Valentine's Day Connection Combat: Taylor Swift or Travis Kelce?

Question

Following this week's "Valentine's Day" theme, our Connection Combat game features Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. The singing sensation and Superbowl star began dating in the fall of 2023 and are still going strong. 

Here's how the game is played:

1. Check your connection to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (click "Connection to Me" in each profile pull-down menu).
2. Click "Answer this post" below. Choose Team Taylor or Team Travis and say how many degrees are in your chosen connection path.
3. Verify each relationship along your connection path with a reliable source [more explanation].
4. Post a comment below your answer here as soon as you're done.

The players with the closest verified connection wins!

There are seven additional ways to win and enter the Connection Combat Hall of Fame. These require clearing your path of all "WikiTree Weevils."

This game runs from February 13 - February 20. Winners will be announced on February 21.

Do you want to help others? We call this "combat" just for fun. It's really more about collaboration than competition. We help each other in this community. Please participate in your team's Aid Station and stop by when you have questions or problems.

• Team Taylor Swift Aid Station
• Team Travis Kelce Aid Station

You can also chat live on Discord. See the Connection Combat help page for more information.

Are you in?

Answer 1

Winner: Pat Brunson (9) for Team Kelce!

• Gold Hero: Pat Brunson (9) (Kelce)
• Silver Hero: Carol-Lynn Harke (17) (Swift)
• Bronze Hero: Mildred Gillett (17) (Swift)
• Gold Veteran: Feargal Hennigan (31) (Swift)
• Silver Veteran: Erin Breen (22) (Swift)
• Bronze Veteran: Melanie McComb (21) (Kelce)
• Scout: Pat Brunson (9) (Kelce)
• Medics: Erin Breen (41 (Swift)
• Double Agent: N/A
• Peacemaker: N/A
• International Legionnarie: N/A

Answer 2

Team Taylor for me! 20 degrees and she's a 9th cousin.

Answer 3

Team Taylor at 14°. She’s my 5th cousin 3 times removed.

Comments

Nice! That's awesome.

Answer 4

Both Taylor & Travis are my 10th C 1xR, Taylor 19° & Travis 20°. I'm going for Team Travis at 20°.

Comments

When I started this, I had 2 possible connection lines for Travis Kelce-23, 1 through my ex-BIL & 1 through my mothers maternal line. Both contained a living person & there were no more possible connections so I had to go the relationship route this time. I started with the son of our shared ancestor & worked down to me. I had worked down 5° to Eletha Jane (Sewell-2973) Parsons & took care of a weevil the size of Jupiter. My connection to Thomas Sherwood-62 Sr. runs through Eletha Sewell-2973's mother, Phoebe (Fairchild-1016) Sewell; except it doesn't since Phoebe Fairchild-1016 isn't Eletha Sewell-2973's mother.

I created the Profile for Nancy (Heys-191) Sewell, Eletha Sewell-2973's mother & scrambled the network! No longer am I 10th C 1xR to both Taylor & Travis. Now I am Taylor Swift 19° - 13th C 2xR still through my Brunson/Parsons line, but it now runs through Tarpley instead of Sewell & Travis Kelce is now 8th C 2xR going through my Wilson/Lawson/Higginbotham/Bryant line.

I am still on Team Travis now at 8° if I read the °'s right, 9° if I don't.

---

Taylor Swift - 19° - 10th C 1xR
Travis Kelce - 20° - 10th C 1xR

1. Pat is the daughter of Raymond Doyle Brunson (1926-2000) [confident]
2. Raymond is the son of Missy Edelma (Parsons) Brunson (1897-1976) [confident]
3. Missy is the daughter of Thomas Jefferson Parsons (1868-1948) [confident]
4. Thomas is the son of James Thomas Parsons (1829-1881) [confident]
5. James is the son of Eletha Jane (Sewell-2973) Parsons (1805-1883) [confident]
6. Eletha is the daughter of Phoebe (Fairchild-1016) Sewell (abt.1787-abt.1865) [confident]
7. Phoebe is the daughter of Abiud Fairchild-319 (1762-1848) [unknown confidence]   
8. Abiud is the son of Ebenezer Fairchild-273 (abt.1730-1806) [unknown confidence]   
9. Ebenezer is the son of Anne (Sherwood-481) Fairchild (1691-1777) [confident]
10. Anne is the daughter of Matthew Sherwood-384 (abt.1644-1715) [confident]
11. Matthew is the son of Thomas Sherwood-62 Sr. (abt.1586-bef.1655) [confident]

Taylor Swift - 15° - 13th C 2xR
Travis Kelce - 8/9° - 8th C 2xR

1. Pat is the daughter of Betty Joy (Wilson-106973) Brunson (1928-1984) [confident]
2. Betty is the daughter of Delilah Lenora (Lawson-13910) Wilson (1899-1981) [confident]
3. Delilah is the daughter of Harriet Lenora (Palmer-30262) Lawson (1866-1951) [confident]
4. Harriet is the daughter of William Guerrant Higginbotham-2417 (1819-1888) [confident]
5. William is the son of Ann Minerva (Bryant-19659) Hickinbotham (1797-1833) [confident]
6. Ann is the daughter of William Guerrant Bryant-10037 (1765-1840) [confident]
7. William is the son of Madalaine (Guerrant-17) Bryant (1731-1772) [unknown confidence]   
8. Madalaine is the daughter of Magdalene (Trabue-31) Smith (1715-aft.1787) [unknown confidence]   
9. Magdalene is the daughter of Antoine Pierre Trabue-9 (1667-1724) [confident]

All but the 1st 4 were de-weeviled plus my own peofile on the 2nd run.

---

Awesome, Pat!

