# Any Famous Relatives? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2001, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335 "2001-01-16T16:06:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/41 "2001-01-17T13:32:49Z")
Rainy Day Parades… Ain’t we _all_ related to all those people hundreds and thousands of years ago? I know I could calculate the odds there…but I don’t think I’m gonna bother. Limiting this little game to 20th century types… Adlai Stevenson (famous politician and presidential candidate doormat) McLean Stevenson (showing the career savvy that has carried the family so far by bowing out of MASH early) and… more stupendously… Sheb Wooley (he of ‘Purple People Eater’ fame. Now _that’s_ a relation to be proud of!) ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/42 "2001-01-17T14:01:50Z")
Myself: I dont’ know of anyone that is/was famous that I’m related to, but I do know I have ancestors on my mother’s side that fought in the American Revolution. I work with a guy who is a distant cousin to the infamous Al Capone and he even has the same last name. He once told us that he has some cousins that are still, “in the family business” so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![struuter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@struuter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/struuter)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/43 "2001-01-17T14:10:51Z")
My husband’s mother’s side is a direct line from the first Governor of Plymouth (I think I have that right), a guy named Mayhew. They’ve got a huge picture of their family tree that’s really quite impressive. On a rather small scale, my brother is a fairly (?) popular local musician in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/44 "2001-01-17T14:14:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Silly Rabbit \* > \*\*Well, for those who know art, Edvard Munch is my Great Great Uncle. > > \*\* Jimmynipples… **SCREAMS** I love that painting. I’ve recently learned that the Scream is a part of a series of equally disturbing paintings. Gotta get’em all ---
**Author:** ![Broken\_Doll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbce88/32.png) [@Broken\_Doll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broken_Doll)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/45 "2001-01-17T14:16:28Z")
Robert Plant is my mum’s second cousin. ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/46 "2001-01-17T14:28:40Z")
My wife is somehow related to Dr. Jonas Salk. He invented the plastic thingys on the end of shoe laces. and insulin. ---
**Author:** ![Gurd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90db22/32.png) [@Gurd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gurd)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/47 "2001-01-17T15:31:29Z")
Phineas Gage (sp?). He’s the railroad worker in the 1800s that accidentaly had a metal stake driven through his head, and underwent a personality change, thus launching the field of neurology. One of our family heirlooms is his family’s medical log - a notebook kept by their doctor describing births, illnesses, major injury. Most of the notebook is very dull and then you hit a 5 page narrative of the metal stake incident. Fun reading! ---
**Author:** ![Redwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/dfb087/32.png) [@Redwing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redwing)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/48 "2001-01-17T15:49:21Z")
Edgar Rice Burroughs is a distant cousin ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/49 "2001-01-17T16:07:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gurd \* > \*\*Phineas Gage (sp?). He’s the railroad worker in the 1800s that accidentaly had a metal stake driven through his head, and underwent a personality change, thus launching the field of neurology. One of our family heirlooms is his family’s medical log - a notebook kept by their doctor describing births, illnesses, major injury. Most of the notebook is very dull and then you hit a 5 page narrative of the metal stake incident. Fun reading! \*\* LOL! I studied him in psych! [here’s a page on him](http://www.epub.org.br/cm/n02/historia/phineas.htm) ---
**Author:** ![LazarusLong42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@LazarusLong42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LazarusLong42)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/50 "2001-01-17T16:26:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gurd \* > **Phineas Gage (sp?). He’s the railroad worker in the 1800s that accidentaly had a metal stake driven through his head, and underwent a personality change, thus launching the field of neurology. One of our family heirlooms is his family’s medical log - a notebook kept by their doctor describing births, illnesses, major injury. Most of the notebook is very dull and then you hit a 5 page narrative of the metal stake incident. Fun reading!