Question of the Week: Have you found any authors or poets in your family? [closed]

Question

Several notable authors were born in January, including Louisa May Alcott, Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll). 

Have you found any authors or poets as you work through your family branches?

Comments

Glad you asked this, as I would have never known. Seems I garnered my love of poetry/writing/Artsy things from a variety of Great Grandpa's and Cousins. =) The ones I have found so far are Sir Walter Scott (my grandma was a Scott, and his grandpa was my great grandpa), Louisa M Alcott, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost is my 7th cousin 5x's removed & his wife too lol! Alfred Tennyson, Henry Wadsworth, Lord George Gordon Byron, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thomas Stearns Eliot, Henry David Thoreau, and many more. Very interesting to have so many Poets, including my oldest daughter who also loves writing. 

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My father, Henry Robert Fowler, wrote Australian bush poetry. I write poetry and non-fiction (mostly Christian) under my own name, Lynn B Fowler, and fiction under the pen name Grace L Sutherland. My books and a book of my Dad's poems can be found at my publishing site, birdcatcherbooks.com.

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My mother Dora Cox Mostert wrote and published poems under the name Dora Andre. 

My sister, Trudy Mostert Wiltbank published a book she wrote called "COX COUSINS." My mother's maiden name was Cox.

I have written obituaries for the Quincy, Illinois Herald Whig.

 

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Yes, I am 1st Cousin 4 x removed to William Bliss Carman, Canadian Poet. One of my middle names is his last name actually. And I do write poetry although I’m not published as of yet.

 

Cheers

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YES...Beatrix Potter!  She would have been my Great Aunt (I think)?

Beatrix cousin, was my Great grandmother!

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I have also found I am related to Geoffrey Chaucer. Not directly, however, but a great grand uncle.

