Family Tree

I was reading about how Barack Obama is a tenth cousin, once removed, of the man whose job he wants. Yes. George W Bush! They are linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662. How about that!

And get this...Obama is also a distant cousin of the actor Brad Pitt while Hillary Clinton is related to Brad's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie. Now this is getting pretty deep. Further more, Hillary is related to Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morisette. You can read the entire article HERE.

I began to think to myself, is there anyone 'famous' that I'm related to? Then I remembered that my Great Grandmother Hess once gave me a book for my 13th birthday. The book was "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. She wrote an inscription on one of the pages. It reads:

"For Justin's Birthday 1991. With Love from Great Grandmom Hess. You might be glad to learn that Great Grandad Hess' Grandmother Hess, was Mark Twain's cousin. Her name was Matilda Clemens. You are a shirttail relative of his."

Two things - Mark Twain's real name was Samuel L. Clemens. His pen name was Mark Twain.

Second, I was never able to meet my Great Grandfather Hess. He passed away a few years before I was born. But from all I've heard about him from, I wish I could have met him. He was a very friendly and talented man. He played the violin and was also the conductor of the Toledo Jewish Symphony Orchestra.

And just this past winter, I learned from my Grandmom that my Great Grandfather, was also on the radio! Apparently it never dawned on my grandparents to tell me this little known fact. Every Sunday it was "Earl Hess Reads The Funnies" on AM 1370 WSPD in Toledo, Ohio. That's right, my Great Grandpa read the comics on the radio as they did during the "golden days" of AM radio.

So there's some little known facts about one side of my family tree. Are there any 'famous' people you're related to?

"Let us so live that when we come to die, even the undertaker is sorry." - Mark Twain