There is something compelling about news that involves information about who a celebrity, or famous person, is related to. There are television programs that are based on precisely this premise. One doesn’t even have to be a genealogist in order to take an interest in news about the family tree of a celebrity. Considering this, it is no surprise that news about who Ellen DeGeneres is related to is all over the internet today.
Recently, Ellen DeGeneres had been talking on her show about the upcoming Royal Wedding. Specifically, Ellen wants an invitation to the wedding, which will take place on April 29, 2011. I assume there are a lot of people who would want an invitation to that wedding ceremony, and that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain one. Unless, of course, you happen to be related to either Prince William or his bride to be, Kate Middleton.
Well as it turns out, Ellen Degeneres actually is related to Kate Middleton after all. This week, Ellen shared with her audience a letter that she got from the New England Genealogical Society. Ellen Degeneres and Kate Middleton are related to each other through common ancestors named Sir Thomas Fairfax and Agnes Gascoigne. This makes Ellen and Kate cousins… fifteenth cousins… but “cousins still the same”. Perhaps this news is enough for Ellen to get her coveted wedding invitation, after all.
Who was Sir Thomas Fairfax? I was not familiar what that name, so I attempted to look it up. According to what I could find Sir Thomas Fairfax was born in 1612, and was the oldest son of Ferdinando, the Second Lord Fairfax. Sir Thomas Fairfax eventually became the Third Lord Fairfax of Cameron when his father, Ferdinando, died in 1648.
He had the nickname “Black Tom”, because he had dark hair, dark eyes, and a swarthy complexion. He was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. Everything I can find on the internet says that he married Anne Vere, who was the daughter of Sir Horace (Lord) Vere. Sir Thomas Fairfax served as a volunteer with the English army under Sir Horace (Lord) Vere.
So, who was Agnes Gascoigne? Most of the articles that I have read in regards to the news that Ellen Degeneres and Kate Middleton are related to each other have identified Agnes Gascoigne as the wife of Sir Thomas Fairfax. Now, I am not an expert genealogist, by any stretch of the imagination, so perhaps I don’t have the skills required to learn about who Agnes Gascoigne really was.
The information that I can find identifies Agnes Gascoigne as the daughter of Sir William Gascoigne and Joan Neville. Agnes was also known as Anne, and as far as I can trace, she was married to Sir Robert Plumpton, not Sir Thomas Fairfax. The most troubling information is that Agnes/Anne died in 1504, nearly one hundred years before Sir Thomas Fairfax was born. This brings up many questions that I do not have answers for.
Photo by Alan Light on Flickr