Another Celebrity Cousin.....And More

We no longer have cable tv but I was able to watch the first episode of the new season of "Who Do You Think You Are?" US Version yesterday as it was on You Tube already.

I really prefer the way the UK and AUS versions of this show are handled but I'll watch any country's version and relish it since I am such a genealogy hound. 8-)

Anyway, they had as their guest/victim Courteney Cox the actress.  I confess that I have never watched an episode of "Friends" in my life, nor will I, on purpose, here on out.

But even so, it turns out we are cousins.  Probably quite distant cousins....something like 15th cousins 2 x removed.
I know of our kinship because we share a common ancestors in King Edward I of England aka Edward Longshanks and Eleanor of Castile.  They two are my 22nd Great Grands and Courteney's 20th Great Grands.

I haven't tried to graft all her ancestors down to her onto my family tree yet but I do know from the tv show that she has an English immigrant ancestor who landed in the Virginia colony(hence her deep roots in that state)in the first decades after Jamestown was founded in 1607.
This ancestor was Thomas Lygon or Ligon and through this line she is descended from Edward I and Eleanor of Castile's daughter, Joan of Acre, while my direct line descends down through Joan's brother, the odious King Edward II or Edward of Caernarfon, who was deposed, when his wife, Isabella of France took up with Roger de Mortimer and seized power.  But that's another story sort of.

Edward II was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle(by another of Courteney's direct ancestors, Thomas de Barkeley, on her Despenser line)and killed there.
Eleanor and Edward II's son, Edward III, eventually seized the crown back and had Roger de Mortimer put to death and his mother Eleanor exiled.

Oh, such a lovely nest of incestuous of love/hate in English royal lines!  ;-)

So this was an interesting episode(and a good English history lesson)but they totally ignored one of Courteney's very interesting ancestors also up her mother's family tree(as were her Despenser and Edward Longshanks lines).

Courteney's mother(through her paternal line)is a direct descendant of John Basse, an immigrant ancestor who came to Virginia in 1622 as a 6 year old boy with his family. His family arrived just in time in Virginia for the Massacre of 1622.  The story goes that John was not killed(though his two older brothers were)but captured and taken away.  John wrote of this time, of eluding his captors at some point and being found in the woods by some Nansemond Indians who took him in, adopting him into their tribe.
John Basse grew into adulthood among the Nansemond and eventually married a Nansemond woman, Keziah Elizabeth.  It is said that Keziah Elizabeth was the daughter of Nansemond Chief Robin and granddaughter of Nansemond Great Chief Peter.

The Bass family line of Virginia who claim Nansemond Indian ancestry, alive today are all descended from John and Keziah Basse.
The Nansemond were part of the Powhatan confederation of Native Indians and were found in what is the Norfolk, VA metro area today.  Once the English arrived in Jamestown this tribe was forced to migrate west into what is now the Suffolk, VA area, adjacent to Norfolk.

The Nansemond are one of the small tribes that gained Virginia state recognition in 1984 and are currently working on establishing a reservation and museum in that area of Virginia.

So this is the long way of saying that Courteney Cox has native ancestry as well.

There was another large massacre in the Jamestown area in 1644, which I'll talk about at a later date.  This era of Courteney's Lygon/Ligon ancestors and ancestors, who married into my line, lives intertwined again during this time in Jamestown.
Funny how we always call bloodshed of Europeans "massacres" but when Europeans likewise wiped out native groups in large numbers it isn't called the same?

Sluggy

Well I'll Be!

Though I haven't talked about my genealogy wanderings in quite awhile I have still been "at it".
I find it's a grand hobby and you just never know what you'll turn up when you start digging.

Since I have now found three separate lines of the de Neville family I am directly descended from(children of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland), I have been burrowing down those rabbit holes.

And guess who I found out is my 19th cousin?
This guy right here......

Ex-Prime Minister David Cameron.

We share Ralph Neville and wife Joan de Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland as common ancestors.
My three lines descend through their children Joan/Jane de Neville, Edward de Neville and George de Neville.  David's line descends from Ralph and Joan's other daughter, Cecily de Neville.

David Cameron's 4 x Great Grandmother, Elizabeth FitzClarence was the daughter of William IV & his long time mistress, Dorothea Bland, the actress.  As the third son of King George III and Queen Charlotte, William wasn't expected to assume the crown.  He lived with Dorothea Bland for 20 years and they produced 10 illegitimate children who took the surname FitzClarence(Fitz meaning of Royal blood and Clarence as William held the title of Duke of Clarence).

William left Dorothea in 1811 due to financial issues.  He married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1818.  A match that gave him financial solvency.

