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Someone Online Asked, “Who Is The Most Famous Person In Your Family?”, And 30 Delivered
It’s always exciting to see someone famous in a place where you didn’t expect them to be. But what if that well-known person is related to you? Reddit user @LoveSimpleHacks decided to ask people online who is the most famous person in their family. The question that received more than 11k upvotes was answered by folks who not only revealed the names of their celebrity relatives but also shared some additional information about them.
The list not only includes some well-known names of artists and performers but also scientists and politicians. Some people also shared interesting examples of their relatives who are known for their sports and creative achievements.
Which one of these do you find most interesting? Do you have someone famous in your family that could be added to the list? Don’t forget to leave your thoughts in the comments down below!
More Info: Reddit
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My great great grandfather is Samuel Morse. The man who invented Morse code. And go figure, I work as a fiber optic technician. Communications runs in the family.
Some elder family members started a genealogy search in case we descended from royalty.
Turns out we come from an infamous gang of highland horse thieves.
My grandmother was the voice of Betty Rubble... And the blue bonnet chicken in fog horn leg horn, and little red riding hood on bugs bunny (and witcheepoo), and tweetys grandma (along with other women who voiced her) and she was on i love lucy, and she had her own show called Petticoat junction, and she was on Burns & Allen.. and.. so... so.. so many more. Oh, and my grandfather was Red Ryder on TV.
My autistic sister who is the 3rd best paralympic skiier in Sweden
You know that really famous photo of a bunch of construction workers sitting on a beam at the top of a in progress building in NY from the 30s having lunch? My great grand father is one of those men.
Called "lunch atop a skyscraper"
My dads great uncle, Charlie Becker, was the Mayor of Munchkinland in the original Wizard of Oz. (He also doubled as a flying monkey!)
Not famous in the traditional sense, but I have 4 uncles in my family who are world renowned physicians. One has a patent that is used world wide in cardiac surgery. Another just won India's second most prestigious award for citizens' distinguished service from the President of India himself. Another is retired but used to be the personal physician to the Royal House of Bhutan. The last is one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the world. Pretty astounding achievements in their fields.
Grandpa's cousin performed 1st successful heart transplant
My stepbrother was the guy who dove into the wedding cake in the "November Rain" video.
We have the voice of Homer Simpson in our family! Dan Castellaneta.
And my grandpa was the first person to import Nike in Africa. Not famous, but pretty cool.
One of my great-great uncles escaped from a maximum security jail (Texas, 1920s) and was never caught. He lived under an assumed name for 30 years or so after.
Alec Guiness. He is a great great uncle of mine. Most famous in film for playing Obi Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Shouldn't you know that Guinness is a stout and not a beer?
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He hated his role cause it took away from his many other attributes but ended the richest out of all of them for accepting his payment in the form of a contract to receive 1 percent merch royalties
My dad was an animator and worked on several kids shows like Hey Arnold, SpongeBob, Simpsons etc. His name was super memorable and when I told people my age his name many remembered it from the credits of those shows! He passed away last year young (59) of a random accident
I have two Nobel prize winners in my extended family, JJ Thomson and George Paget Thomson
My great uncle designed outfits for Princess Diana
My great-grandmother was Charlie Chaplins niece.
In this picture he looks like the guy who played usnavy in the movie adaptation of "In the heights"
Sadly me, I've been on American Ninja warrior for about 20 seconds after competing 5 times lol.
Super! I can't even complete one stage of that thing...that's awesome!
My mum's stepdad is a famous British painter, who's son to another famous British painter, who is grandson to Sigmund Freud
my second cousin is Simon Le bon (the lead singer from Duran Duran) never actually met the dude but still pretty cool
My great aunt helped develop build and maintain the body suits for the first live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Probably as close to fame as we get
Well, if very distant cousins count, I've recently found out that I'm related to Emmanuel Macron, the current French President, but you have to go back to the 17th century to find the link.
My uncle founded Pickleball.
My aunt worked for Katherine Hepburn and her husband was a part time actor
He had a part role in the movie moonstruck that Cher won a Oscar for
I’m third cousins to John Stamos.
My heart has absolutely broken for John Stamos in the last two weeks.
My great-great-great-great whatever grandfather was part of Queen Victoria's staff, so prolly that.
Living? I have a cousin who won an Emmy. No one would know her name though because she is a producer. She used to produce for letterman.
