Our Linkage to "Celebrities"

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Eleven Degrees or More from Greatness

Now for a light-hearted look at genealogy.  By now you have read most of our family history and discovered how dry it can be.  Digging through your family history can be frustrating at times, but there are some fun elements to it as well.  So we take a short side trip through Never-Never Land and show how the Smith family is related to many famous people both living and dead.  

The first section, ‘Fact or Fiction’, looks at the Roy family.  Here we read about their claim to be relatives of many famous kings, queens, saints and sinners.  Although the list is extensive, I chose only to show a few of these famous souls.  How are we related to this family you ask?  This is our family line starting from John William Smith:  John Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Antoine Turgeon -> Louis Turgeon -> Elisabeth (Roy) Turgeon.   Elisabeth Roy married our great ancestor, Zacharie Turgeon.  Sometimes her name is shown as ‘LeRoy’.  ‘Roi’ in French means ‘King’ and ‘Le Roi’ means ‘The King’. 

The second section, “Celine, Madonna, Camilla”, describes how we are related to Celine Dion, Madonna and Camilla Parker-Bowles.  Now you may think this trio as the odd triplets, but there is a distant relationship between them.  While we can show you how the Smith family is distantly related to these three, it should be understood that this may not be unusual.  The joke is every French Canadian is related to Celine Dion, and that may explain her popularity there. 

One website suggests the Roy family is related to many noble houses of ancient and medieval Europe.  Most names were unfamiliar and probably lost to history; however, the Roy family saw fit to list every one of these ancient relatives.  It reminded me of the guy who claimed he could show a direct link between himself and the biblical Adam.  Tongue in cheek another gentleman stated he had definitive proof of his relationship to Zeus (through Electra).  Was either man correct?  For that matter is the Roy family full of baloney?  We do not know; however, we think you will still enjoy seeing and reading about their ancestry.  

Terry Smith looked at the Roy family website and was humbled by it all.  He reminded me of something the famous sage, Mel Brooks, once said, “I’m a Prince.  I’m a real honest to goodness Prince!”   I seem to remember the line ‘It’s good to be King!”   Charlemagne caught Terry’s eye. 

The Roy family does claim to be descended from Norman lords.  I have listed some of the names found on the Roy family list identified as their ancestors.  This is probably all conjecture but I include it here because it makes for interesting reading.  Also, next time you are at a cocktail party and things get dull, just mention a few of these ‘relatives’ and see the sparks fly! 

Adelaide of Blois¹ (F)
b. about 1140, d. 24 June 1206

Theobald IV "the Great" Count of Blois and Champagne^1,2,3 (M)
b. 1090, d. 8 January 1152

Charlemagne Emperor of the West¹ (M)
b. 2 April 747, d. 28 January 814

Ingegard of Sweden¹ (F)
b. about 1001, d. 10 February 1050

Baldwin II King of Jerusalem¹ (M)
b. about 1058, d. 21 August 1131

Robert Count of d'Évreux, Archbishop of Rouen¹ (M)
b. 964, d. 16 March 1037

Adele of Normandy Princess of England^1,2,3 (F)
b. about 1062, d. 8 March 1138

Stephen of Blois King of England^1,2 (M)
b. 1095, d. 25 October 1154

Robert III "Curthose" Duke of Normandy^1,2 (M)
b. about 1054, d. 1134  (Son of William the Conqueror)

Ogive of Luxembourg¹ (F)
b. about 995, d. 21 February 1030

Charles II "the Bald" King of France¹ (M)
b. 13 June 828, d. 6 October 877

Bernard King of Italy¹ (M)
b. about 797, d. 17 April 818

Saint Mechtilde von Ringelheim¹ (F)
b. between 890 and 900, d. 14 March 968

Otto II Emperor of the West¹ (M)
b. between 954 and 955, d. 7 December

Saint Louis IX King of France¹ (M)
b. 25 April 1215, d. 25 August 1270 r 983

Louis II "the Stammerer" Holy Roman Emperor¹ (M)
b. 1 September 846, d. 10 April 879

Isabella of Aragon¹ (F)
b. 1243 or 1247, d. 28 January 1271

Frederick I "Barbarossa" Emperor of Germany¹ (M)
b. 1122, d. 10 June 1190

Ercc King of Dalriada in Northern Ireland¹ (M)
b. about 400, d. 474

Saint Clodulf Bishop of Metz¹ (M)
b. 596, d. 8 June 696 (One of many bishops they claim as ancestors.  Very odd.)