Answer 5

I'm 9th cousin 4x removed to Taylor Swift and an 11th Cousin of Travis Kelce.  Interesting, I'm related to both through the same line which means they're more closely related to each other than to me.

Answer 6

Team Travis for me at 22 degrees (24 degrees for Taylor Swift)

Comments

Somehow the connection ended up being 21 degrees while validating! Here's the path:

0 Travis Kelce

1 Travis Kelce's Father [Private]

2 Thelma Furr

3 Ernest Furr

4 Ada Wilfong

5 Ambrose Wilfong

6 Manassa Wilfong

7 Benjamin Wilfong

8 James Wilfong

9 Granville Wilfong

10 Flora Grimes

11 James Grimes

12 Georgia Grimes

13 Homer Boblett

14 Donald Boblett

15 Dorothy Brennick

16 Thomas Brennick

17 Catherine Dougherty

18 Joseph Dougherty

19 Michael Dougherty

20 Father [Private]

21 Me! 

---

Yay! Good job, Melanie! Thanks for battling!

Answer 7

Team Taylor!  She's 19 degrees from me (11th cousins)

Answer 8

Team Taylor 15 degrees and 7th cousin 3 times removed.

Travis is 17 degrees and 7th cousin 4 times removed. 

Answer 9

I'm going to try for both, but I'm Team Taylor at 21 degrees. (Travis is at 24).

Comments

Verified connection to Taylor in 22 steps!

0. Taylor Swift→
1. [private person] →
2. Archie Swift (their father)→
3. Archie Swift (his father)→
4. Charles Swift (his father)→
5. Julius Swift (his father)→
6. Nathaniel Swift (his father)→
7. Abia Tupper (his mother)→
8. Eliakim Tupper (her brother)→
9. Charles Tupper (his son)→
10. Charles Tupper (his son)→
11. Miriam Lockhart (his wife)→
12. John Lockhart (her brother)→
13. David Lockhart (his son)→
14. John Lockhart (his son)→
15. Nellie Lockhart (his daughter)→
16. Harry Carter (her son)→
17. Laura Bowser (his wife)→
18. Lloyd Bowser (her brother)→
19. Private →
20. Private →
21. Private →
22. Erin Breen

---

Verified connection to Travis Kelce in 19 steps!

0. Travis Kelce →
1. [private person] →
2. Bill Kelce (their father)→
3. Thomas Kelce (his brother)→
4. Bernadine McLeod (his wife)→
5. Charles McLeod (her father)→
6. Charles McLeod (his father)→
7. Lewis McLeod (his brother)→
8. Ella McLeod (his daughter)→
9. Jacob Kramp (her husband)→
10. Lizzie Kramp (his sister)→
11. Lena Cloakey (her daughter)→
12. Elias Kitching (her husband)→
13. Emily Kitching (his daughter)→
14. Russell Hayden (her husband)→
15. Lily Myers (his mother)→
16. Eleanor Myers (her sister)→
17. Private →
18. Private →
19. Erin Breen

---

Nice job on both, Erin! Thanks for battling :-)

Answer 10

Taylor Swift  & Travis Your 8th cousin and 21st cousin

Answer 11

Team Taylor... I am 16 degrees and nine of them needed work... all done!

1. Taylor Swift
2. Private
3. Marjorie Moehlenkamp-2
4. Cora Morrow-1969
5. Sallie Faulkner-1695
6. James Faulkner-685
7. William Faulkner-124
8. Violet Forkner-59
9. Ruel Jackson-48770
10. Amer Jackson-55911
11. Charles Benton Jackson-41973
12. Lillian Dennis-10276
13. Amy Enid Dennis-9535
14. Ester Fettes-130
15. Alton Georgeson-147
16. My mom
17. Myself Finch-7411

Comments

Awesome, Carol-Lynn! Thanks for battling!

Answer 12

Team Taylor at 18 degrees. <3 Travis had 19

Answer 13

I'm the same distance from both (18) and cousins to both, but choosing Travis takes me through my ex's family tree. Taylor Swift it is then!

0. Taylor Swift✓

1. [private person]✓

2. Archie Swift his father✓

3. Archie Swift his father✓

4. Josephine Reno his mother✓ formatted sources, added links

5. Hannah Iddings her mother✓ unsourced. now sourced

6. Joseph Iddings her father✓ unsourced. now sourced

7. Mary Peirce his mother✓ added birth record

8. Thomas Pierce her brother✓

9. Hetty Pierce his daughter✓

10. Amanda Gheen her daughter✓ added sources

11. Heber Kimball her husband✓

12. Hannah Moon his wife✓

13. Hugh Matthias Moon her brother✓

14. Lee Roy Moon his son✓

15. Roy Moon his son✓

16. living✓

17. Robert McBeth her son✓

18. Me

Comments

Great job, Emma! Thanks for battling!

Answer 14

Only 13 degrees from Taylor Swift! But 25 degrees from Travis Kelce

Answer 15

Interestingly they both have Welsh ancestry where I connect to them!

Answer 16

Team Taylor. She is my tenth cousin.

Answer 17

Team Taylor for me! So, my 3rd great grandmother was a Swift, so I have a rock-solid connection via the Swifts at 18 degrees. There are 16 and 17 degree lines through the Knapps, but the only linking sources are published genealogies for the generations around the Revolution and just after.

Answer 18

Didn't check connections but both are my triple cousins.

Taylor - 9cx1, 10cx2, 16cx3

Kelce - 11cx1, 10cx3, 18cx3

Both are related to 3 of my grandparents:Coe-2227, Barbour-1017 and Hoover-2374

Answer 19

27 for both!

Edit- Apparently, I'm now 28 away from Travis.

Answer 20

20 degrees from both. I'm related to both (they are 9th cousins) but Taylor is closer (10th cousin).