Heredity

Introduction

3. Heredity, Physical Appearance, Character

One of the curiousities that a person searching into their family history usually comes to (if they did not start there) is the question of their similarities to their forefathers/foremothers in such aspects as appearance or personal characteristics. Or do all similarities become become diluted and therefore lost as the generations pass and other blood lines are introduced. With closer relationships, however, it is often easy to see these similarities. Does the square face of the grandfather pass down to the son, and then to the grandson? Does the crooked nose, or the small ear appear in the offspring? Or what about the character, talents, business sense, vanity, or pride? Do these characteristics pass more clearly from the male, or the female, parent? Has anything been passed along from Zacharias after more than 300 years? Are there some common threads, which appear as we research the descendants? While answering these questions is somewhat risky, I will attempt to do so as long as nobody takes me too seriously. From both the material which I have been able to find, including pictures which naturally only go back 3-4 generations, and in getting to know other descendants of Zacharias from distant branches of the tree I have put together the following prototype of a Schömbs:

In general the Schömbs is rather tall and slender
The head is oval and the face somewhat angular
The face is lean, the chin rather pointed and more angular than round
The ears are somewhat large and sticking out
The hair is usually substantial, with occasionally a slope to the forehead
The voice is rather clear and high, rather than somber and deep
The nature of the Schömbs is to be quiet and reserved
The humor is subtle and quick, not crude and noisy
The Schömbs is energetic, has a high sense of duty, good capabilities, is reliable and sees things through
Yet the personality is modest and un-assuming
There has always been a desire for education, which has furthered the potential and performance
While proud, there is not vanity or arrogance
An especially outgoing characteristic is artistic and musical, which runs through many generations and lines
No exact statistics have been developed regarding mortality, but it seems to be in the normal range

Just as siblings are often extremely different in their temperament, this is also true in our family through the generations. Perhaps this is partly a result of the maternal influence. And as one meets family members they see some characteristics manifested more strongly than others. Some of the enumerated characteristics seem to be most "typical" and "characteristic" of the "Schömbs" and these could therefore represent perhaps the most sought-after "red thread" of the "Schömbs inheritance". Perhaps, but here only the wishful thinking.