The cook on the old Western show Rawhide.
Note: this post originally had 35 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I found out not too long ago my on maternal grandfathers side I’m distantly related to Edgar Allan Poe.
That's crazy! I am related to him through my maternal great grandmother. If you looked at a side by side of the two of them you would think they were twins.
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My maternal great grandmother was an author in Marathi (it's one of the languages in India). When she started writing, women had just begun to write or even come up as someone in society. Indian society when she was born (around 1892 or something) was quite orthodox and women's education or even rights had just started getting prominence. As a kid, she was based in Baroda and the king was one of the first rulers to bring in compulsory education for girls. It was big time. She got the benefit. She got some education to begin her career as a writer... be independent. She & my maternal great grandpa met through writing.. he was the editor of the magazine she wrote for. They fell in love and married... quite progressive during those times. She became a renowned names in Marathi literature. Till the end, she kept on writing and being independent. She is my idol. I am a journalist.. i guess she passed her talent to me
I'm like third cousins through marriage with Elvis Presley. I thought my mom was just telling tales but there are actual books on my family in the local library and has the link in it. My sister had a friend as a teen that is second cousins with the Jackson five. He said he had never met them, unfortunately.
I have two second cousins who are both quite famous in their home country of Sweden. One is an actor on a Swedish Netflix show, and the other is a music video director who is married to a very high-profile Swedish popstar.
I don't think most of these people understood the assignment. LOL!!
Not at all related but when I was 10 I wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton about saving the whales. And I received a nice letter back from the White House, signed by the President… but opened by my dad before I got to it. I haven’t seen it since. I think my dad kept it. :(
Distantly (very distantly) related to a female serial killer who was a countess. She's pretty infamous. Also an aunt that was murdered in a super gruesome way and left in a giant dumpster behind a bar. They never caught the guy but everyone knows who did it. It was right before I was born though so I never knew her. And my great grandfather has a pic in several museums. WW2. He was holding a giant gun from a tank or something. Looked super cool too. He never came back, leaving a wife and 11 kids behind. More infamous family than famous. Oh and an ancestor who helped hide Queen Mary (the bloody one) when she was on the run. So this family has almost always sucked.
My great (x6) grandmother was Barbara Yoder, widowed matron of the first Amish family in America, who arrived from Rotterdam on Sept. 21, 1742. The best connection I've ever heard was my friend whose great-great grandfather was Gurmukh Singh, one of the 21 Sikhs who fought and died at the Battle of Saragarhi, which I recommend you all read about! These 21 - alone - took on 10,000 Afghan forces, knowing they would die.
My great-great grandfather was Hermann von Wedel-Jarlsberg. Scandinavians will know who that is.
Dutch artist Adolf le Comte is my great grandfather. My grandfather was the first orthodontist in the Netherlands. My maternal great grandfather, P.A. Daum was a well known Dutch author and founder of Batavian Newspaper and pissed off a lot of white Dutch people LOL.
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One of my nieces is cousin to Danny Trejo, who is, from what I've heard, one of the NICEST men you'd ever meet
My sister was the first baby (and hence is now the oldest living person) to survive being born with a diaphragmatic hernia, which resulted in her being born with only 1 lung, blue, not breathing and with no heartbeat. The surgery she immediately had was pioneered by her Dr and he went on to not just save her life, but to teach others the surgery and as a rest, to help save thousands of babies lives. Her case is still taught through medical journals and textbooks, and that was 50 years ago.
I'm related to President James Monroe, also the Barons of Fowlis, Firth of Crowmarty, County Ross, Scotland. The first Baron was Hugh Munro in 1126
My great grandfather was a member of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's guard. I have no idea if he was on duty in Sarajevo that day!
I'm Ulysses S. Grant's great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. My dad even took a DNA test. We all thought my grandma was kidding.
He is one of my personal heroes. An incredible man.
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My family is literally related to royalty(Not enough to be like actually royalty) my grandma's maiden name was Lancaster and several other dead family members had that name. We did an ancestor check and weirdly enough my very white american family is 30% South Asian/Indian and 50% British. It was a shock for me but my mom and dad knew. I think I may change my last name to Lancaster because I think it's really pretty. Also my dad was on TV once because he is a hedge fund annalist and wall street fancy dude. Also the same grandma was a well known painter in her community. Not a famous family but we are old and have mildly well knownish members.
Apparently my family was 5th-ish in line to the French throne just before the revolution. I'm also related to Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas William Stead.
My great great great (...) grandfather https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bolling married Pocahontas' granddaughter. But my ancestors came from his second wife. I have a third cousin who played major league baseball. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Ausmus
It's not direct descent, he's more like my great greatx10 uncle, but I'm related on my mothers side to a man Named John Rankin who was an abolitionist around the 1850's and some of his writing influenced the author of uncle tom's cabin! Pretty cool I think!
I have a few: Roy Rogers was a close family friend. That's how my grandfather met and then married actress Linda Hays. Former NFL player Joe Theismann married into that side of the family as well. I'm related to inventor George Westinghouse. Also to Frederick and Louis Upton (founders of the Whirlpool Corp.) Model Kate Upton is a distant cousin and she's married to MLB star Justin Verlander. Congressional Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan is also a distant relation. A distant relative on my maternal grandfather's side was Wyatt Earp's attorney. There's also a decendant of outlaw John Wesley Harden. Also on that side of the family is a man who, with his family, was among the original Anabaptists (Amish/Mennonite) that fled religious persecution in Switzerland and boarded a ship chartered by William Penn and given asylum in Pennsylvania. There's a hill in northern West Virginia named after the family surname in honor of a relative who was killed by a Native American tribe.
James Fenimore Cooper (author of Last of the Mohicans, which is his most recognizable work, even though he wrote a lot more books) is supposed to be a distant cousin of mine. Another, more recent distant cousin was Richard Deacon, who played Mel Cooley on the D**k van Dyke Show, had small parts in a load of other TV shows and movies, plus played Horace Vandergelder to Phyllis Driller’s Dolly in Hello Dolly on Broadway. When she watched him play Mel Cooley, my grandmother used to say he had the family nose, called “The Deacon Beacon”. I got the nose from the other side of the family, which is a blessing (Google him and just look at that schnozz!).
My second cousin is the Duchess of Cambridge, future Queen of England. I sh*t you not. My mum is her mum's cousin.
"I s**t you not" made me laugh! I could tell from that comment you have royal connections. lol
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My Mom's second cousins with Joe DiMaggio. He used to play baseball with the family when he lived in Pittsburg, CA. In those days, Pittsburg was an Italian town with many Italian Immigrants, (my great grandparents immigrated there.)
Mom was related to Marilyn Monroe when she was married to DiMaggio.
Load More Replies... Dad+ more. Chief Petty Officer on the largest plane the Navy had. Constellation class with 3 tails. NOAA says he was famous for Project Magnet-corrected Longitudes and Latitudes of our world maps back in the 50's-60's. Pre calculators. Skipped 3 grades and was like the NASA ladies when it came to math. NOAA said the measurements were so accurate they are still used today. He also was an artist and Warner Brothers gave him permission to paint Wylie Coyote and the Road Runner on his plane. (Second plane) T Boone Pickens is a cousin of my Grandfather, Francis Pickens-Gov of S. Carolina is a relative. His wife Lucy is on the Confederate Dollar bill. He grandfather Andrew was a Brigadier General in the Rev. War-served on the first House of Reps and co-wrote the first American Indian treaty to protect the Cherokee on his land from scalping. (The Patriot movie was based on him and a couple others) Pickens-we are descendants of the Picts of Scotland. 6 state governors. +more...
My great uncle holds the patent for the burnt orange paint used for cars. No one knows his name but his work is everywhere.
I’m apparently the great great something granddaughter of one of the guys who drove the Golden Stake into the Transcontinental Railroad in America, so that’s cool. Also my dad’s side of the family can be traced back to one of the four original families who founded the city we still live in, so that’s cool. There’s a road named after my grandma.
I'm a descendant of John Chapman, an American pioneer and arborist in the late 1700's to early 1800's. Most people know of him by his nickname "Johnny Appleseed".
I have an uncle who spent a night in jail with Bob Segar. The only other thing I can think of was quite a few of the older generations on one side of my family were part of the southern Italian mafia then joined some Detroit ones when they came to America.
I'm not sure of I'm being copied or someone out there is one of my cousins who I haven't seen in forever, the one about Avril Lavigne is me. It's almost word for word with the exception that I only met that side of the family once, when I was 16, not 12.
My mother's second cousin was Robert E. Lee. Not that I really want the world to know we're related to a horrible person. But here we are.
Either Jane Withers, Stephen Semel, or Mary Ellen Withers (Who Bruce Willis called Tex) are the ones I know of in my family.
On my Mom's side, one of our ancestors last names was Appleton. The name was given to them by William the Conquerer. Apparently my ancestor betrayed his country to assist William when he invaded, and as a thank you/reward, he was given land covered in apple trees and the new name. :)
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I’m related by marriage to Annie Ross. Fantastic singer, part of The Logan Family (if you’re Scottish you’ll understand), sister of Jimmy Logan. She was also in one of the Christopher Reeve era of Superman films, amongst other TV and film appearances. You see what can be achieved in a pandemic lockdown! Hello to John, my newly discovered cousin.
I have an uncle who appears in a televised PSA about wearing your seatbelt... because he doesn't wear his seatbelt :|
MY GRANDFATHER'S NEPHEW IS JOE ANDOE, A FAMOUS ARTIST IN NEW YORK. I'VE MET JOE ONE TIME WHEN I WAS 12, HE SHOWED MY SISTER DIFFERENT STYLES TO DRAW (SHE'S VERY ARTISTIC) HE KEPT HIS DRAWINGS SO WE WOULDN'T TRY AND SELL THEM (NOT THAT WE WOULD), ONE WAS A 3D CANDLE.
I have one of his originals in my house, my Uncle has about 8, one of them is a 10ft X 10ft canvas painting. He painted my late cousin for him as well, only one exists.
Load More Replies... My great great uncle or something, I don't know the actual connection of the top of my head, is the founder of American Pragmatism. Charles Sanders Peirce.
I have a cousin who was a major character in Superman II. My great-uncle was instrumental in plastic surgery for repairing men who were blown up in WWII and has some scalpels named after him. I'm listed in IMdB, but under my maiden name, so no one will ever find me! That's it for fame in my family!
Have an actor cousin who appeared in some well-known 80s TV shows and was the lead in several low-budget, action/adventure and sword & sorcery films. Also supposedly distantly related to a once well-known Ohio Senator.
On the tree…people in Scotland pissing off other people, notes taken. Priscilla Mullins & John Alden (Mayflower riders), President John Adams and John Q Adams and Abigail, and my g-grandfather, the first guy to install indoor pumpkins in his home in Illinois, gets ridiculed, jokes on them, he pals around with Annie Oakley, General Bradley and Abraham Lincoln (his friend had a unique name the President liked, my ancestor was annoyed he was being ignored), he was saved by a freak rain squall that saved his ass from certain death by natives for being at the pipestone quarry, cousins mom was Secretary to Queen Mary, she played with Elizabeth when they were young, she was allowed to sail to England on the Queen Mary when it was s transport ship during the war, I was in the movie Freebee and the Bean, got paid $80 as an extra when filming at Candlestick Park, I’m running so fast, I’m just a blur. Graham County Kansas named after family
Granted, they are a distant relative but we are related to Mario Lanza the opera singer. And on the same side we're related to a current movie director. She is not extremely well known, she directs more indie type films BUT her ex husband (and son's father) is a much better known director in Hollywood.
I think my ancestors started the first school in Australia. Also, my first cousin thrice removed (or something like that) was an opener in Don Bradman's 'invincibles' team a while back. The cricket ground in Sydney has a gate named after him
Great Uncle on my Grandpa’s side invented Pitman shorthand. Not sure if it’s actually true but I never knew my Grandpa to lie so I’ll take it as truth :)
A great-great uncle Don was a self-taught musical prodigy, played a ton of instruments. Made his own electric violin in the 1950s, used to jam with Les Paul.
Well my dad's cousin, his grand mother was from the manjarekar family. So the famous yester year cricketer and current marathi actor cum director is my uncle and he was also in hand to my parents runaways marriage... Pretty cool for me . I have not let h in years but neen told as being first child in both families, as baby met thm n played with them
my Great great great great great aunt is Annie Oakley or Little Ms sure shot
My great grandfather who was named Virgil Freeman, was the lead trombonist in D**k Jurgens Band for a while. And I got to wear his bow tie while playing on my trombone at a concert
My mother's father was cousin to Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. As a poor relation, his family lived on the royal estate until they emigrated to America. The Emperor's son Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, which gave Kaiser Wilhelm all the excuse he needed to start World War I. In America my grandfather was a window washer who cleaned the windows of the Empire State Building.
