Trying to identify facial features of me (read description)

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Crion87
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

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Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Age: 39
Gender: Male
Posts: 182
Location: Victoria, Australia

03 Sep 2010, 7:50 am

I have created this thread to try and piece together any facts or possibilities about myself, through the evaluation of my facial traits. I am not asking for opinions on how I look, I am asking for those who are OK with working with faces etc. and who know how to look for possible traits by facial appearance.

This will obviously need a recent self-photo, this is the most recent I could retrieve at this notice and it is from an account on Facebook. It is about a year old - slight weight loss may have occured since then.

Tried to paste the image, seeing if URL linkage works instead...

I don't know much on my family history, but what I do know is that I am partially of Germanic ancestry, but through two distinct German populations - patrilineally on my father's grandfather's side, Bavarians (from near Munich - possible Austrian or Hungarian influence as well, my family name, Goss, is likely Austrian) and, from a matrilineal grandfather, at least in part, Prussian-Germans (from Danzig, now Gdansk in Poland since end of WWII in 1945). Matrilineally I also am primarily of English extraction from my maternal grandmother (which my mother refuses to admit but that is besides the point). My paternal grandmother's heritage is a mix of Scottish, Welsh and Anglo-Saxon (an admixture often called Anglo-Celtic when talking about autochthonous White Australians who are most likely of Anglo-Saxon and/or Irish descent).

However, there have been a few holes in my investigation, as I have not been able to find any information on in my father's grandfather's parents, though I know the male parent, a presumably White Australian man colloquially called "Tom Goss" in my family's discourse is my eponymous ancestor; however I have never been able to obtain photos of him as my paternal grandfather had a falling-out with him that led to his never disclosing any information; unfortunately that means nothing short of a seance could get any information from him now, colloquially speaking, as he has been deceased since ~1996 (from a form of thrombosis - might have to be careful of that when I get older). This, obviously, results in a frustrating halt in my investigation of my father's ancestry, and the only members of his family who would be willing to deal with me are those directly related to me. I would ask my paternal grandmother about my paternal grandfather's ancestry but she does not know either. All I know of Tom Goss' wife (at least she was when my paternal grandfather was born, whether that was the case when he was conceived is up for debate) is a possible maiden name of True - unfortunately I don't remember her first name at this time.

Past research (which I remember, but only in fragments) turned up a few of my ancestors were born out of wedlock, and their fathers were not listed. I know they were linked to my father's family, though. These illegitimate-born people are of interest to me in my investigation, as I have been confused by some people (who I actually know personally) with someone of vaguely-Eurasian ancestry when asked what they thought my family background was, and even if the White Australia Policy was legally in effect until 1975, these ancestors of mine in question were born in ~1860-1880, about the time of the Victorian Gold Rush and well before the Acts of Federation took effect in 1901, which created Australia as a political entity at least nominally independent of Britain, and with it the White Australia Policy.

This and the aforementioned confusion some people have had concerning my racial background, has raised the possibility that at least one such illegitimately-born ancestor was a Eurasian - I would think by an Asian father, though they would most likely have put down a Europeanised name if it was an Asian mother, further clouding the issue - considering the anti-Chinese politics of many whites at the time in Australia, due to a then-sizeable number of Chinese migrants left Imperial China (as in the Manchu Dynasty period) to find work in Gold Rush areas, my native home state of Victoria being among them. Also, I have had friends in my area who, though Caucasian in appearance, have been able to trace their family history to a Chinese person (likely one of the labourers, known as 'coolies') in that period. Both my parents are White Australians and would be unanimously called such by foreigners and Australians alike, though - but I remember seeing a photo of my paternal grandfather (dated back to 1987 - it is one of my newborn photos as well), and he had eyes with eyelids that had what slightly resembled epicanthic folds one might see in someone of Eurasian extraction, but I can't be sure. I also know that epicanthic folds or at least something looking like such can occur in preterm births, and I was born at the gestational age of 7 months, which was quite a survival feat given I was born in 1987.

I am also concerned I may have one or more genetic deficits as well (whose symptoms may include Asperger Syndrome or autism) - I'm not sure if many of them can be picked by looking at the face though.

Apologies for the wall of text but it's just one of those things that can't be easily summarised. Sorry :oops: