a successful career as a professional athlete, including an MVP award.

Answer 15

Alzheimer's Disease and Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, haha. The Alzheimer's isn't early onset, but it hit my dad, his mom, and her mom. It's hard to tell which side the EDS came from, but I suspect my dad's side. My ex & I both have EDS, and so does my daughter, but it's quite manageable for us.

On my mom's side, heart and blood pressure issues reign supreme, at least on the less-happy side of things.

Appearance-wise, on my dad's side the men are tall and lean, and I take after them. My brother tends more to my mom's side, which tend to be stockier and freckled.

Speaking of tall and lean, my daughter is too, and she has my blue eyes (I was the only one in my family to win the blue-eyed lottery, everyone else's are hazel). She also has my slightly-off and punny sense of humor, but I'm guessing that's nurture, not nature ;)

Answer 16

Mitchell line has a lot of bipolar disorder. Martin has a lot of cystic fibrosis. Of course we're all ~brilliant~ and artistic.

My siblings and I connect telepathically, when we were young we honed those skills playing games and using our mental energy to influence each other.

Even now our Mom says, when one calls you all call.

Answer 17

High Cholesterol is very popular in my family xxx

Comments

Karen - same issue here. Myself, my mother, and her mother, we all have high cholesterol no matter what we eat! Darn those genes *fist shake*

Answer 18

If I straighten out my arms, palm up, my elbows touch each other.  Strong family trait from my mothers side.  I have 5 brothers and sisters and we all have that trait.

Answer 19

When my Dad saw my new-born daughter for the first time, his first comment was, "she has my bent little finger."

The Scott ears are also prevalent, particularly among the males, and I think we all have a tendency to procrastinate.

Comments

I also have crooked little fingers, it's a recessive trait. I also have double crown and am a leftie as is my brother and Dad was..!

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My MacAusland, (McAuslin, McCausland etc.) family nearly all have the crooked pinky little finger.  I am the only one of my generation now to have it but a lady in Australia had two of them and didn't know what had happened to her.  Do you happen to have Scottish/Irish ancestry with links to McAuslin, Horne or Miller?

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Mary Cudmore, I don't know any of those names, but I certainly have Scottish in me.

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Yes, we definitely have Scottish genes as tested per DNA, could be where the left handedness comes from too. Scottish left handed staircases helped them in sword fights...

Answer 20

From my father's side, digestive problems and being tall. We are all well over average height. Father 6' 4", brothers between 6' 3" - 6 5". 3 of us have inherited his sensitive digestion. Also we all have his 'dark' sense of humour.

From my mother's side, a certain impulsiveness, and asthma. She had it, as well as me and 3 of my siblings.