Question of the Week: Do you have authors or poets in your family tree?

Question

Do you have any authors or poets in your family tree? 

Please tell us about them with an answer below! You can also share on your answer on Facebook or use this question image to share your answer on social media.

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Answer 1

I'm on my family tree, so do I count?! The Charles Asgill Affair: Setting the Record Straight

Professor Gregory Urwin, Temple University, Doylestown, Pa, USA wrote:

If you want to learn more about Lady Sophia, there is a marvelous new biography available on her husband. Lieutenant and Captain Charles Asgill was a young Foot Guards officer captured at Yorktown. Continental Army authorities chose Asgill by lot to be hanged in retaliation for the lynching of a Rebel militia officer by Loyalist renegades, even though that contravened the surrender document that George Washington and Lord Cornwallis had signed, which exempted the latter's officers from such treatment. Only the intervention of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette saved Asgill from the gallows. That story is told with greater authority than ever before on the basis of newly discovered evidence by this book.

 

Comments

Good for Lieutenant and Captain Charles Asgill being saved from the gallows by the intervention of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette.  (She didn’t say, if there’s no bread, let them eat cake but Rousseau said it).  It’s a tragedy that the French Royals or anyone couldn’t save the hundreds of Swiss papal guards sent to help keep them safe in Paris.  Mark Twain said that the saddest statue is the Lion in Lucerne representing hundreds of Swiss guards who were killed by the Revolution’s military.  K.M.Doolan-Roche

Answer 2

Hubbard T Smith 1c3r

Francis Scott Key  2c7r

Fred Smith Webster 3c1r

F Scott Fitzgerald 5c4r

Anne Bradstreet 6c12r

Samuel Clemons 7c5r

 Zane Grey 7c5r

Upton Sinclair 7c5r

John Locke 7c11r

Emily Dickinson 8cr3r

Eric Blair  "George Orwell" 8c5r

 William Cuthbert Faulkner 9c

Herman Melville 9c7r

 Ernest Hemingway 10c

Tennessee Williams 10c1r

 Hunter S Thompson 11c

Ralph Waldo Emerson 11c4r

 Robert Frost 12c2r

Mary Shelley 12c6r

Henry W Longfellow 12c7r married my 4c4r Frances  Appleton

 Ray Bradberry-13c1r

 Arthur Conan Doyle 13c6r

Henry Thoreau 14c3r

John Steinbeck 17c

(don't mind me, I save this list of connections for future reference)

Comments

(Sorry. Comment moved.) 

Answer 3

-Johan Wolfgang Goethe: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Goethe-22. He was some kind of ancient hippie.

-Hermann Karl Hesse (Sinclair): https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hesse-260. He wrote poems and novels.

-George Willem Friedrich Hegel: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hegel-7. He was a philosepher and wrote some things.

-Pieter Nicolaas van Eijck: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Eijk-238. He was a poet. Part of a poem they wrote on some kind of bridge.

-Robert Floris van Eijck: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Eyck-47. He was an art restorer, but also wrote poems like his father.

-Aldo Ernest van Eijck: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Eijk-333. He was an extraordinary Professor and wrote some things.

Greetings Richard

Comments

I love your descriptions, especially on Goethe!

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The documentaries on youtube about J.W Goethe s youth are funny. He even wore a dress for a painting of him . I got the feeling he got many cousins, and that s cool.

I found a link to some kind of newspaper article. Im confused at the moment and don t know what to make of it. Is this your family?https://websites.umich.edu/~bobwolfe/gen/mn/m26348x28405.htm

Greetings Richard

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Yes, that is my family. Bob Wolf is descended from my great-great grandfather's sister. His son, my great-grandfather, married into the Winebrenner family. They all lived in Indiana at that time, and attended Peter Winebrenner's church, the Christian Church, also known as Disciples of Christ. Peter Winebrenner was John Winebrenner's nephew, or great nephew, I don't remember. John Winebrenner was my cousin 5 times removed.

Answer 4

My great-grandmother Hazel Livingston was an author starting in the 1920's when it was often illegal for women to do so.  She wrote serials for newspapers, and it is oral history that she also wrote poetry, and wrote under pseudonym that we've lost to time.  There are some examples of her writing in her profile (which is wild in other ways also and a fun read):  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Livingston-5192

Comments

That's wonderful, Kirby!