My cousin Dave Volz is a world-famous athlete specializing in the pole vault. That's impressive, but what he is famous for is his ability to steady the bar as he vaults over it. It *wasn't* against the rules at the time, but now "Volzing the bar" is not permitted.
I'm (unfortunately) related to the guy who put led in petrol. ....but we don't talk about that part of the family
No worse than asbestos children's pajamas or spraying DDT on people at a picnic to prove it's harmless.
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My paternal great grandmother helped Bonnie and Clyde by hiding them from the authorities and going into town to get supplies for them. I know that they are criminals and killed people, but it's still pretty cool.
My great great great great grand-uncle wrote the book on grammar. He was one of the founding fathers of Duke University.
My closest is my grandma's uncle (I believe) is Orville Redenbacher the business man most known for the brand of popcorn. We also have some guy who challenged the Catholic church when they were trying to make that the one religion and got burned at the steak. I don't know how he's related but there's a plaque where he died of his and the other man's name. (I don't remember his name right off)
A distant cousin of mine was the crazy grandmother in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” lol!
I'm related to Mary Queen of Scotts (Bloody Mary), I have an aunt who got away with murder (by torture and starvation) she was never prosecuted even though everyone knew she did it.
My Grandma's aunt saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr when he gave his "I Have A Dream" speech and she also met Nelson Mandela
I come from a long line of steel workers and farm workers, the only "famous" guy is a professional italian football player, he is the son of my fathers cousin :-)
There is a really loose interpretation of famous vs. accomplished on these lists. While I am happy for people to celebrate four generations back of a person who was successful but no one knew even in their own time...seems a stretch. The very definition of famous is "known by many". An accomplishment in ones field may be applauded... if they aren't a recognized person then it's irrelevant
My great grandmother's brother (so... my great-great-uncle?) founded the African Heritage House and did all sorts of work preserving African art/culture and things. He also won several awards for that work. I may have met him once as a baby, but I don't remember him. He passed away recently 😔 but I think his legacy might live on forever.
My grandfather welded the fan which saved the fog game during the 1975 Stanley Cup. My brother has designed a number of large projects in NYC. I am a nobody, just the way i like.
I found out not too long ago my on maternal grandfathers side I’m distantly related to Edgar Allan Poe.
That's crazy! I am related to him through my maternal great grandmother. If you looked at a side by side of the two of them you would think they were twins.
Load More Replies... My maternal great grandmother was an author in Marathi (it's one of the languages in India). When she started writing, women had just begun to write or even come up as someone in society. Indian society when she was born (around 1892 or something) was quite orthodox and women's education or even rights had just started getting prominence. As a kid, she was based in Baroda and the king was one of the first rulers to bring in compulsory education for girls. It was big time. She got the benefit. She got some education to begin her career as a writer... be independent. She & my maternal great grandpa met through writing.. he was the editor of the magazine she wrote for. They fell in love and married... quite progressive during those times. She became a renowned names in Marathi literature. Till the end, she kept on writing and being independent. She is my idol. I am a journalist.. i guess she passed her talent to me
I'm like third cousins through marriage with Elvis Presley. I thought my mom was just telling tales but there are actual books on my family in the local library and has the link in it. My sister had a friend as a teen that is second cousins with the Jackson five. He said he had never met them, unfortunately.
I have two second cousins who are both quite famous in their home country of Sweden. One is an actor on a Swedish Netflix show, and the other is a music video director who is married to a very high-profile Swedish popstar.
I don't think most of these people understood the assignment. LOL!!
Not at all related but when I was 10 I wrote a letter to President Bill Clinton about saving the whales. And I received a nice letter back from the White House, signed by the President… but opened by my dad before I got to it. I haven’t seen it since. I think my dad kept it. :(
Distantly (very distantly) related to a female serial killer who was a countess. She's pretty infamous. Also an aunt that was murdered in a super gruesome way and left in a giant dumpster behind a bar. They never caught the guy but everyone knows who did it. It was right before I was born though so I never knew her. And my great grandfather has a pic in several museums. WW2. He was holding a giant gun from a tank or something. Looked super cool too. He never came back, leaving a wife and 11 kids behind. More infamous family than famous. Oh and an ancestor who helped hide Queen Mary (the bloody one) when she was on the run. So this family has almost always sucked.
