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.

P.S. Share the , spread the word!

• Facebook: Link
• Twitter: Link
• Mastodon: Link
• Instagram: Link
• YouTube: video 
  
• TikTok: Link

Answer 1

My great granduncle Louis Beauregard Pendleton (1861-1939) 

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Pendleton-1580

He was a newspaper editor, columnist, and author in the state of Georgia in the United States. He wrote novels and young adult literature, many set in the South, as well as a biography of Alexander H. Stephens

Comments

Hmm, interesting. He's my 2nd cousin 4 times removed.

Answer 2

My great, grandfather Clyde Coon (1888-1950), an engineer and a real estate investor, was an amateur poet.  He wrote a book called Rhymes of A Hard-Boiled Engineer.

His poetry sounds like an Oklahoma version of Kipling.

Answer 3

My first cousin, Margaret (Marty) R.  (Willis) Morton (Wiki ID Willis-13085) was an author. Margaret Morton was an American photographer, author, and professor of visual arts. She was a School of Art Professor at Cooper Union. For several decades beginning in the late 1980s, Morton's body of work largely depicted communities of homeless people in New York City. Her works were published in five books, and have also appeared in numerous newspaper publications, museums, and exhibitions all over the world.

She authored THE TUNNEL, TRANSITORY GARDENS,UPROOTED LIVES, FRAGILE DWELLING, GLASS HOUSE, & CITIES OF THE DEAD;THE ANCESTRAL

Answer 4

Yes, - me! I have been published in magazine and scholarly journals.

Answer 5

Peter John Olds

Thornhill Cooper

Answer 6

Anders Mickelsson Keksi (1622 - 1705) (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Keksi-6) Antti Keksi was the first Finnish-speaking folklore poet known by name. Two of his poems survive, both written in trochaic meter (Kalevala meter). The first, about ice breaking in Torne river and the second, a mockery of the priest Nicolaus Ulopolitanius.

Answer 7

Bernard Patrick Sexton AKA "Peter Grey Wolf." Great Uncle.

Answer 8

Jane Austin, the British author

Answer 9

I am the eleventh great-grandson of poet Anne Bradstreet, the first writer in England's North American colonies to have their works published. She was also the wife and daughter of two colonial governors. 

Shout out to my above cousins Kevin, Patty, and Janet.

Answer 10

My history on FamilySearch says Jane Austen is my 8th cousin 7 times removed, also Emily Dickinson is an 7th  cousin removed several times. I am also a published author. Fun question : ).

Answer 11

As a teen, I read most of Robert A. Heinlein's scifi novels. Being that my great-grandmother's maiden name was Hineline, I always wondered if there might be a connection.

I finally convincingly connected all the dots in the past year (thank you, Wikitree!). My favorite author is also my 5th cousin (1r). (And yes, of course, I am a lifetime member of The Heinlein Society.)

Answer 12

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Answer 13

I attended the poetry workshops all through high school, and wrote some poetry then. I wrote a Wild Mushroom Cookbook, which I self-published and it is on it's 5th printing.

My grandfather wrote 2 autobiographies, just for his family.

My great aunt wrote a family genealogy.

That's it for my immediate family.

Answer 14

There are both published and unpublished authors and poets in my family, including myself. My Aunt Sue was published and a local celebrity in Portland OR and she was part of a writers group collaborating, teaching and sharing the art of literature. My sister was a journalist. My Grandmother, mother, and a sister all wrote poetry. Sharing feelings on various subjects is a joy.