The only grandchild of William IV's father, George III, had died in 1817(Charlotte, the daughter of George, Prince of Wales who was next in line for the throne)so none of George III's sons had legitimate issue to ascend to the crown. Not only did William's marriage turn his personal economy around but he hoped Princess Adelaide, being half his age, would produce an heir.  William and Adelaide had two daughter, neither of which lived past infancy.
In 1830, when George IV died, William ascended the throne at the age of 64.  He reigned only 7 years and at his death the crown passed to the only surviving legitimate grandchild of George III, the daughter of William's younger brother, Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Alexandrina Victoria. The world knows her as Queen Victoria.

This all means that if William IV had married Dorothea Bland, one of their children may have ended up on the English throne instead of Victoria and David Cameron may have been King.  ;-)

Don't you see the family resemblance?
Well, except for the guy on the  right looks a proper gentleman and the gal on the left resembles a lush.  ;-)

Sluggy

Genealogy-ish

Last Monday I watched PBS's American Experience.
This was an interesting program about President James Garfield, mostly taken from the book by Candice Millard called "Destiny of the Republic".  It concerned the trajectory of James Garfield's life from his humble beginnings and into politics and ultimately the Presidency.  Just four months into office he was shot by a madman and died a slow lingering death 79 days later, the book's author says is partly due to the conceit of the man who took over his medical care, Dr. Doctor Willard Bliss(not a typo-his first name was Doctor) and the lack of any antiseptic care, the idea of which was still in it's infancy in the US.

President Garfield has largely been forgotten in the history of our country due to his administration lasting only 4 months but his funerals(there were two)rivaled and even surpassed that of Lincoln less than 20 years earlier.  The expression of the nation's mourning of Garfield's rivaled that of Lincoln, if not surpassed it.

There was such hope that Garfield's time in office would heal and help the country as his getting to the presidency was unusual and he was an early proponent of civil rights, but he was not given that opportunity after Charles Guiteau's handgun found it's target.
I find it a fascinating time in our history and the backstories of all parties involved are rich and interesting and indeed the planets seemed to have aligned just right to set events into motion that led to Garfield's assassination.

And it's not because Garfield's Vice President, Chester Alan Arthur, married my 6th cousin, Ellen Lewis Herndon.  Cousin Ellen became a posthumous First Lady when Chester Arthur ascended to the Presidency in September 1882 upon the death of President Garfield.  Arthur only became Vice President due to a backroom deal with the most powerful man in NY politics at that time, Roscoe Conkling.  Once Garfield died it was thought that Chester Arthur, who had been Conkling's puppet back in the NY political machine, would allow Conkling to pretty much run Arthur's administration.
Much to his credit, Chester Arthur seemed to grow a backbone once thrust into the Presidency and made his term as POTUS his own.



As a footnote, if you are interested in the various personalities who have or attempted to assassinate American Presidents you might find the musical "Assassins" rather 'enjoyable'. ;-)

Also of interest to me is that tonight, on "Finding Your Roots", also on PBS, they will be profiling among their 3 guests, Senator John McCain.
Senator McCain is my 7th cousin.
We share ancestors, William ALLEN and Mary HUNT Allen, my 7 x Great Grands/his 6 x Great Grands.
I am descended from their daughter, Susannah ALLEN and Sen. McCain from their son, Lieutenant Colonel Valentine ALLEN a Early American patriot.
It will be interesting to see if they explore that branch of McCain's family tree but they will probably stay with the MCain ancestor, Hugh McCain, John's 6 x Great Grandfather.

Hugh was born in 1729 in County Antrim, coming to America in 1752(or was born in PA and his father, also a Hugh, was the one who had come from Ireland). He married and settled in the Waxhaws area of NC(Charlotte area).
The story goes that around 1756, a foraging party of Tories came through the Waxhaws area and demanded Hugh McCain give them a small fortune in money he had hidden on his property.  When he refused they hanged him and he lived only because a slave and her two sons rushed to cut him down after making a commontion to frighten the British soldiers away, savings his life.  Hugh lived another 50 years.  Four of his son's also fought in the Revolutionary War.
Senator McCain is also a third generation US Navy man, both his father and grandfather were Admirals.
As this episode is entitled "War Stories" I bet they focus on all those patriots.

This my 8th Cousin, John and his second wife's daughter, Meghan McCain.  She had a show on a cable network and is a sometimes political pundit.

I also see that they will be exploring Patricia Arquette's ancestry on this episode of "finding Your Roots" as well.  I think Patricia has a distant connection to Meriwether Lewis(as do I)so I am sure they will hit upon that ancestor in her segment which will be interesting....at least to me.  ;-)

You just never know what you'll find when you start down that genealogy/ancetry road.....

Sluggy