Answer 5

My mother in law Farrell-3773 wrote short stories and poems some of which were published in local newspapers and magazines . She wrote mainly about growing up in Trafford Park Lancashire, a heavily industralised area, being the youngest of a large Catholic family and being a girl.

In her late 70s she learnt to use a computer as the various publications she submitted pieces to had advised her that they would no longer accept handwritten pieces.

Our children and their many cousins frequently stayed at the grandparents in the holidays and would come  back regaling us with "How to attract the attention of the reader" or "Do you want a dramatic ending to your piece" These hints and tips saw our children in good stead as their story writing was much praised at school and a daughter has recently had a children's novel accepted by a big name publisher.

Comments

Sounds like an interesting mother-in-law!

Answer 6

Yes, I do and it was a nice surprise 

It took me awhile to get the sources verified in Ireland but my famous 4th cousin is Nuala O’Faolain, the Irish journalist. She published many books. More about her here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/O%E2%80%99Faolain-2

Answer 7

The removed cousin of my grandfather is a removed cousin of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. MRCA of them is Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Answer 8

My Great Aunt, Wendy Wood ( https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Meacham-885  and  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Wood_(artist) ) was best known as a Scottsh Nationalist, and as a painter, but she was also a successful writer and poet.

Most of her books were nonfiction (autobiography/memoir, books about places in Scotland) or collections of folk tales. The Wikipedi article list 10,

• Wood, Wendy (1930). The Secret of Spey. Edinburgh: Robert Grant & Son.
• Wood, Wendy (1938). I Like Life. Edinburgh, London: The Moray Press. (autobiography)
• Wood, Wendy (1946). Mac's croft. London: F. Muller, Ltd.(autobiography)
• Wood, Wendy (1950). Moidart and Morar. Edinburgh: The Moray Press.
• Wood, Wendy (1952). Tales of the Western Isles. London: Oliver and Boyd.
• Wood, Wendy (1952). From a Highland croft. Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd. (autobiography)
• Wood, Wendy (1970). Yours sincerely for Scotland. London: Barker. ISBN 0-213-00046-6. (autobiography)
• Wood, Wendy (1973). Legends of the Borders. Aberdeen: Impulse Books. ISBN 0-901311-34-0.
• Wood, Wendy (1980). Silver Chanter. London: Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0-7011-2448-2.
• Wood, Wendy (1985). Astronauts and Tinkers. Edinburgh: Heritage Society of Scotland. ISBN 0951050419. (poems and pictures

 but there are at least 2 more that I have, but are not listed in the Wikipedia article.

People of the Glen (1955) (I have an autographed copy)

Baby in the Glass (poetry) (1923) (I have an autographed copy which says " To my great niece Janet with love"). It was published with her name as "Gwen Cuthbert", but she crossed it out and wrote in "Wendy Wood" (she changed her name about 1927). She also made handwritten changes to one of the verses.

Another author was my half uncle (Wendy's nephew) Patrick Hughes ( https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Hughes-15382 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Hughes ), known professionally as Spike Hughes.  He is most well known as a jazz band leader in the 1920s and 30s, but he was also a prolific author. He wrote two volumes of autobiography, several books about opera, including the first book abour the Glyndebourne Festival, and a series of humerous books about "The Coarse Art of ..."  Cricket, Gardening, Travel, Cooking ...

Answer 9

Anne Bradstreet my 11th great grandmother was Americas first poet and the first woman in America to be published.  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Dudley-318

My great uncle Richard M. Smith was a naturalist and author of two books - ‘Wildflowers of Southern Mountains’ and ‘Wild Plants of America’. 

Comments

Parallel Universe or Bizzaro World-you pick! Anne is my 6c12r and I had a cousin who published a book on the birds and local plants of the southwest United States who currently escapes me and I cannot relocate again in my tree. For future reference, I will add her to my list.-k smith aka kevin

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Bizzaro World indeed!!

Answer 10

Yes, I do!

The earliest instance that I know of is Francis Quarles (<1592-<1644), England, a 10G grandfather who wrote and published poetry on religious topics and also wrote political tracts. Apparently his religious poems were popular with Puritans, while his political writings were in support of Royalists.

In more recent times there's Louise (Chandler) Moulton (1834-1908), who was a popular and acclaimed author of her time, mostly writing poetry and children's books. She's a first cousin 3x removed.

