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SNGF -- Try out the FamilySearch "Famous Relatives" Page

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:

1)  FamilySearch has a page for "Famous Relatives" at   https://www.familysearch.org/en/discovery/famousrelatives.  It works if you are connected to the FamilySearch Family Tree.

2)  Check out the website.  Which connection surprises you?  Do you believe that the connection is correct?

Here's mine:
None of the relatives listed on this website are closely related to me. Once we get past 5th cousins, we are in the part of the tree where I have not done the research and don’t have the sources to prove the connections. All of the matches are on my mother’s side, as my father’s side is more recent immigrants from Germany and Ireland.

George Washington is my first cousin eight times removed, through Amanda Deborah Oldham. I don’t know her parents, but the FamilySearch Family Tree shows Mary Ann Greenlee as her mother. It’s possible, as Amanda named her son Greenlee.

Through Amanda’s supposed father, Elias Earl Oldham, it shows I’m related to John Adams as first cousins, eight times removed.

As for the inventors listed, I’m related to Charles Darwin through the same Mary Ann Greenlee at 9th cousin, 5 times removed.

Charles Dickens and I are supposed to be related as 5th cousins 8 times removed, and Jane Austen as 10th cousin, 3 times removed.

I next logged in with my husband’s account to see which famous people he is related to. This way, my children can see who they might be related to (for fun).

Ulysses S. Grant is related as a 3rd cousin, 5 times removed through Sarah Duffield. Through the same Sarah Duffield, he is related to Abraham Lincoln as an 11th cousin, 3 times removed.

Thomas Edison is his 9th cousin, 5 times removed.

Buster Keaton is his 6th cousin, once removed, through John Wollam. And Babe Ruth also through Sarah Duffield, as a 10th cousin, twice removed.

What was amazing was seeing the same possible cousins as were on my list. 

Disclaimer: None of these connections has been proved by me. The source for the connections is the FamilySearch Family Tree. This is a crowd-sourced tree, and many of the early connections have no sources or have sources of dubious value. My focus in my genealogy research is not how far back I can go, but rather how well I can document generations as I move back. It’s more about the stories of their life than knowing only their names.

Copyright © 2011-2025 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. I like your disclaimer and feel it is a very good caveat for this post. On the other hand, Buster Keaton and Charles Dickens are kind of cool to claim as relatives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, so was John Adams, who I have fondness for since the musical 1776. My sister will love us being related to Jane Austen, her favorite author.

      Delete

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