Just because some famous people have passed away doesn’t mean their faces have, as some of their descendants have such a family resemblance that it’s kind of creepy.
Audrey Hepburn and Emma Ferrer
One of the strangest parts of the resemblance between actress Audrey Hepburn and Emma Ferrer is that Hepburn died before Ferrer was born. The resemblance is still there, though. Ferrer’s the daughter of Hepburn’s son Sean, and the similarities aren’t hard to spot.Â
Those large eyes, sharp brows, long neck, and fine facial shape. She’s definitely a descendant of the incomparable Audrey Hepburn. She didn’t follow her straight into acting, though, as Ferrer studied painting in Florence and London, later becoming a visual artist.
Frederick Douglass and Kenneth B. Morris Jr.
Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a man who left behind plenty of photographs. It’s one of the reasons it’s so easy to compare him with his great-great-great-grandson, Kenneth B. Morris Jr. The pair have the same heavy brow and deep-set eyes, as well as that special kind of serious look.
You know, the one that Douglass wore really well. The similarities were so striking that Morris actually posed for a staged portrait to show them off. Fun fact, Morris is also descended from Booker T. Washington. It’s quite a family tree.Â
Emmeline Pankhurst and Helen Pankhurst
It’s not like Helen Pankhurst needed an old-fashioned costume or backdrop to make the family connection clear. No, all you need to do is put her next to a picture of Emmeline Pankhurst, her great-grandmother, who started the movement for women’s right to vote in the UK. The resemblance is right there.
The eyes, nose, and set of the mouth are all exact copies of each other. Just like Emmeline, Helen has been fighting for women’s rights, and she also spent part of her childhood in Ethiopia. The likeness goes beyond the face, apparently.
Robert Falcon Scott and Falcon Scott
Falcon Scott’s family history isn’t exactly a secret, as his first name is his grandfather’s surname. Yes, he’s the only grandson of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott. You can easily see that in the way they look. They both have the same long face, eyes, and jawline.
Once you add a mustache, the resemblance gets even closer. Falcon even walked in his grandfather’s footsteps by traveling to Antarctica himself in 2012, helping to preserve the Terra Nova expedition hut at Cape Evans. Exploration runs in the family.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Elizabeth Jenkins-Sahlin
The most famous images we have of American women’s rights activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton are from her later life. But photographer Drew Gardner didn’t want to focus on those, choosing instead to use a younger portrait to compare Stanton’s fifth-great-granddaughter, Elizabeth Jenkins-Sahlin.
The curls, bonnet, and jewelry definitely helped the connection, there’s no denying that. But it’s also clear that Jenkins-Sahlin’s round face and small smile helped, too. She’s a descendant of another women’s rights activist, Harriot Stanton Blatch.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Isambard Thomas
Isambard Thomas was another person who recreated photos of his doppelganger. You can probably guess who it was. It was engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Thomas’s recreation of the famous 1857 photograph is almost like-for-like.
It’s all there, hands in pockets, tall hat, cigar, and giant chains behind him. There’s also Thomas’s broad forehead and steady expression, those really helped, too. Brunel helped to kick-start the Industrial Revolution, and Thomas continued his great-great-great-grandfather’s legacy by attending events linked to Brunel’s ships.
Oliver Cromwell and Charles Bush
He had no idea. Charles Bush was living in Australia, completely unaware of the fact that he was a ninth great-grandson of Oliver Cromwell, until he was tracked down and informed. Cromwell helped lead the British government to win the English Civil War.
For his picture, Charles Bush wore dark armor and a plain white collar like Robert Walker’s 1654 painting of Cromwell. But look past it. Bush has a similarly long face, narrow mouth, heavy eyelids, and prominent nose as Cromwell. It seems the resemblance hung around, even when knowledge of it didn’t.
Horatio Nelson and William John Raglan Horatio Tribe
William John Raglan Horatio Tribe. It’s the kind of name that you’re expecting to have some interesting genealogy, and that’s exactly what happened. Tribe descends from Admiral Horatio Nelson through Nelson and Emma Hamilton’s daughter, Horatia. Nelson helped lead the British to victory against France and Spain during the Napoleonic Wars.
They both have narrow lower faces, high foreheads, curved brows, and even their mouths look almost the same. Tribe still has both of his arms and both functional eyes, however, so there is a slight difference with his ancestor.
Lisa Gherardini and Irina Guicciardini Strozzi
The Mona Lisa is easily the most famous painting in the world, and Lisa Gherardini’s generally accepted as the woman in it. Genealogist Domenico Savini identified Irina Guicciardini Strozzi as a distant descendant, and she was later photographed in the same way as Mona.
It’s the oval face and narrow mouth that look so familiar, rather than any posing or costuming. The family connection is pretty easy to see, maybe even more so than any other famous figures because the original is so well-known.
Thomas Jefferson and Shannon LaNier
Shannon LaNier has a bit of an odd connection to former president Thomas Jefferson. His heritage runs through Jefferson’s slave, Sally Hemings, and their son Madison Hemings, so he’s Jefferson’s sixth great-grandson. Still, he dressed like Jefferson in Rembrandt Peale’s famous image.
The only difference was that he skipped the powdered wig, which kind of makes sense. They’re really uncomfortable. Their similarities are clearer up close, especially around the eyes, cheekbones, nose, and closed mouth.
Theodore Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt III
It’s the mustache that really gives away the connection between Kermit Roosevelt III and his great-great-grandfather, the twenty-sixth American president, Theodore Roosevelt. They already have the same broad face and strong nose, but it’s the facial hair that makes the family resemblance harder to miss.Â
Yes, his name really is Kermit. The name came from Roosevelt’s son and kept moving through the family. Kermit currently teaches constitutional law at the University of Pennsylvania and writes novels as well. He’s a little different from his ancestor.
Grace Kelly and Charlotte Casiraghi
Let’s get one thing straight, Charlotte Casiraghi doesn’t look like actress Grace Kelly in every single picture. But in the ones where she does, she really does. She’s Kelly’s granddaughter through Princess Caroline of Monaco, and the family features are quite strong, at the right angle.
They have the same high cheekbones and arched eyebrows. They also have straight noses and small, controlled smiles that Kelly was once famous for. Like Kelly, Casiraghi has appeared in the public eye, modeling for both Gucci and Chanel. She’s also competed in show jumping.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
10 historical figures who took secrets to the grave
Unanswered questions are the worst, and it’s even more terrible when they continue to be unanswered because the people with the answers took them to their graves.
10 historical figures who took secrets to the grave
