Famous Kin of Nicholas Knapp

Our ancestor, Nicholas Knapp, came to the American colonies as part of the Puritan Migration. We share him with a number of other descendants (some of them famous):

Juliette Gordon Low, Founder of the Girl Scouts, 6th great-granddaughter

Howard Hughes, American Business Tycoon, 8th great-grandson

Endicott Peabody, 62nd Governor of Massachusetts, 8th great-grandson

Glenn Close, Movie, Television, and Stage Actress, 9th great-granddaughter

Taylor Swift, Singer and Songwriter, 9th great-granddaughter

Mike Huckabee, 44th Governor of Arkansas, 9th great-grandson

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, 47th and current Governor of Arkansas, 10th great-grandaughter

Bill Belichick, NFL Head Coach, 10th great-grandson

Jason Kelce, NFL Center, 10th great-grandson

Travis Kelce, NFL Tight End, 10th great-grandson

Famous Kin of Nicholas Knapp

Famous Kin of William Tuttle (1607-1673)

Our immigrant ancestor (through the Westlake family) had a number of famous descendants (our cousins):

Aaron Burr, Killed Alexander Hamilton, 3rd great-grandson

Edith (Carow) Roosevelt, First Lady of President Theodore Roosevelt, 6th great-granddaughter

Charles Warren Fairbanks, 26th U.S. Vice-President, 7th great-grandson

Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 8th great-grandson

Ernest Hemingway, Author of The Sun Also Rises, 8th great-grandson

Cecil B. DeMille, American Film Director, 8th great-grandson

Thurman Munson, MLB Catcher - NY Yankees, 8th great-grandson

Felicity Huffman, TV & Movie Actress, 9th great-granddaughter

Burt Reynolds, Movie Actor, 9th great-grandson

Ted Danson, TV Actor - “Cheers”, “CSI”, 10th great-grandson

Chevy Chase, Comedian, Actor and Writer, 10th great-grandson

Billie Eilish, Singer and Songwriter, 10th great-granddaughter

Famous Kin of William Tuttle

Ancestral Places of Worship: Bruton Parish Church

 

Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg

The bell was donated by James Tarpley, my ancestor.

Ancestral Places of Worship: Old Swedes Church - Delaware

 

Old Swedes Historic Site

Ancestral Homes: Tarpley Store

Colonial Williamsburg: Tarpley Store

 Merchant James Tarpley built this store about 1759. He advertised a wide array of imported goods, including textiles, hats, china, cutlery, and jewelry.

Historical Marker Database: Tarpley Store

 

Ancestral Homes: Sir Robert Cann's House (Stoke House)

 

The house is now part of Trinity College, Bristol, England. There is a dark side to the story of Trinity. The college’s main building, Stoke House, was completed in 1669 for Sir Robert Cann, who was a prominent merchant and was, at various times, mayor of Bristol and a Member of Parliament.

Research into the history of Stoke House carried out in 2020 by our Director of Postgraduate Research, Dr Jamie Davies, revealed links between the Cann family and the transatlantic trade in enslaved peoples. It is, he concluded, “beyond reasonable doubt” that Stoke House exists because of profits from this trade. The Cann family, he discovered, was not only passively complicit in this trade, but was itself actively involved through the kidnapping, purchase, and sale of slaves, and was involved in promoting and defending the practice of transatlantic slavery from its inception.

Trinity College History

Ancestral Homes: The Dickey-Sherer House

The Dickey-Sherer log cabin was built ca. 1771 for John Dickey on his 170 acres. In 1844, Richard Sherer bought the house and 76 acres from the descendants of Martha McNeely Dickey.  In 1988, the cabin was moved from its original location to the Kings Mountain State Park where you can step inside the building, which now serves as the park office.

Location: Kings Mountain State Park, Clover, South Carolina

Explore South Carolina: Dickey-Sherer House 

Remember When

This is a slide presentation of family photos that I posted years ago on YouTube:

Remember When

Mt. Zion on Sugar Creek

Several years ago, a Country duo named "The Civil Wars" filmed a music video for their hit "Barton Hollow" at the place where many of my McMasters ancestors are buried. The Mt. Zion Church and Cemetery, on the banks of Sugar Creek, along with the old swinging bridge that is suspended over the creek appear prominently in the video. My fourth Great Grandfather William David McMasters dropped dead in that Church in 1894! Anyway, I'm posting a link to the video - enjoy!

YouTube - Barton Hollow