In still more recent times, I have a great uncle and a great aunt who each authored a published children's book. Great uncle Franklin Stetson Clark (1893-1976) wrote a book about a donkey, loosely based on family experiences bringing wild horses and one donkey (which became a beloved family pet) from Colorado to Massachusetts. Great aunt Helen Van Aken (1900-2000) wrote "Tatsu the Dragon," which was inspired by and drew upon her experiences as a missionary schoolteacher in Japan.

I'm not counting the journalists, compilers of genealogies, authors of scientific papers and medical books, or compilers of sermons and Masonic lore.

Comments

Helen, Franklin and Louise are my 8th, 10th and 14th cousins respectively proving once again we are all connected.

Answer 11

I have had a book published, does that count?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lancashire-Nobby-Shrimpers-Shankers-Prawners/dp/1848684908

Comments

Congrats. So have I. And you are definitely in your own family tree.

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I also have had something published, and sundry poems when I was younger.

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I, too: The Wild Mushroom Cookbook: Recipes from Mendocino, For Cooks Everywhere. Self-published, currently in it's 5th printing.

Answer 12

Albert Camus ,I was told by GENEANET,This author has roots in Moselle France

I have uploaded my gedcom

Answer 13

Leonard Wibberley wrote >100 books & the movie “The Mouse that Roared” is based on one of his many “Mouse” themed books.  One of my favourite books is “Stranger at Kilknock”.  He is my late mother’s cousin from their Michael (from Ballintubber Co Mayo, Ireland) & Bridget O’Connor (Nee Conoboy) grandparents of Stockport England.  K.M. Doolan-Roche Brisbane Australia.

Answer 14

I am very lucky that my great grand-uncle wrote two published biographies about his life and his intriguing Presbyterian family (children of a Presbyterian minister, all eight sons became ministers, all three daughters missionaries).  I have a copy of one of them, the other is readable free online.  One of his brothers was also the subject of a book by Ethel Reader (the wife of John, another of the brothers) which I confess I have not read.

Ethel's mother was a Lillie and her grandmother a Burnett, daughter of the first Colonial Secretary of what is now Tasmania (another fascinating family that sadly have not been as well covered).  Her cousin is New Zealand poet Mary Ursula Bethell who I'm sorry to say I had not heard of when I found the family connection, but seems to be the most prominent poet I connect to (she's just outside my CC7 but in my father's!).

Another one of the Corkey brothers, who emigrated to the US was something of an author, it seems you can still buy his book "The Testing Fire" on Amazon (I think it is a morality tale loosely based on his brother John's experiences) but I was more interested in his second book, "The Truth About Ireland".  I thought from the title it would be a religious/political polemic, but it's actually a rather charming travelogue of his journeys around the country of his birth in one of those new-fangled aeroplane thingummyjiggers, again available to read at The Internet Archive.

Answer 15

Anne Bradstreet, wife, mother, and first published author in the American colonies, wrote poetry still enjoyable now.

My father Mark Freeman has had 3 books published about solar homes and greenhouses.

Answer 16

I haven't found any famous ones but I have two Napier half cousins who have written family history books. I am working on a family history book and I have two fiction novels in the works.

Answer 17

Supposedly, one of my direct ancestors is the essayist/dramatist Sir Richard Steele.  I say supposedly because I don't believe he is actually a direct ancestor, and I think it's possible we're not related at all.

Answer 18

Moses Coit Tyler (Tyler-6463) lived in Boston and benefited from contact with notable figures of the time, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, Wendell Phillips, Frederick Douglass, Elizabeth Peabody, and others. It was a place he considered “the brain of this continent, the great idea-builder and thought-radiator.”

He ws a founding member of the American Historical Association and wrote his significant book, The Literary History of the American Revolution, published in 1897. He wrote a number of other important histories, including Literary History of the American Revolution. 

Answer 19

Actually I have written some books myself. I wrote a four-book series based on my doctoral dissertation, La Bohème as Novel, Play, and Opera.

I also wrote a short genealogical study of my 2x great-grandfather, Brede Bredesen Sander.

Answer 20

Several. The one I know the most is Ernest Hemingway, who was my grandmother's 7th cousin. They both descended from Ralph Hemenway. My grandmother's great grandmother (so my 3rd great grandmother) was a Hemenway, which is where the surname stopped in our family. But I am related to many, many authors and poets.