Answer 15

Edith Newbold Wharton formerly Jones/6 C, 6x R

Jane Austen/9th C, 6x R

John Ernst Steinbeck Jr/10th C, 2x R

Ernest Miller Hemingway/10th C, 2x R

Rt Hon George Gordon "6th Baron of Rochdale" Noel formerly Byron/10th C, 8x R

Anthony Trollope/12th C, 9x R

Clive Staples (C. S.) "Jack" Lewis/14th C, 5x R

Mazo Louise "Maisie" De La Roche/15th C, 5x R

Elizabeth Moulton Browning formerly Barrett/15th C, 5x R

Lyman Frank (Frank) Baum/15th C, 9x R

William Makepeace Thackeray/16th C, 6x R

Johanna Bertha Julie Jenny (Jenny) Marx formerly VonWestphalen/17th C, 6x R

Louisa May Alcott/18th C, 5x R

Rev Wilbert Vere Awdry OBE/18th C, 5x R

Sir James Matthew (J. M.) "1st Baronet" Barrie OM/18th C, 5x R

Laura Elizabeth Wilder formerly Ingalls/19th C, 3x R

Thomas Henry Kendall/19th C, 5x R

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa "Queen of Crime" Christie DBE/19th C, 5x R

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley/19th C, 7x R

Francis Julius (Frank) Bellamy/20th C, 4x R

Wilella Sibert (Willa) Cather/20th C, 4x R

Dame Mary Barbara Hamilton (Barbara) Cartland DBE/20th C, 5x R

John Hoyer Updike/22nd C, 5x R

Adeline Virginia (Virginia) Woolf/22nd C, 5x R

Count Zsigmond Antal Széchenyi de Sárvár-Felsővidék/23rd C, 5x R

Selma Ottilia Lovisa (Selma) Lagerlöf/23rd C, 8x R

Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин/25th C, 6x R

Karen Christenze Von Blixen-Finecke formerly Dinesen/25th C, 6x R

Answer 16

My great grandfather, John Chisholm Lambert, was an author of religious books with titles like “The Romance of Missionary Heroism”, “Missionary Heroes in Asia” and “Three Fishing Boats” (talks for children). John was born in Trinidad to Scottish missionaries. On returning to Scotland, he became a minister in the United Presbyterian Church but had to retire due to his voice failing and then became an author. 

John’s brother in law was John Kirkwood Fairlie who was also an author. John Fairlie’s uncle, John Kirkwood, was another author whose unpublished memoir has been passed down in the family and has many details of our family history. 

All three men mentioned above were ministers in the United Presbyterian Church. 

John Chisholm Lambert - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lambert-17877

John Kirkwood Fairlie - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fairlie-367

John Kirkwood - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kirkwood-2033

Answer 17

My GGF John Francis Wilson emigrated from Whitby, Yorkshire to Manitoba, Canada in 1888 and eventually wrote a comical fictional account of his adventures in the New World.

The book was called "The Migration of Skivens" and was illustrated by himself, an accomplished artist  It was eventually published in 1962 (4 years after his death) after many attempts.  The full colour pages were very cost prohibitive.  

Answer 18

I thought I'd look at the Herbert family to see how far or close some of them might falll from me. The metaphysical poet (priest, etc.) George Herbert 1593 - 1633 was a 4th cousin 11 times removed. Pretty distant, huh? However, English peer and politician Henry Herbert 1538 - 1601 was a 1st cousin 14 generations removed. Shakespeare's First Folio was dedicated to two of his sons, sons by Mary Sidney 1561 - 1621,(5th C 11 XsR), sister of Elizabethan sonneteer Philip Sidney, and poetess in her own right.

Answer 19

Yes, I have. My late uncle (my father's older brother) was a poet. He was born Edward Clifford but penned under his mother's maiden name, Sigerson. Although he was Uncle Eddie to us, he was known to the world as Sigerson Clifford, He was known for 'The Boys of Barr Na Strade'. Jayne

Answer 20

Walt Whitman. My biological mother is a direct descendent of Louisa Van Velzer's (who was Walt's mother) family. Can't recall at this point which member.

Funny. I remember, as a kid, thinking Van Velzer was SUCH a strange name. At the time, i was just glad it wasn't mine. Hueston was so much more "normal". Anyway, who knew so many decades later i would have a "famous" connection?