Megan Smolenyak, whom nobody would call a genealogical grouch, writes a pointed article in the Huffington Post Enough With the Famous Cousins Already! The same thought occurred the other day when I read a press release that two pop celebrities are tenth cousins. That release could properly have noted the surprising fact that they are more distantly related than they are to most others on this continent and are likely more closely related to notorious mass murderers.
Take Robert William Pickton, born October 24, 1949 at Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, notorious serial murderer. If you have the names Arnal, Bailey, Barkley, Cuddy, Emerton, Hacking, Huggins, or Shea in your family tree you may be related. Don't despair. The relationship is likely as distant, and meaningless, as the relationships trumpeted in the press releases.
Megan's article also struck a chord with Dick Eastman http://goo.gl/G1Nts
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