One day a while back my brother asked me whether I thought Uncle Sam looked like our grandmother.  I said that I saw a family resemblance among all four of Bessie and Joseph’s children for whom we had photos.  (Poor Frieda—there does not seem to be any picture of her.  Maybe Harry took off with them all…)  To me, they all resembled Bessie.  Here are some close-up head shots of Bessie and the four children.

Bessie Brotman

Hyman Brotman

Tillie

Gussie Brotman

Sam Brotman

I did not see as much resemblance between Max and the other children, not surprisingly since he had a different mother.

Max Brotman

That made me wonder whether Max looked more like Joseph than the other children, or did he look like his mother? (And sadly, we have no pictures of Abraham.  It would be nice to be able to compare Abraham and Max.  Morty and Paula, if you are still reading, do you have any photos of your grandfather??)  We have no photo of Joseph, so it’s all speculation.

So I thought maybe if we combined a picture of Max and Hyman we’d have some clue as to what Joseph looked like.  Totally unscientific, I know, and also illogical, but when you are searching, anything seems like a possibility.  So here’s a picture that morphs Max and Hyman.

max and hyman morphed

Here’s Hyman and Sam morphed—a much closer resemblance:

Sam and Hyman morphed

Then I went a step further and combined Tillie and Gussie—the results are striking.  The two sisters had a strong resemblance.

Tillie and Gussie morphed

Finally I combined all four of Bessie and Joseph’s children (Hyman, Tillie, Gussie and Sam) and all five of Joseph’s children for whom I have pictures (Max, Hyman, Tillie, Gussie and Sam).

Hyman, Tillie, Gussie and Sam

Max, Hyman, Tillie, Gussie and Sam morphed

Obviously these prove nothing, except perhaps that I am easily amused!  What do you think?