Saint Vladimir I Grand Prince of Kiev, and Duke of Novgorod¹ (M)
b. about 955, d. 15 July 1015 

AD NAUSEUM……… 

The Celine Dion Connections

This is something a bit different and you may find it fun to read.  Is it possible we are distantly related to Celine Dion, Madonna and Camilla Parker-Bowles?  Perhaps the bigger question should be this.  Who in Quebec is not distantly related to these three people?  After all, the early New France colonists were nothing if not prolific.  They had large families whose offspring intermarried at least one time within the early French families.  The following graphs show how the Smith family is related to three famous people.  What is unusual is there are many ways that we can show our relationship to this pop singer, and these relationships are shown here.

We are related to Celine Dion through the following Guyon family tree.  Guyon is this family’s ancestral name.  Sometime in the mid-eighteenth century the Guyon family changed their surname to Dion.  Why did they change their name?  I do not know, but I bet that story must be interesting! 

So how are we related to the Guyon (Dion) family?  The following shows our relationship descending from John William Smith to the earliest Guyon surname recorded, Jean Guyon.

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Joseph Baucher – Morency -> Guillaume Baucher-Morency -> Marie (Paradis) Baucher-Morency -> Barbe (Guyon) Paradis -> Jean Guyon.  Dorothee Baucher-Morency married our great ancestor, Antoine Turgeon.  The names following Dorothee are from her family line.  Jean Guyon married Mathurine Robin in France.

The following Guyon family tree shows the link from Jean Guyon and Mathurine Robin to Celine Dion.

 We are also related to Celine Dion through the Letartre and Goulet families.  So, how are we related to this family?  You may remember the following genealogy list starting from John William Smith descending to the Letartre/ Goulet family. 

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Genevieve (Huot) Baucher-Morency -> Jacques Huot-Saint Laurent -> Marie (Letartre) Huot -> Rene Letartre.  Rene Letartre married Louise Anne Goulet.

The following Letartre/Goulet family tree shows the link between Rene Letartre and Celine Dion. 

 We are also related to Celine Dion through the Trudel family.  Again, the descending list shows how John Smith is related to Jean Trudel, the earliest Trudel on record. 

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Genevieve (Huot) Baucher-Morency -> Angelique (Trudel) Huot-Saint Laurent -> Pierre Trudel -> Jean Trudel.  Jean Trudel married Marguerite Thomas.

The following Trudel family tree shows the link from Jean Trudel to Celine Dion. 

 We are related to Celine Dion through the Jean Roussin and Madeleine Giguere family tree.  The following shows our family line linking John Smith with Jean Roussin. 

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Joseph Baucher – Morency -> Guillaume Baucher-Morency -> Marie (Baucher-Morency) Asselin -> Louis (Roussin) Asselin -> Jean Roussin and Madeleine Giguere.  The Asselin family also claims to be distant cousins to Celine Dion; however, I have not found the linkage. 

The following family tree shows the link between Jean Roussin to Celine Dion. 

 Turgeon Relationship to Celine Dion? 

Is there a direct link between the Turgeons and Celine Dion?  So far I have not seen a link but suspect it could be found with more snooping. 

The Madonna Connections

So how are we related to the Madonna through the Guyon (Dion) family?  This is similar to a list you saw previously for Celine Dion.  The following shows our relationship descending from John William Smith to the earliest Guyon surname recorded, Jean Guyon.

