Name Dropper

Rob has done a lot of research on ancestry.com and recently discovered a feature that shows famous people you are related to. Here is the list for me. I’m most excited about Jane Austen who’s books I never tire of. (See, now I’m even talking like her) Knowing I have a small percentage of these people in my DNA makes me feel a little more relevant and part of something big. So excuse me, while I brag a little about my relatives…

Artists:

Walt Disney (1901-1966)
American Animator
Walter Elias Disney is the famous creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney World, and Disneyland. He produced, directed, and animated his many motion pictures. His first full length animated picture was Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Relationship: 5th Cousin 4 times removed

Charles Stratton (1838-1883)
Circus Performer
General Tom Thumb (born Charles Stratton) was taught to sing, dance, and act by circus pioneer P.T. Barnum. His small frame and many talents made him famous around the world.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 5 times removed

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959)
American Architect
Frank Lloyd Wright was an influential American architect. Pioneering the prairie style house and designing the Guggenheim Museum in New York are two of his most famous accomplishments.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 5 times removed

Norman Rockwell (1894-1978)
American Painter
Norman Rockwell is known for his illustrations on the covers of The Saturday Evening Post. His work most often portrays the idealized American lifestyle. During his lifetime he produced over 2000 original works.
Relationship: 8th Cousin 3 times removed

Click below for more of my exciting relatives!

Historical Figures:

Stephen Hopkins (1582-1644)
Mayflower Passenger
Stephen Hopkins was a merchant and tanner by trade who came across the ocean on the Mayflower. He also signed the Mayflower Compact.
Relationship: 13th Great Grandfather

Thomas McKean (1734-1817)
Delaware Representative
A very prominent and active politician in the early days of the United States, Thomas McKean served as President of the Continental Congress, Governor of Pennsylvania, and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. He also signed the Declaration of Independence.
Relationship: 1st Cousin 10 times removed

James “Wild Bill” Hickock (1837-1876)
American Outlaw
James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok was a legendary gunfighter and law man in the American Wild West. Many characters in Western novels are fashioned after Hickok.
Relationship: 4th Cousin 5 times removed

John Wesley Hardin (1853-1895)
American Outlaw
John Wesley Hardin was an outlaw and gunfighter in Texas. He was reported to be the meanest man alive, once killing a man just for snoring. Most of his gunplay was a result of his short temper.
Relationship: 4th Cousin 5 times removed

Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822-1893)
19th President of the United States of America
Rutherford B. Hayes was known for his honesty and military involvement in the American Civil War. After the scandal ridden years of the Grant administration, Hayes restored trust to the presidency and ended Reconstruction during his term.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 3 times removed

Lyman Hall (1724-1790)
Georgia Representative
Lyman Hall was selected by his parish to represent Georgia in the Continental Congress. He later helped to charter the University of Georgia.
Relationship: 3rd Cousin 9 times removed

Jane Means Appleton Pierce (1806-1863)
First Lady
Jane Means Appleton Pierce was an American First Lady and the wife of President Franklin Pierce. The social obligations of First Lady were a constant struggle for her, but she found solace in her close friends.
Relationship: 4th Cousin 7 times removed

Robert Hobart (1760-1816)
Politician
Robert Hobar, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire, was elected Member of Parliament in 1788 and served as Colonial Secretary from 1801-1804. Hobart, Tasmania is named for him.
Relationship: 5th Cousin 7 times removed

Gerald Ford (1913-2006)
38th President of the United States of America
President Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. became President after the resignation of President Nixon. He struggled through economic problems and even a few assassination attempts.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed

Robert Morris (1734-1806)
Pennsylvania Representative
Prior to signing The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and The Articles of Confederation; Robert Morris borrowed money to pay Washington’s troops during the Revolutionary War.
Relationship: 18th Great Grandfather

Lou Henry Hoover (1874-1944)
First Lady
Lou Henry Hoover, wife of Herbert C. Hoover created a period style sitting room with furniture owned by James Madison. She also restored Abraham Lincoln’s study so her husband could use it.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 4 times removed

Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman (1885-1982)
First Lady
Elizabeth Wallace Truman, often called “Bess Truman”, struggled with the lack of privacy that surrounded the family of the president. However, her sense of duty prevailed and she supported her husband in his duties.