My great (x6) grandmother was Barbara Yoder, widowed matron of the first Amish family in America, who arrived from Rotterdam on Sept. 21, 1742. The best connection I've ever heard was my friend whose great-great grandfather was Gurmukh Singh, one of the 21 Sikhs who fought and died at the Battle of Saragarhi, which I recommend you all read about! These 21 - alone - took on 10,000 Afghan forces, knowing they would die.
My great-great grandfather was Hermann von Wedel-Jarlsberg. Scandinavians will know who that is.
Dutch artist Adolf le Comte is my great grandfather. My grandfather was the first orthodontist in the Netherlands. My maternal great grandfather, P.A. Daum was a well known Dutch author and founder of Batavian Newspaper and pissed off a lot of white Dutch people LOL.
Load More Replies... One of my nieces is cousin to Danny Trejo, who is, from what I've heard, one of the NICEST men you'd ever meet
My sister was the first baby (and hence is now the oldest living person) to survive being born with a diaphragmatic hernia, which resulted in her being born with only 1 lung, blue, not breathing and with no heartbeat. The surgery she immediately had was pioneered by her Dr and he went on to not just save her life, but to teach others the surgery and as a rest, to help save thousands of babies lives. Her case is still taught through medical journals and textbooks, and that was 50 years ago.
I'm related to President James Monroe, also the Barons of Fowlis, Firth of Crowmarty, County Ross, Scotland. The first Baron was Hugh Munro in 1126
My great grandfather was a member of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's guard. I have no idea if he was on duty in Sarajevo that day!
I'm Ulysses S. Grant's great, great, great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. My dad even took a DNA test. We all thought my grandma was kidding.
He is one of my personal heroes. An incredible man.
Load More Replies... My family is literally related to royalty(Not enough to be like actually royalty) my grandma's maiden name was Lancaster and several other dead family members had that name. We did an ancestor check and weirdly enough my very white american family is 30% South Asian/Indian and 50% British. It was a shock for me but my mom and dad knew. I think I may change my last name to Lancaster because I think it's really pretty. Also my dad was on TV once because he is a hedge fund annalist and wall street fancy dude. Also the same grandma was a well known painter in her community. Not a famous family but we are old and have mildly well knownish members.
Apparently my family was 5th-ish in line to the French throne just before the revolution. I'm also related to Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas William Stead.
My great great great (...) grandfather https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bolling married Pocahontas' granddaughter. But my ancestors came from his second wife. I have a third cousin who played major league baseball. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brad_Ausmus
It's not direct descent, he's more like my great greatx10 uncle, but I'm related on my mothers side to a man Named John Rankin who was an abolitionist around the 1850's and some of his writing influenced the author of uncle tom's cabin! Pretty cool I think!
I have a few: Roy Rogers was a close family friend. That's how my grandfather met and then married actress Linda Hays. Former NFL player Joe Theismann married into that side of the family as well. I'm related to inventor George Westinghouse. Also to Frederick and Louis Upton (founders of the Whirlpool Corp.) Model Kate Upton is a distant cousin and she's married to MLB star Justin Verlander. Congressional Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan is also a distant relation. A distant relative on my maternal grandfather's side was Wyatt Earp's attorney. There's also a decendant of outlaw John Wesley Harden. Also on that side of the family is a man who, with his family, was among the original Anabaptists (Amish/Mennonite) that fled religious persecution in Switzerland and boarded a ship chartered by William Penn and given asylum in Pennsylvania. There's a hill in northern West Virginia named after the family surname in honor of a relative who was killed by a Native American tribe.
James Fenimore Cooper (author of Last of the Mohicans, which is his most recognizable work, even though he wrote a lot more books) is supposed to be a distant cousin of mine. Another, more recent distant cousin was Richard Deacon, who played Mel Cooley on the D**k van Dyke Show, had small parts in a load of other TV shows and movies, plus played Horace Vandergelder to Phyllis Driller’s Dolly in Hello Dolly on Broadway. When she watched him play Mel Cooley, my grandmother used to say he had the family nose, called “The Deacon Beacon”. I got the nose from the other side of the family, which is a blessing (Google him and just look at that schnozz!).
My second cousin is the Duchess of Cambridge, future Queen of England. I sh*t you not. My mum is her mum's cousin.
"I s**t you not" made me laugh! I could tell from that comment you have royal connections. lol
Load More Replies... My Mom's second cousins with Joe DiMaggio. He used to play baseball with the family when he lived in Pittsburg, CA. In those days, Pittsburg was an Italian town with many Italian Immigrants, (my great grandparents immigrated there.)
