Family sees itself in old images
Last month our family journeyed to the west coast of Scotland for a golf tournament.
When the golf ended a bit earlier than planned, we turned to Plan B: sightseeing.
As luck would have it, we were staying in South Ayreshire, which was home to my mother's ancestors, the Kennedys.
Asking around, I had already learned our long-lost relatives were infamous, to say the least. In the 1500s, Gilbert Kennedy, for example, had roasted a man over a spit until the man signed over the papers for his property.
Now there's a legacy to be proud of.
What we discovered from locals, and from my sister the family historian, was we were staying near the castle that once housed my mother's ancestors: Culzean Castle.
Perched atop a cliff overlooking the Firth of Clyde, Culzean Castle fulfilled our hopes for a regal, imposing monument to the Old World - or at least our preconceived version of it.
I entered its thick stone walls searching for traits of my mother's family. Auburn hair, brown eyes, widow's peaks - features that matched my grandfather's, my mother's and my own.
You must understand I am one of four children. Two of us, my late brother, Todd Carter and I, share the Kennedy look. The middle two, my sister Linda Carter of High Point and my brother Chan Carter of New York City, look like my father's family, the Carters. Todd and I have reddish brown hair, very fair and freckled skin, brown eyes and were obviously our mother's kids. Linda and Chan have lighter brown hair (blonde at birth), not a freckle between them and blue eyes. All of our lives we attributed those traits to Dad's family.
So imagine our shock when we entered the halls of Culzean Castle and saw an 1875 portrait of a man who could've been a twin of my brother Chan. Archibald Kennedy, the 14th Earl of Cassillis and the Third Marquess of Ailsa was a dead (literally) ringer for Chan. The eyes, the ears, the pattern baldness, the beard.
The likeness was haunting.
Since sharing the photo of the Marquess (which is pronounced in the Scottish manner so that the second syllable rhymes with "guess" not the French pronunciation that sounds like "key") with my family and, subsequently, Chan's friends, we have all marveled at the likeness. Although Chan isn't fond of the "Sailor Earl's" nautical style, he's considering replacing his wire-rimmed glasses with a monocle.
This uncanny resemblance reminded me of another set of photos. These are from my sister-in-law and Thomasville native Lori Rider Weaver who now lives in Charlotte.
Lori's mother, Carolyn Rider, died nearly a decade ago, but Lori discovered her image lives on in Lori's younger daughter, my niece Olivia Weaver.
Sweet Olivia is the spitting image of Carolyn, the grandmother she never knew.
And that brings me to the conclusion that many of us must hold photographic evidence of our ancestry.
If you have photos of yourself and long-lost family "twins," please send them and your story my way. I think we'll all be fascinated.
Contact Cathy Weaver at cweavernr@gmail.com or 883-4422, Ext. 243.