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Hello,

According to relative finder I have several all through my Mother's side

Ralph Waldo Emerson/5th Cousin 5 x removed

Ambrose Bierce/6th Cousin 3 x removed

Laura Ingalls Wilder/6th Cousin 3 x removed

John Greenleaf Whittier/5th Cousin 6 x removed

Oliver Wendell Holmes/5th Cousin 6 x removed

Amy Lawrence Lowell/6th Cousin 4 x removed

Archibald MacLeish/6th Cousin 4 x removed

Edgar Allan Poe/6th Cousin 4 x removed

Horatio Alger/6th Cousin 4 x removed

Edward Estlin Cummings/7th Cousin 2 x removed

Henry David Thoreau/6th Cousin 5 x removed

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow/6th Cousin 5 x removed

Herman Melville/6th Cousin 5 x removed

James Russell Lowell/6th Cousin 5 x removed

Nathaniel Hawthorne/6th Cousin 5 x removed

Benjamin Franklin Norris/7th Cousin 3 x removed

Edgar Rice Burroughs/7th Cousin 3 x removed

Emily Elizabeth Dickinson/7th Cousin 3 x removed

Ezra Loomis Pound/7th Cousin 3 x removed

Robert Frost/7th Cousin 3 x removed

Noah Webster/6th Cousin 6 x removed

John Griffith London/7th Cousin 4 x removed

Samuel Langhorne Clemens/7th Cousin 4 x removed

Stephen Crane/7th Cousin 4 x removed

B. F. Skinner/8th Cousin 2 x removed

Henry Brooks Adams/8th Cousin 2 x removed

Robert Lowell/8th Cousin 2 x removed

William Sydney Porter/8th Cousin 2 x removed

Louisa May Alcott/7th Cousin 5 x removed

Anne Spencer Morrow/8th Cousin 3 x removed

Henry Cabot Lodge/8th Cousin 3 x removed

Ida Minerva Tarbell/8th Cousin 3 x removed

Lyman Frank Baum/8th Cousin 3 x removed

T. S. Eliot/8th Cousin 3 x removed

Conrad Potter Aiken/9th Cousin 1 x removed

Harold Hart Crane/9th Cousin 1 x removed

James Grover Thurber/9th Cousin 1 x removed

John Ernst Steinbeck/9th Cousin 1 x removed

Willa Cather/9th Cousin 1 x removed

Louis Dearborn L'Amour/9th Cousin 2 x removed

Sinclair Lewis/9th Cousin 2 x removed

Ernest Hemingway/10th Cousin

Eugene Luther Vidal/10th Cousin

Stephen R. Covey/10th Cousin

Tennessee Williams/10th Cousin

Adam Smith/7th Cousin 7 x removed

Percy Bysshe Shelley/8th Cousin 5 x removed

Bertrand Russell/9th Cousin 3 x removed

W. Cleon Skousen/10th Cousin 1 x removed

Jane Austen/7th Cousin 8 x removed

Walt Whitman/8th Cousin 6 x removed

C. S. Lewis/9th Cousin 4 x removed

William Cuthbert Faulkner/10th Cousin 2 x removed

Zelda Lorraine Brown/10th Cousin 2 x removed

Abraham Stoker/10th Cousin 3 x removed

James Rufus Agee/11th Cousin 1 x removed

Philip Kindred Dick/11th Cousin 1 x removed

James Fenimore Cooper/9th Cousin 6 x removed

Dashiell Hammett/10th Cousin 4 x removed

Harper Lee/12th Cousin

Adeline Virginia Stephen/10th Cousin 5 x removed

Upton Sinclair/11th Cousin 3 x removed

F. Scott Fitzgerald/11th Cousin 4 x removed

George Bernard Shaw/11th Cousin 4 x removed

Alfred Tennyson/12th Cousin 2 x removed

Stephen Vincent Benét/13th Cousin 1 x removed

Agatha Mary Clarissa Miller/13th Cousin 2 x removed

Truman Streckfus Persons/14th Cousin 1  x removed

Frank Patrick Herbert/15th Cousin

John Hoyer Updike/15th Cousin

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My mother's maternal grandfather is 6-8 generations from Evan James. Welsh poet who wrote Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau,  Welsh anthem.

Chasing rumours of John Hughs and Daniel James who co-wrote Calon Lan,  welsh love favorite.

Grandad was Tudor James, and my gran was Doreen Mary James born 1913 I believe. Had a sister Charlotte Ware too, maybe that'll be a connection for someone.

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Yes Coventry Patmore wrote "Angel in the House" in 1854. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angel_in_the_House

I still can't find the connection, but I know he was a Grand Uncle of my Grandfather Arthur Stimpson Patmore.

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My grandmother was Ellen Maud Fowler, her father was Frances Fowler, they owned Bathampton in Clermont Queensland. Any relation?

Answer 1

George Grossmith (1847-1912) and his brother, Weedon Grossmith (1854-1919), together wrote the English classic 'The Diary of a Nobody' in 1892 based on their contributions to the popular British magazine 'Punch'. They are connected through marriage to my grandmother Jenny Walley neé Mawson. 

Robert Radcliffe Mawson, a current world famous author, is also connected. 

His father, Stuart Mawson, has written several medical books as well as two books covering his WW2 experiences. 

Brian Stephen Walley, son of the aforementioned Jenny, has contributed to several books covering WW2 experiences and has published in 2016 his autobiography 'Sole Survivor - A Life on Borrowed Time'. 

Answer 2

Yes, I do!!!  My 10th great-grandmother was Anne (Dudley) Bradstreet.  She was the first American woman poet!!  Without her knowledge, her brother-in-law took a collection of her poems to England and had them published in 1650 under the title "The Tenth Muse, Lately Sprung Up in America". 

 

 

Answer 3

Just me, unfortunately.

Answer 4

I actually have three authors (that I know of) in my family tree, two living. One is Colin Falconer (aka Colin Bowles) an internationally known author of adventure and historical fiction - he married my 3rd cousin.
The second is Lyn Armstrong, who has written romance fiction, but does not appear to have a wide circulation - she married a 5th cousin.
The third is a lady by the name of Mary Lavinia Whitfeld, who compiled an index (called the 'Whitfeld Index') of her father's collection of records of life in colonial Tasmania (Australia), plus apparently a number of books on various subjects including genealogy - she is my g-grandfather's 3rd cousin.

Answer 5

​I have a few Authors and Poets in my Family. One of them is myself, a want to be Author(but not published yet), but hope to be some day.

Stephen King, Author, and my favorite, is my 8th Cousin.

Mary LeBlanc is my 4th cousin, and she is the Author of The Book, Man & Mann Family Branches-The Descendants and Ancestors of Abijah Man of Hebron, Tolland Co. Connecticut.

Julia Child, Author and Chef is my 8th Cousin 2x Removed.

Walt Whitman, Poet, Essayist, and Journalist, is my 6th Cousin 4x Removed.​

Helen Adams Keller, Author, is my 7th Cousin 2x Removed.

Edgar Allan Poe, Poet, and Author, is my 7th Cousin 4x Removed.

Jimmy Carter, Author, and 39th President of The United States, is my 8th Cousin 3x Removed.

e e cummings, Author, is my 8th Cousin 2x Removed.

Mark Twain (aka Samuel Langhorne Clemens), Author, is my 8th Cousin 2x Removed. 

Henry David Thoreau, Author, Poet, is my 5th Cousin 5x Removed.

Thomas Paine, Author, is my 6th Cousin 5x Removed.

 

 

 

Answer 6

James Grahame (Grahame-52) 1765-1811, author of The Sabbath and other works.

Answer 7

I believe Thomas HARDY is a 4th cousin, through the female line: HAND, SWETMAN, and CHILDS.