Mom was related to Marilyn Monroe when she was married to DiMaggio.
Load More Replies... Dad+ more. Chief Petty Officer on the largest plane the Navy had. Constellation class with 3 tails. NOAA says he was famous for Project Magnet-corrected Longitudes and Latitudes of our world maps back in the 50's-60's. Pre calculators. Skipped 3 grades and was like the NASA ladies when it came to math. NOAA said the measurements were so accurate they are still used today. He also was an artist and Warner Brothers gave him permission to paint Wylie Coyote and the Road Runner on his plane. (Second plane) T Boone Pickens is a cousin of my Grandfather, Francis Pickens-Gov of S. Carolina is a relative. His wife Lucy is on the Confederate Dollar bill. He grandfather Andrew was a Brigadier General in the Rev. War-served on the first House of Reps and co-wrote the first American Indian treaty to protect the Cherokee on his land from scalping. (The Patriot movie was based on him and a couple others) Pickens-we are descendants of the Picts of Scotland. 6 state governors. +more...
My great uncle holds the patent for the burnt orange paint used for cars. No one knows his name but his work is everywhere.
I’m apparently the great great something granddaughter of one of the guys who drove the Golden Stake into the Transcontinental Railroad in America, so that’s cool. Also my dad’s side of the family can be traced back to one of the four original families who founded the city we still live in, so that’s cool. There’s a road named after my grandma.
I'm a descendant of John Chapman, an American pioneer and arborist in the late 1700's to early 1800's. Most people know of him by his nickname "Johnny Appleseed".
I have an uncle who spent a night in jail with Bob Segar. The only other thing I can think of was quite a few of the older generations on one side of my family were part of the southern Italian mafia then joined some Detroit ones when they came to America.
I'm not sure of I'm being copied or someone out there is one of my cousins who I haven't seen in forever, the one about Avril Lavigne is me. It's almost word for word with the exception that I only met that side of the family once, when I was 16, not 12.
My mother's second cousin was Robert E. Lee. Not that I really want the world to know we're related to a horrible person. But here we are.
Either Jane Withers, Stephen Semel, or Mary Ellen Withers (Who Bruce Willis called Tex) are the ones I know of in my family.
On my Mom's side, one of our ancestors last names was Appleton. The name was given to them by William the Conquerer. Apparently my ancestor betrayed his country to assist William when he invaded, and as a thank you/reward, he was given land covered in apple trees and the new name. :)
Load More Replies... I’m related by marriage to Annie Ross. Fantastic singer, part of The Logan Family (if you’re Scottish you’ll understand), sister of Jimmy Logan. She was also in one of the Christopher Reeve era of Superman films, amongst other TV and film appearances. You see what can be achieved in a pandemic lockdown! Hello to John, my newly discovered cousin.
I have an uncle who appears in a televised PSA about wearing your seatbelt... because he doesn't wear his seatbelt :|
MY GRANDFATHER'S NEPHEW IS JOE ANDOE, A FAMOUS ARTIST IN NEW YORK. I'VE MET JOE ONE TIME WHEN I WAS 12, HE SHOWED MY SISTER DIFFERENT STYLES TO DRAW (SHE'S VERY ARTISTIC) HE KEPT HIS DRAWINGS SO WE WOULDN'T TRY AND SELL THEM (NOT THAT WE WOULD), ONE WAS A 3D CANDLE.
I have one of his originals in my house, my Uncle has about 8, one of them is a 10ft X 10ft canvas painting. He painted my late cousin for him as well, only one exists.
Load More Replies... My great great uncle or something, I don't know the actual connection of the top of my head, is the founder of American Pragmatism. Charles Sanders Peirce.
I have a cousin who was a major character in Superman II. My great-uncle was instrumental in plastic surgery for repairing men who were blown up in WWII and has some scalpels named after him. I'm listed in IMdB, but under my maiden name, so no one will ever find me! That's it for fame in my family!
Have an actor cousin who appeared in some well-known 80s TV shows and was the lead in several low-budget, action/adventure and sword & sorcery films. Also supposedly distantly related to a once well-known Ohio Senator.
