Are you a descendant of anyone famous?

Question

I'm a direct descendant of Danial Boone and only recently learned this. I thought it was very interesting. Anyone else with well-known ancestry?

Answer 1

Please Don't laugh ....

BUT ... I could be descended from the couple known as Jack and Jill of the nursery rhyme ......

once when doing some research on the name Gilson( which is a family name and not my name) I came across a site that said Gilson is derived from Jill's sons and like many nursey rhymes there is often some truth in the rhyme ( for example Mary Mary quite contrary was susposed to be Mary Queen of Scots)...


so when Jack and Jill fell down the hill .. their sons were left orphans and that was the beginning of the name .. NOW the time period of this suppossed even was in the 1200 ad in Britain..

I have no idea if indeed there is any truth in the story BUT it sure would be a fine explanation for my clumsiness...... IT'S IN THE GENES

:)

Answer 2

Pat Boone is a direct descendant also.. Are you related to him in any way?

I am a direct descendant of King Ferdinand VII of Spain..
But it is not a big deal because he was the meanest King in Spain and he was from a very dysfunctional family.. Thank God that is not my story now.. So it is one we do not talk much about! Not to mention he had many affairs.. so no throne for me or my family.

But my dad is recorded as the youngest person in California to receive a drivers license at age 9. Back in the 1950's and helped on my grandpa's ranch. It was a limited license but still a driver's license. Also he built the first cabinet for the in house stereo that now sits in the Smithsonian.. He is in heaven now.. but that is what I am proud of .. He also use to refinish Bing Crosby's furniture at Bing's home back in 1962-1965.

For some strange reason.. my dad had his little claim to fame.. lol

Answer 3

If you go back REALLY far, I'm descended from all of the English Kings - the Henrys and Richards and all of those - but then so is most of Europe and the US ;-) A little closer to modern times, I'm related to a couple of sorta-famous people, although not descended from them. I'm a distant cousin of Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the U.S. I'm also a several-times great niece of a man named Collin McKinney, who was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico (I'm descended from his sister Rebecca). Unfortunately, neither of them has left me any wealth, land, jewels, or other fun stuff - that's life, I guess ;-)

Answer 4

Yes....sort of. My gg grandfather W.J. Whiteman was famous for being rich in the Clhoctaw Indian Territory He was a banker, postmaster, store owner, etc.... A real wheeler and dealer. But! The man ended up dieing a pauper as a result of the depression.

Aside from that, we are related to the Bush family---through the Gilmore line. That goes way, way back.

Some have believed we are related to Loretta Young, but I''ve never found anything to prove that.

I'm always working on our family history and on the look out for those famous lines......

THanks.

Answer 5

I'm a descendent of a U.S. Senator
http://famousamericans.net/benjaminfranklinrice/

A relative of mine claims to have traced our ancestry back to Charlemagne. While I am somewhat skeptical about the accuracy of the specific details in his research, it seems likely that everyone of European descent is descended from Charlemagne. See this article for an explaination...
http://www.oz.net/~lee/Genealogy/charlemagne.html
(no, the author is the not the relative I was referring to)

The article above uses Charlemagne as an example, but the same goes for any person, famous or not, who lived sufficiently long ago and whose lineage did not die out.

Answer 6

Yes, two famous people actually.
My maternal grandfather is decended from the father of the famous Christian Missionary, Dr. David Livingston, although not from the good Doctor himself, rather a sibling of his.
The other famous person comes again on my mother's side, but this time through her Mother... I am a decendant of Rob Roy, the famous Scotsman of Clan McGregor (the Children of the Mist) who fought for social justice against the English and their supporters.

My mother had been researching our family tree before she died, but unfortunately, all her research was lost after her death.

Answer 7

I don't know if I'm descended from anyone famous but the country singer Buck Owens was a cousin and so is actor Earl Holliman

Answer 8

Daniel Morgan and John Brown.
["Yankee" John Church, Meat Camp, NC had a D. Boone connection.]
Frank Church, former senator.

The phrase "ap Llywelyn" shows up, along with Gwynedd, Wales.

Answer 9

I am a direct descendant of Miles Standish (military captain of the Mayflower) and am also 8th cousin, 3 times removed of VP Dick Cheney (unfortunate).

Answer 10

One of my great, great... grandfathers (Henry Sampson) came across on the Mayflower at about age 12. I'm also a distant cousin of Joseph Smith.