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Joseph Baucher – Morency -> Guillaume Baucher-Morency -> Marie (Paridis) Baucher-Morency -> Barbe (Guyon) Paradis -> Jean Guyon.  Dorothee Baucher-Morency married our great ancestor, Antoine Turgeon.  The names following Dorothee are from her family line.  Jean Guyon married Mathurine Robin in France.

The following Guyon family tree shows the linkage from Jean Guyon to Celine Dion. 

 We are also related to Madonna through the Trudel family.  Again, the descending list shows how John Smith is related to Jean Trudel, the earliest Trudel on record. 

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Genevieve (Huot) Baucher-Morency -> Angelique (Trudel) Huot-Saint Laurent -> Pierre Trudel -> Jean Trudel.  Jean Trudel married Marguerite Thomas.

The following Trudel family tree shows the link from Jean Trudel to Madonna. 

 We are related to Madonna through the Jean Roussin and Madeleine Giguere family tree.  The following shows our family line linking John Smith with Jean Roussin. 

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Joseph Baucher – Morency -> Guillaume Baucher-Morency -> Marie (Baucher-Morency) Assellin -> Louis (Roussin) Asselin -> Jean Roussin and Madeleine Giguere.   

The following family tree shows the link between Jean Roussin to Madonna. 

Turgeon Relationship to Madonna? 

Is there a relationship between the Turgeon family and Madonna?  I could only find one relationship and it is as follows: 

Charles Turgeon and Pasquiere Lefebvre                   Nicolas Roy                Jeanne Lelievre

                        |__________________________________________| 

                                                                        | 

                                                Zacharie Turgeon (1664 – 1743)

                                                (Elisabeth Isabelle Roy) (1671 - ?)

                                                                        | 

                                                Genevieve Marie Turgeon (1707 - ?)

                                                (Joseph Couillard) (1693 – 1755)

                                                                        | 

                                                Marguerite Couillard (1736 – 1793)

                                                (Guay, Jean Baptiste)

                                                                        | 

                                                Guay, Joseph

                                                (Genevieve Lacroix)

                                                                        | 

                                                Marguerite Guay (1805 – 1852)

                                                (Laurent Coulombe) (1805 – 1850)

                                                                        |

                                                Rose Alice Coulombe

                                                (Charles LaJoie) (1829 – 1899)

                                                                        |

                                                Rose Lajoie (1869 - ?)

                                                (Narcisse Fortin) (1869 – 1903)

                                                                        | 

                                                Willard Fortin (1903 – 1959)

                                                Elsie Fortin (1911- ?)

                                                                        |

                                                Madonna Louise Fortin (1932 – 1963)

                                                Silvio Anthony Ciccone (1931 - ?)

                                                                        |

                                                Madonna Louise Veronica Esther Ciccone (Madonna) (1958 - ) 

The Camilla Parker-Bowles Connection 

Finally, you will see how we are related to Camilla Parker-Bowles.  No longer living in sin, Camilla now is one step away from the English crown. 

We are related to Camilla through the following Guyon family tree.  Guyon is this family’s ancestral name.  Sometime in the mid-eighteenth century the Guyon family changed their surname to Dion.  So how are we related to the Guyon (Dion) family?  The following shows our relationship descending from John William Smith to the earliest Guyon surname recorded, Jean Guyon.

John William Smith -> Mary (Turgeon) Smith -> Phileas Turgeon -> Cesaire Turgeon -> Francois Xavier Turgeon -> Dorothee (Baucher-Morency) Turgeon -> Joseph Baucher – Morency -> Guillaume Baucher-Morency -> Marie (Paridis) Baucher-Morency -> Barbe (Guyon) Paradis -> Jean Guyon.  Dorothee Baucher-Morency married our great ancestor, Antoine Turgeon.  The names following Dorothee are from her family line.  Jean Guyon married Mathurine Robin in France.

The following Guyon family tree shows the link from Jean Guyon and Mathurine Robin to Celine Dion. 

 Finally, there is one other connection that I did not include because it shows a connection to the Zacharie Clouture family and Smith family via a cousin.  Camilla and Celine are also descended from this Clouture family line.

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