Lost Cousin links to Ancestral Mother

I pulled up a 30-generation ancestor chart last night for my “Lost” cousin, Matthew Fox, to see if he has ancestral pathways into the new Robin Hood movie, and indeed he does. 

Right away I saw one of his ancestral pathways to one of my favorite ancestral mothers, who is portrayed in Robin Hood. Then I saw another, and another, and another. By the time I finished counting, I found that Matthew has at least 48 different ancestral pathways to Eleanor of Aquitaine in the Family Forest® National Treasure. 

There are 16 through King John (son of Eleanor by King Henry II), 30 through Eleanor (daughter of Eleanor by King Henry II), and two through Mary (daughter of Eleanor by King Louis VII of France). 

Seeing these types of connections all the time does not keep me from being surprised by new ones I am continually discovering in the Family Forest®. 

The Family Forest® Project is Networking Family History with Hollywood™, as well as with American and Old World history.

Civil War Hero to Receive Overdue Medal

Associated Press reported yesterday on an American heroism story that was 147 years in the making. It actually relates personally, literally, to many Americans. 

Alonzo Hereford Cushing has finally been approved to receive the Medal of Honor, 147 years after he fell in battle at Gettysburg. It’s been known for a long time that his actions were worthy of praise. 

Alonzo was the subject of a poem entitled “The Last Man At His Guns” that appeared in an 1895 book by Henry Stevenson Washburn called “The Vacant Chair and Other Poems.” 

I ran a Family Forest® kinship for Alonzo to see who he is known to be related to. There were over 37,000 people, including a very wide range of Americans, mostly everyday people, and some famous. 

They include President Abraham Lincoln (7C), Major-General John Sedgwick who was also at Gettysburg (6C), President U.S. Grant (6C2R), potential California governor Meg Whitman (6C3R), New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. (5C6R), Oscar-winning actress Jodie Foster (6C5R), baseball star Chase Utley (6C5R), Hollywood icon Raquel Welch (9C3R), astronaut Alan Shepard (6C4R), Admiral Dennis Blair (9C3R), Admiral George Dewey (7C2R), Vice President Aaron Burr (5C4R), both Presidents Bush (6C4R and 6C5R), President Grover Cleveland (6C), Vice President Charles Dawes (9C), President Millard Filmore (7C2R), President Gerald Ford (7C1R), President Herbert Hoover (6C3R), Orville and Wilbur Wright (6C2R), Admiral Richard Worsham Meade (6C), Samuel Holden Parsons who was a Major General in the American Revolution (Half 2C3R), other Revolutionary Generals Elisha Porter (3C5R) and Moses Porter (4C4R), and Civil War Generals Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (5C1R), Charles Edward Phelps (6C3R), Walter Cass Newberry (7C2R), Charles Jackson Paine (5C), Edward Porter Alexander (Half 5C), and William Tecumseh Sherman (6C1R). 

Kinship reports like these illustrate the fact that the Family Forest® can connect more families personally, through actual family ties, to more of the people, places, and events in American and Old World history than any other resource.

Getting to Robin Hood via eBay

An old friend asked me to call a friend of his in Atlanta early last week. Something about frustration with his experience at Ancestry.com, and wondering if I could help him. 

Within two hours, I was able to email John a PIN of one of his ancestors in the National Treasure who has a generation-by-generation ancestral pathway to Katharine Hepburn’s character in The Lion in Winter. 

That same character, Eleanor of Aquitaine, is also portrayed in Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood. So John can take his kids to the movies this week to see their own ancestors portrayed larger than life on the silver screen. Cool, huh? 

Maybe we don’t actually make joy, as BMW does, but we certainly enjoy spreading joy. So we’re announcing our Personal Connection Service to Hollywood this week and introducing it via an eBay auction. 

The Family Forest® Project is, among other objectives, Networking Family History with Hollywood™, and we’re trying to make it as easy as possible for you to connect your children personally to history, and to ignite their interest in life time learning.

Tom Berenger at the Big Island Film Festival

Kristine and I had an outstanding evening yesterday. We were sitting front and center at a tropical paradise venue (The Shops at Mauna Lani) while Tom Berenger received the 2010 Golden Honu Award for Acting at the Big Island Film Festival. 

We thoroughly enjoyed discovering that in addition to being a great actor, Tom is also a captivating storyteller. And I was fortunate enough to be able to ask him a question that I can only ask a relatively few people. In fact, I’ve never asked this question to anyone before, and actually, I’ve never asked a Hollywood star anything (other than my friend Leon Rippy, who I knew before he was a star). 

I wanted to know about how it was for Tom to work with one of my top four Hollywood icons who have portrayed one of my ancestors. So I asked him “How was it to work with Charlton Heston?” 

Tom gave a great answer. It confirmed my perception of Charlton Heston, pleased the crowd, and conveyed insights about why we always enjoy Tom’s performances. 

Life is great here in paradise!

Ancestral Movie Premiers

I just discovered that one of my favorite ancestral mothers is being portrayed in Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood. 

It’s exciting to see someone portrayed at the movies who documented human history says is one of your own ancestors. It’s a much more powerful attraction than just seeing one’s cousins acting in the movies. Maybe because distant cousins appear so frequently, while portrayals of actual ancestors only happen occasionally. 

From personal experience, one seems to naturally develop an affinity for a Hollywood star who has portrayed one’s own ancestor. For me, the top four so far are Katharine Hepburn (who also portrayed President Obama’s ancestor and is mentioned in the new Hawaii 24/7 article about him, Peter O’Toole, Charlton Heston, and Sophia Loren. 

I’m having a lot of fun with our Family Forest® Project while Networking Family History with Hollywood™, and I’m looking forward to seeing a new Hollywood blockbuster visually illustrating our digital system of family links. 

Most people who read this posting have ancestral pathways that lead directly to one or more characters in Robin Hood.

The First Family has Family Forest® family ties to the Princess Kaiulani movie

Here  is a screen capture from the National Treasure to help illustrate the story that just appeared at Hawaii 24/7

Lena Horne, A tribute

Lena Horne died on May 9, 2010. In tribute to Lena Horne Time online wrote about her as more than a very talented woman and incredible entertainer of her day.

www.time.com

She is one of the many Hollywood connections in our Family Forest® National Treasure.

As a Family Forest® Tribute to Lena Horne here is her hourglass chart.