** That’s too cool! I also studied him, in Neuroscience classes. **JimmyNipples** –it should also be noted that Dr. Salk created the polio vaccine. But I’d no idea he invented aglets. I am a direct descendant of the Captain of Bedford Forrest’s guard. What, you’ve never heard of Bedford Forrest? I bet you have. Anyone remember the movie “Forrest Gump”? Forrest was named after this man, who, after being on the losing side in the Civil War, went on to found the KKK. I am also, supposedly, related to Andrew Jackson. The relation has never been shown, but my family’s genealogy types say the clan Jackson was, well, pretty damned huge. So it’s possible, but no way to ever prove it one way or the other. Oh, and I’ve breathed a few air molecules that were once breathed by Jesus Christ. [ducks and runs] LL ---
**Author:** ![stormy652](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@stormy652](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stormy652)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2001, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/51 "2001-01-17T21:23:40Z")
Well, my Grandfather started Andy Frain Services. (Crowd control, airport security, etc.) Most people in Chicago know of it. Fairly famous, at least locally. My father retired before I could really take advantage of the backstage passes to every event. On the other hand, I do know ways to get just about anything past any kind of security. 🙂 Not that I’d ever use it, of course… ---
**Author:** ![Kerrigan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/49beb7/32.png) [@Kerrigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kerrigan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/52 "2001-01-18T00:13:25Z")
A few years ago my dad was very into tracing my family’s genealogy, and told me that I am a distant cousin of Al Gore by his marriage, so I guess the one I’m actually related to is Tipper… but might I emphasize _distant_ cousin, and add a _very_… ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/53 "2001-01-18T00:59:58Z")
Well, supposedly my Grandmother’s family traces their ancestry back to Benjamin Franklin’s half-brother. And though they’re not blood relations, some Hatfields married into my Mom’s side of the family. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/54 "2001-01-18T01:25:00Z")
Weeeeeeelllll, I don’t mean to brag or anything, but my uncle, John Davey, played Captain Marvel in the second and third seasons of _ **Shazam!** _ He had modest parts in the films \*\*\*Deal of the Century, A Fine Mess, The Boys Next Door, \*\*\* and _ **Three Women.** _ And he was on _ **CHiPs, S.W.A.T., Cannon, Night Gallery, Square Pegs, The Twilight Zone,** _ and _ **MacGyver.** _ He’s an ex-boxer, so he almost invariably played some variation of cop, Russian thug, or soldier. Now he sells real estate in Northern California and is much happier. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/55 "2001-01-18T01:25:41Z")
I’m distantly related to Jacqueline **Bouvier** Kennedy Onassis, although you have to back many generations to find the common relative. I believe that’s the only famous person. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/56 "2001-01-18T01:45:37Z")
My husband is decended from Mayflower passenger John Billington, the first white man executed for murder in the American Colonies. Although the family claims it was all just a little misunderstanding over a horse. ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/57 "2001-01-18T02:08:30Z")
Well, my mom’s family has said for years that we’re direct descendants of Richard Stoddart Ewell, a big-time general for the Confederate Army. Was very accomplished, and was Stonewall Jackson’s “right-hand man”, though his modern reputation lies mainly on his screwing up of The Battle of Gettysburg for the South. Anyway, last year when I was under so much stress from work, I got into genealogy (it’s a great way to get your mind off things!) Found an big thick biography of him, and found… that apparrently, he had no children. Oh, Mom wasn’t happy about hearing _that_. Who the hell did all this antique furniture belong to, then?! On my Dad’s side, we’re supposed to be related to Nathaniel Greene, but I don’t think anybody knows enough family history to prove it. But I definitely do know that I’m pretty closely related to [Dr. Woody Paul, King of the Cowboy Fiddlers](http://www.ridersinthesky.com), of western acoustic trio Riders in the Sky (featured in the Toy Story 2 soundtrack). Got a phone call from his mom last night, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/58 "2001-01-18T02:19:22Z")
I am a cousin of [Johnny Mack Brown](http://us.imdb.com/Name?Brown,+Johnny+Mack), a “B” Western movie star. Never met him, but Daddy says he was a nice fella who didn’t let fame get to his head. ---
**Author:** ![JimmyNipples](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb9ed0/32.png) [@JimmyNipples](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimmyNipples)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/59 "2001-01-18T16:14:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JimmyNipples \* > \*\*My wife is somehow related to Dr. Jonas Salk. > He invented the plastic thingys on the end of shoe laces. > > and insulin. \*\* Apparently, I’m a heavy drinker. I meant to say \*\* Sir Fredrick Banting\*\* What is even more alarming? None of you big brained ones caught it. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2001, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335/60 "2001-01-18T18:58:40Z")
mmmmmmmmmmm Val Kilmer! I’m not allowed to watch his movies anymore. ☹ Damn that man is hot. Um, sorry, I’ll just go now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-famous-relatives/50335.md?page=4)