Richard M Nixon (1913-1994)
37th President of the United States of America
Richard Milhous Nixon was the first U.S. President to resign from office. His resignation came from impeachment caused by the Watergate Scandal.
Relationship: 9th Cousin

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes (1831-1889)
First Lady
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes convinced her husband, Rutherford B. Hayes, to fight in the Union army and to oppose slavery. He later became an influential part of the abolitionist cause.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 4 times removed

Caesar Rodney (1728-1784)
Delaware Representative
Active in political beginnings of the United States of America, Caesar Rodney signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Delaware. He was also a member of the Continental Congress and President of Delaware during the Revolutionary War.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 5 times removed

Inventors/Explorers/Scientists:

Ernest Shackleton (1874-1922)
Anglo-Irish Explorer
Ernest Shakelton explored Antarctica in the early 1900s. His voyages found the Magnetic South Pole and crossed the Trans-Antarctic mountain range for the first time.
Relationship: 10th Cousin 6 times removed

W. G. Grace (1848-1915)
English Cricketer
A great cricketer, W. G. Grace brought the game of cricket to a new level of technique and fame. His development of modern batting and his amazing ability, made cricket one of the first spectator sports.
Relationship: 8th Cousin 2 times removed

Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
English Physician
Edward Jenner was the first doctor to introduce and study the smallpox vaccine. He also contributed to the study of the heart and valvular disease.
Relationship: 5th Cousin 7 times removed

George Eastman (1854-1932)
American Inventor
George Eastman founded the Eastman Kodak Co. and invented roll film. His invention was also a precursor for motion picture film.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 4 times removed

Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910)
Religious Leader
Mary Baker Eddy was an influential American author, teacher, and religious leader, noted for her groundbreaking ideas about spirituality and health, which she named “Christian Science.” She articulated those ideas in her major work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, first published in 1875. Four years later she founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, which today has branch churches and societies around the world. In 1908 she launched The Christian Science Monitor, a leading international newspaper, the recipient, to date, of seven Pulitzer Prizes.
Relationship: 5th Cousin 5 times removed

Samuel Morse (1791-1872)
American Inventor
Samuel Morse invented the signaling alphabet known as Morse Code to be used in his electromagnetic telegraph.
Relationship: 3rd Cousin 7 times removed

Linus Pauling (1901-1994)
American Chemist
Linus Pauling was an American chemist, famous for his work in applying quantum mechanics to chemistry and his campaign against above-ground nuclear testing. For his work in both of these fields he was awarding two Nobel Peace Prizes.
Relationship: 5th Cousin 3 times removed

Authors:

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)
American Novelist
Louisa May Alcott’s transcendentalist family supported abolitionist and feminist movements during the Civil War. Her family was the inspiration for her best known novels, Little Women and Little Men.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 3 times removed

Robert Frost (1874-1963)
American Poet
Robert Frost is remembered for his award-winning American poetry. He was the recipient of 4 Pulitzer Prizes and read his poem “The Gift Outright” at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed

L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942)
Canadian Author
Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery is famous for her series of novels, Anne of Green Gables.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 4 times removed

Jack London (1876-1916)
American Author
Jack London (probably born John Griffith Cheney) was one of the first American authors to become financially successful because of his writing. He wrote “The call of the Wild” and “White Fang”.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 6 times removed

Jane Austen (1775-1817)
English Author
Jane Austin was well educated and began writing at a young age. Though she wrote with a man’s alias, many of her novels, which include Pride and Prejudice and Emma, have become widely popular.
Relationship: 6th Cousin 6 times removed

John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
American Author
John Steinbeck’s writing is characterized by portrayals of working class families in California. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature as well as the Pulitzer Prize. Two of his most famous works are The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.
Relationship: 9th Cousin 1 times removed

Actors:

Bob Hope (1903-2003)
American Actor
British-born American actor Leslie Townes Hope, better known as Bob Hope, was best known for his role in “My Favorite Brunette” and other radio and TV appearances.
Relationship: 11th Cousin 2 times removed

Spencer Tracy (1900-1967)
American Actor
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy was a two-time Academy Award-winning actor. He acted in movies such as Dante’s Inferno, Captains Courageous, Boys Town, and The Old Man and the Sea. Tracy’s career included 74 films.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed

James Dean (1931-1955)
American Actor
James Dean is perhaps best known for his starring roles in Rebel without a Cause, East of Eden, and Giant. His film career abruptly ended when Dean was killed in a car accident at the age of 24.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 2 times removed