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Home » blogs » Bill Kirby's blog » Shaking leaves on the family tree

Shaking leaves on the family tree

Posted by Bill Kirby on February 28, 2007 - 1:38 PM

This week a New York newspaper connected Al Sharpton’s ancestors to Strom Thurmond’s, and it got me to thinking about anyone well-known I might be related to.

The short answer is: nobody.

My ancestors got to this country in the 1630s and began a long tradition of avoiding attention. On a positive note, they stayed out of jail.

On a negative note, none made fortunes.
None invented things.
None owned lots of land.
None were war heroes.

We pretty much stayed under the radar, even before they invented radar.
For that reason I’ve always been a little jealous of people related to famous folks.
With that in mind, maybe you can tell me – are you related to anybody famous?

Do you have an ancestor that gives you a story to tell at church socials or cocktail parties?

Tell me about it.

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Submitted by wellmansinga on March 02, 2007 - 7:58 PM.

I am distantly related to silent screen star Henry B. Walthall, of Birth of a Nation as well as Confederate General Edward Clay Walthall, of Walthall County, Tylertown Mississippi. I'll bet they were pertty famous in their hay-day. There is also a hotel in Mississippi that bears my maiden name Walthall (I wonder if they would offer me a free nights stay). No doubt named after the General, but I'm afraid I don't have wild stories to share only what is available on the internet.


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Submitted by Bill Kirby on March 03, 2007 - 8:02 AM.

I know Walter Cumming, a really good newsroom artist at the Atlanta Constitution. I asked him once what it was like when he comes back to Augusta to drive on a street named after his great-, great-, great-, great-, great-grandfather.
Or to consider how other ancestors built the Augusta Canal or served as the first "mayor" of the town.

He said he didn't think about it that much, so maybe it's not that big a deal.

There's a little town in Arkansas named Kirby, and a few years ago, I called up the principal at Kirby High and suggested it would be cool if I gave the graduation address.

She declined, but did send me a Kirby High T-shirt.


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Submitted by wellmansinga on March 03, 2007 - 9:51 AM.

I think everyone should do a little shaking of their families tree. It may not be given the keys to the city or town but its interesting to learn the who's who of your past (good and bad).

On my husbands side, there is a town in Iowa that bears his last name. A couple of years ago we purchased (authentic) items off E-Bay just for the fun of having something with your last name, and my husbands brother who just happens to live in Iowa was able to get a hold of some (nice) coffee mugs with the name Wellman on it from the town's local bank. Last June, there was family reunion, my husband and I tried to swipe these cups from him but he keeps pretty close tabs on them and doesn't let them out of his site.

I can shake my families tree clear back to 1656 Virginia (some 300 years +) there is a Port in one of the counties named after my very first ancestor (Port Walthall). I've also been told there is a street somewhere in Atlanta, Caifornia and England that bare the name Walthall but I have yet to find it.


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