Answer 8

Thanks for asking such a great genealogical prompting question! Thanks to your excellent question, I've just found out that e.e. cummings is my 10th cousin twice removed; Edgar Allan Poe is my 7th cousin five times removed; Emily Dickinson is my 8th cousin three times removed; John Steinbeck is my 9th cousin three times removed; and
O Henry may be my 7th cousin three times removed.

And I'm delighted to find that there exists here at WikiTree a page showing the category of Authors, with 25 subcategories, and 200 profiles listed that you can easily check to see if any of these notable authors are connected to your family tree:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Authors

I am also an author, though not yet a notable author like these ones I'm related to.  :-)

Answer 9

I have Samuel Clemens and Chaucer in my lines.

Answer 10

My wife is an author and she has two books registered in the US Library of Congress

Answer 11

My half uncle, Patrick (Spike) Hughes made his living as a writer and journalist.

He wrote two volumes of autobiography, "Opening Bars" and "Second Movement."

He wrote books about opera, "Famous Mozart Operas", etc..

He wrote a series of parodies,"The Art of Coarse Cricket", "The Art of Coarse Gardening", etc..

 

My "Scottish" great aunt, Wendy Wood also made her living writing.

She wrote at least 3 volumes of autobiography, "I Like Life", "Yours Sincerely for Scotland", "From a Highland Croft".

She wrote books about Scotland, "Secret of the Spey", etc., books about Scottish folktales, "Tales of the Western Isles", etc., and books of poetry, "The Baby in the Glass", etc.

 

My grandfather was an Egyptologist.  In 1906, in his early 20s, he published a translation of the Prisse Papyrus, "Instructions of Ptah Hotep, the Oldest Book in the World".  It is still in print and available from Amazon.

His "Studies in Egyptian Syntax" (1924) has been re-issued in the 21st century, and is still used in universities.

He translated the Ancient Egyptian and Coptic stories in "Land of Enchanters, Egyptian Short Stories from the Earliest Times to the Present Day" (1947), which has also been reissued in the 21st century.

Also, some ancient Egyptian letters he translated were the inspiration for Agatha Christie's "Death Comes as the End"

 

On the other side of the family, my second cousin, Simon Trew, a senior lecturer at Sandhurst, has written a large number of book on W W II, with a focus on D-Day.

Answer 12

I am a published author.

Answer 13

I am related through my mother's (Evie Mack Foster) side of my family.  Her 2 GGF was David Bronson, and Louisa May Alcott's father was Amos Bronson Alcott.

Author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). Your connection.

Answer 14

I was very surprised by discovering that the Royal Governor of Windsor, the Honorable Roger Wolcott, was a poet and has published works.  He is a truly amazing person, all of his accomplishments with no formal education.  (If I would have known this I would have used it in my reasons to mother why I didn't need to go to college!  But alas I hadn't a clue so I had to go!) Anyway, Roger's works can be read on-line at https://www.cga.ct.gov/hco/books/Poems_Of_Roger_Wolcott,Esq.pdf

Governor Roger Wolcott is my 7th Cousin 7xr and is buried in 'The Old Burying Ground' at the First Church of Windsor.

Answer 15

Yes, Colin Thiele (Wikipedia) was my maternal grandfather's half-cousin (only one grandparent in common). He wrote childrens books based on his experience of childhood growing up in rural South Australia, including as a "German" farmer, as well as non-fiction. Colin's grandfather (my 2xgreat grandfather) was 22 when he immigrated in 1858, but German language survived despite schools being banned from teaching it because of World War I.

Several of his books have been made into movies (Storm Boy, Blue Fin).

I have his autograph in the front of the family history book that was published when I was a teenager.

Answer 16

Other than myself: https://infinitegraceweb.wordpress.com/

My great-uncle and namesake- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnar_Heiberg

My father's cousin, Hans Heiberg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heiberg

Answer 17

Yes, my gg grandmother, Mary Teresa Swanner Gabler Goldschmidt, must have been a poet. This is what I found on a clipping in my granmother's papers.

GOLDSCHMIDT -  The Society of American Poets deeply regrets the passing of a valued member, MRS. MARY T. GOLDSCHMIDT,  a distinguished and inspiring poet.
LUCY DERRICK-SWINDELLS.
  President

Answer 18

Lots and lots of them too many to list, but then my third greatgrandparents son did own a publishing house Routledges in London which is still operating and every branch of my family also appear to have at least one relative who owned a publishing company. I imagine quite a lot of bias there. Probably other people who were just as clever never got a look in its not what you know but who you know that counts.

Answer 19

I just discovered, a few days ago, that my 3rd cousin twice removed, Lillie May Peel, was married to Jacques Futrelle, a well-known author of mysteries in the early 20th century.  They were on the Titanic - she survived, he died.  Lillie was a writer as well, but not as well known as her husband.

Answer 20

My wife is, as best as I can tell, sixth cousin, twice removed to John Whittier Greenleaf.