Actor Edward Norton discovered he has a really well-known ancestor — Pocahontas.
On the PBS present “Discovering Your Roots,” during which host Henry Louis Gates reveals the family tree of celebrities, Norton was instructed Pocahontas is his twelfth great-grandmother. The actor was shocked.
“I perceive that was household lore,” Gates says. “Properly, it’s completely true.”
Norton, recognized for movies like “American Historical past X” and “Birdman,” requested Gates how he may decide the relation, and the host replied: “By the paper path.”
Gates defined that there’s a report of Pocahontas and John Rolfe marrying on April 5, 1614, in Jamestown, Virginia. By different paperwork, Gates stated, Norton’s family tree could possibly be traced again to them.
“That is about way back to you possibly can go,” Gates stated. To place into perspective simply how way back that was, he added that William Shakespeare died two years after Pocahontas and Rolfe married.
“This simply makes you notice what a small piece of the entire human story you might be,” Norton stated.
Pocahontas, born round 1596, was the daughter of Wahunsenaca, the paramount chief of the Powhatan Chiefdom, which had a inhabitants of about 25,000 at its top, in response to the Nationwide Park Service.
In response to the writings of Captain John Smith, Pocahontas saved his life after he had been captured by the Powhatan and was set to be executed. Earlier than he could possibly be killed, in Smith’s telling, Pocahontas positioned her head on prime of his, stopping his execution. There may be, nonetheless, some historic debate as as to whether this occasion ever actually occurred, the park service notes.
After later being captured by the English, Pocahontas met widower John Rolfe and the 2 married. In 1614, she transformed to Christianity, was baptized “Rebecca,” and the pair had a child named Thomas. The household moved to England in 1616.
A number of different celebrities have discovered attention-grabbing genealogical surprises by way of “Discovering Your Roots.” Christopher Meloni of “Legislation and Order: SVU” fame discovered he was associated to Nancy Pelosi. TV persona and producer Andy Cohen is a distant relative of Scarlette Johansson. Glenn Shut discovered she is expounded to each Princess Diana and Clint Eastwood. “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King discovered about her circle of relatives tree in a 2021 episode.
Norton’s episode, which additionally featured Julia Roberts, kicked off Season 9 of the present on Tuesday.
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