I have been at my parent's house this weekend, and part of the visit has included family genealogy discussions and research. Tonight I filled in some blanks on my mom's side of the family from stories she's heard from her mom. I plugged it all into ancestry.com and continued my research there. In particular, I tried to find more about my great great grandfather since all we knew was that he ran off after his 6th daughter was born and eventually committed suicide. Well, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of information about him and his descendants! The Drakes go all the way back to the early colonies and England before that (assuming all of this is correct, of course).
Ancestry.com has this cool tool that finds famous people you are related to. Thanks to Great Great Grandpa Drake, if all of this is correct, here is the list of people I am probably related to in some way or another (emphasis mine):
- Christopher Martin (Mayflower passenger and signer of the Mayflower Compact)
- John Alden (Mayflower passenger and signer of the Mayflower Compact)
- Franklin Pierce
- Samuel Morse
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
- Samuel Adams
- E. E. Cummings
- Mary Edwards Walker
- Henry David Thoreau
- Frances Folsom Cleveland (First Lady)
- John Ledyard (Explorer)
- Mary Baker Eddy
- Elizabeth Kortright Monroe (First Lady)
- Charles Carroll of Carrollton (Maryland Representative and signer of the Declaration of Independence)
- Elbridge Gerry (as in gerrymandering)
- Lucille Ball
- William C. Durant (Founder of General Motors)
- O. Henry
- Oliver Winchester (gun company)
- William W. Winchester (gun company)
- Gregory Peck
- Ronald Reagan
- John Steinbeck
- Shirley Temple
- Jane Austen
- Florence Nightingale
- Robert Graves
- George Orwell
- Elizabeth Browning
Ok, so who knows how real it all is, but it is so fun to think that I might be related to some of these people! I mean, who wouldn't want to be the 7th cousin 6 times removed of Jane Austen? Or the 9th cousin once removed of Gregory Peck? Mom and I had a good laugh about it all tonight at the very least.
And, for those who don't know me as well, Gregory Peck has been my favorite actor since high school (junior high?) and I'm a huge Jane Austen fan. Hmmm... notice how I highlighted almost all the authors on the list?
Comments (6)
That's really cool that you might be related to a few of your favorite people! I had a relative who came over on the Mayflower too. Maybe your relative and my relative were friends on the ship and little did they know that their ancestors would be friends centuries later.
haha. I did notice. and was about to point that out...
Well long time no talk! I've been out of touch with the Xanga world for quite some time, but am trying to get better. My sister-in-law's brother started us on Geni - an online way to keep track of your family tree. It's a great way to put it all together if you don't already have something like that. I've also been trying to look up more about my ancestors, so I'll have to check out ancestry.com; thanks for the tip!
some pretty impressive genes there ... i haven't done a big geneology search but know that my dad's mom's people came from a Rev. Moon who came over with the Quakers ... probably most of my kin were horse thieves or scoundrels ... lol
Did you have to sign up for Ancestry.com for this list to be generated? I'm pretty sure I'm not related to anyone famous at all. Infamous and illegitimate maybe, but that would be all.
@TeacherPerson - yes, you have to be on ancestry.com to get the list. not sure if it's part of the free membership as my paid subscription is about to run out. ironically, i'm linked to all of those famous people through a black sheep in my family. we didn't know anything about my great great grandfather as he abandoned his family and eventually comitted suicide somewhere unknown... until recently.