On the tree…people in Scotland pissing off other people, notes taken. Priscilla Mullins & John Alden (Mayflower riders), President John Adams and John Q Adams and Abigail, and my g-grandfather, the first guy to install indoor pumpkins in his home in Illinois, gets ridiculed, jokes on them, he pals around with Annie Oakley, General Bradley and Abraham Lincoln (his friend had a unique name the President liked, my ancestor was annoyed he was being ignored), he was saved by a freak rain squall that saved his ass from certain death by natives for being at the pipestone quarry, cousins mom was Secretary to Queen Mary, she played with Elizabeth when they were young, she was allowed to sail to England on the Queen Mary when it was s transport ship during the war, I was in the movie Freebee and the Bean, got paid $80 as an extra when filming at Candlestick Park, I’m running so fast, I’m just a blur. Graham County Kansas named after family
Granted, they are a distant relative but we are related to Mario Lanza the opera singer. And on the same side we're related to a current movie director. She is not extremely well known, she directs more indie type films BUT her ex husband (and son's father) is a much better known director in Hollywood.
I think my ancestors started the first school in Australia. Also, my first cousin thrice removed (or something like that) was an opener in Don Bradman's 'invincibles' team a while back. The cricket ground in Sydney has a gate named after him
Great Uncle on my Grandpa’s side invented Pitman shorthand. Not sure if it’s actually true but I never knew my Grandpa to lie so I’ll take it as truth :)
A great-great uncle Don was a self-taught musical prodigy, played a ton of instruments. Made his own electric violin in the 1950s, used to jam with Les Paul.
Well my dad's cousin, his grand mother was from the manjarekar family. So the famous yester year cricketer and current marathi actor cum director is my uncle and he was also in hand to my parents runaways marriage... Pretty cool for me . I have not let h in years but neen told as being first child in both families, as baby met thm n played with them
my Great great great great great aunt is Annie Oakley or Little Ms sure shot
My great grandfather who was named Virgil Freeman, was the lead trombonist in D**k Jurgens Band for a while. And I got to wear his bow tie while playing on my trombone at a concert
My mother's father was cousin to Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary. As a poor relation, his family lived on the royal estate until they emigrated to America. The Emperor's son Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, which gave Kaiser Wilhelm all the excuse he needed to start World War I. In America my grandfather was a window washer who cleaned the windows of the Empire State Building.
My cousin Dave Volz is a world-famous athlete specializing in the pole vault. That's impressive, but what he is famous for is his ability to steady the bar as he vaults over it. It *wasn't* against the rules at the time, but now "Volzing the bar" is not permitted.
I'm (unfortunately) related to the guy who put led in petrol. ....but we don't talk about that part of the family
No worse than asbestos children's pajamas or spraying DDT on people at a picnic to prove it's harmless.
Load More Replies... My paternal great grandmother helped Bonnie and Clyde by hiding them from the authorities and going into town to get supplies for them. I know that they are criminals and killed people, but it's still pretty cool.
My great great great great grand-uncle wrote the book on grammar. He was one of the founding fathers of Duke University.
My closest is my grandma's uncle (I believe) is Orville Redenbacher the business man most known for the brand of popcorn. We also have some guy who challenged the Catholic church when they were trying to make that the one religion and got burned at the steak. I don't know how he's related but there's a plaque where he died of his and the other man's name. (I don't remember his name right off)
A distant cousin of mine was the crazy grandmother in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” lol!
I'm related to Mary Queen of Scotts (Bloody Mary), I have an aunt who got away with murder (by torture and starvation) she was never prosecuted even though everyone knew she did it.
My Grandma's aunt saw Dr. Martin Luther King Jr when he gave his "I Have A Dream" speech and she also met Nelson Mandela
I come from a long line of steel workers and farm workers, the only "famous" guy is a professional italian football player, he is the son of my fathers cousin :-)
There is a really loose interpretation of famous vs. accomplished on these lists. While I am happy for people to celebrate four generations back of a person who was successful but no one knew even in their own time...seems a stretch. The very definition of famous is "known by many". An accomplishment in ones field may be applauded... if they aren't a recognized person then it's irrelevant
My great grandmother's brother (so... my great-great-uncle?) founded the African Heritage House and did all sorts of work preserving African art/culture and things. He also won several awards for that work. I may have met him once as a baby, but I don't remember him. He passed away recently 😔 but I think his legacy might live on forever.
My grandfather welded the fan which saved the fog game during the 1975 Stanley Cup. My brother has designed a number of large projects in NYC. I am a nobody, just the way i like.
