Randy Seaver Not Surprised He is Related to Tom Hanks and Fred Rogers

I saw the Ancestry.com Blog post "Tom Hanks Surprised by Ancestry® Discovery That He’s Related to Mr. Rogers, His Onscreen Character" yesterday, and wondered if I was related to either Tom Hanks or Mr. Rogers.  My guess was "I think that I'm related to at least one of them."

So off to Geni.com I went, and found Tom Hanks and it said:

So I am a 9th cousin twice removed to Thomas Jeffrey Hanks, with common ancestors of John (1601-1688) and Rebecca (--?--) Gibson (1613-1661) of Cambridge, Massachusetts.   I also share a middle name with cousin Tom!

A similar search for Fred Rogers ("Mr. Rogers") at Geni.com  revealed:

I am Frederick McFeely Rogers 9th cousin once removed, with common ancestors of Edward (1607-1675) and Elizabeth (Blossom) Fitz Randolph (1620-1713) of Barnstable, Massachusetts and Piscataway, New Jersey. 

So my guess was only half right - I am a cousin to both of them, although they are distant relationships.  Cool.  Maybe I'll see the movie.  If my grandkids see the movie, they can tell their friends "That's my cousin playing my cousin!"

My "Forrest Gump Principle of Genealogy Research"  strikes once again:  "Genealogy research is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to find, but you have to look everywhere your 'genealogy gem' might be hiding."

I'm not surprised.  In the Ancestry.com blog post, Jennifer Utley (Director of Research, Ancestry) said: “Even if we don’t know it, our pasts impact our present. You never know what you’ll find on your journey of personal discovery.”

Yep!  Forrest Gump and Mr. Rogers were really wise men.

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Disclosure:  I have a complimentary subscription to Geni.com and appreciate it!

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