Found an Artistic Rendering of my Sixth Great-Grandfather! Images Added

GalacticGal · December 2014

I was so excited yesterday to find yet another artistic rendering of my sixth great-grandfather. He lived over 200 years ago, so no photos exist. He did hold a high public office, which is why there's a few paintings of him. Lucky me. Mostly, in those images, he's into his fifties. Not a bad looking fellow, but all the historic accountings I've been reading about him, the authors go out of their way to explain that he was "the handsomeness man in all of Tennessee". I'm looking at the painting, and thinking, o…kay. Obviously the standard of handsome was different back then. But then I stumbled upon this painting of him as a younger man and I can plainly see how striking he was. I can also better judge the color of his hair, which has ranged from brown to being "fair" depending on which account you care to go with. He wasn't wearing that silly white wig, but still had his (rather long) hair tied into a queue (pony tail). Early on, when I was playing with the Sims 4 demo, I saw a challenge to create historic figures. So, I did. Since we could only create Adults in the demo, it was a challenge for me to be able to create him as younger from the older and heretofore only image I'd seen of him. There is also a discrepancy as to what color of blue his eyes were, ranging from bright to deep. Yesterday, I went in and tweaked my younger Sim to look a tad more like the younger man in this 'newer to me' painting.

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In his fifties: [IMG][/img]

One of the reasons I chose to share this was for the fact that while I was back in CAS mode with this Sim, he smiled as I made the little tweaks to his looks and ended up looking very much like the smile in the painting of the younger John. Had me in stitches, anyway. From the beginning he smiled this way. It's downright uncanny, if you ask me.

P.S. To give credit, where credit is due, the younger John was rendered by James Wilson Peale.

rosemow · December 2014

It is very nice to see pictures of your sixth great grandfather.

It is exciting to discover pictures of our family ancestors. He is very nice. It is great that you have created a sims 4 simself of him. It is nice what you wrote about his smile.

MegandtheMoon · December 2014

Wow @GalacticGal ! That's so interesting! Thank you for sharing with us. I've always wanted to trace my ancestors, maybe one day I'll actually get around to doing it!

GalacticGal · December 2014

MegandtheMoon wrote: »

Wow @GalacticGal ! That's so interesting! Thank you for sharing with us. I've always wanted to trace my ancestors, maybe one day I'll actually get around to doing it!

I would encourage you to get started on it, sooner rather than later. Talk (interview) as many of your older relatives as you can, and TAKE notes. Do NOT rely on your memory. My maternal Grandmother would tell the same stories to me over and over every time I came to stay with her and my Grandpa for a couple of weeks each summer. I thought I'd heard them so many times that I wouldn't/couldn't possibly ever forget them. Well, that's the folly of youth right there for you. I didn't get my official start in tracing my roots until well into my adulthood. As for those stories Grandma would tell … I only remember bits and pieces. She's gone now, as well as the rest of my grandparents and both of my parents, too. I do still have some of my father's siblings left, but the pool of people to ask has vastly dwindled. Also, make sure you get your hands on (or copies, at least) of personal papers. These are replete with useful information. This is where you start, basically, with yourself.

I use Family Treemaker 2014 program to keep track of my family. But there are many other programs that are useful. There are also many sites available where you can create a family tree. Be wary, however, some may claim you can build your family tree for free, (which you can do but that's about it, for free, that is) however, if you wish to get sources or to compare your tree with another member's tree, you may have to subscribe, which involves as little as $10.00 a month to $20.00 a month for access to the records you'll need to trace your family. I use Ancestry.com (their basic is the $20.00 a month fee).

At any rate, thanks to both of you for responding. I was just so very excited about my 'find. Good luck, MegandtheMoon!

Nh6650 · December 2014

Thanks for sharing. He looks very distinguished.

GalacticGal · December 2014

Thank you for your response. Believe it or not, he almost drown when he was a youth. Fell into a millrace while away at school. Two girls, sisters, saved him. I wish I could remember their names so I could track down their descendants to thank them! I look at it this way, without John and his first wife, Sarah Jane, I wouldn't be here, ultimately.

rosemow · December 2014

It is good that he was rescued when he fell into the millrace when at school. It is interesting finding out about things that happened in the lives of our ancestors.

GalacticGal · December 2014

rosemow wrote: »

It is good that he was rescued when he fell into the millrace when at school. It is interesting finding out about things that happened in the lives of our ancestors.

Yes, and I'm finding my appetite voracious in his case. I've read at least four historic accounts on his life, back-to-back. There is a book on this family's history that I've been able to borrow from OpenLibrary. I'd buy the darn thing, since I've borrowed it three separate times, already, but although it originally cost only $15.00 upon release, it's now up to around $300.00 + for new and around $200.00 + for a used copy.

I took better notes this last time around.

Studying John's life has opened up a whole vista of American history for me. He was born in 1745 and took part in the American Revolution. I learned about the battle of Kings Mountain, (something I don't recall learning in school), mostly because it was a Southern Campaign, although pivotal, it seems we all are given more accounts on those battles that took place mainly in the North.

The entire battle took about one hour. That, alone, blows my mind. If you know anything at all about the "Overmountain Men" he was one of them.

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Found an Artistic Rendering of my Sixth Great-Grandfather! Images Added

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