52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 15-Unexpected
Prompt: What have you found that you didn’t expect? Have you ever found something in an unexpected place? Or maybe you were surprised to find out a family story was actually true!
My maternal grandfather’s surname was Harding. From the time I began researching my family tree, family members told me that there was some connection to my grandfather and President Warren G. Harding. I’ve never found such a connection. The former president’s direct ancestors can be traced back to Pennsylvania while my Harding ancestors came to this country much later, immigrating to Kansas directly from England.
I did not find a connection to that famous person, but there have been several times in my research that a famous ancestor has found me. I’ve found an ancestor with a combination of first and surname that gives me pause. “No! Could it be?!” I think to myself. And sometimes, it really is the famous person the name made me think of: definitely not what I was expecting.
To use a music theory term, it’s as though I’ve come to a “deceptive cadence.”
When a composer uses this harmonic device, it sets up a situation where the ear “expects” to hear the usual harmonic progression—the V chord resolving to the I chord—but another very different chord is substituted—one that prevents the V chord from resolving. The phrase lacks a certain “closure,” if you will.
I don’t think there’s any genealogy researcher who doesn’t get a visceral thrill upon discovering that he or she is related to someone famous. I’m not sure how one is able to tout this information publicly without it coming off as an anecdotal non sequitur. I’m reminded of the expression, “With that and ten cents, you can get a cup of coffee.”—an old expression, made obscenely obvious just walking into a Starbucks today.
Regardless of the lack of any rights and privileges conferred by such a discovery, it’s still a delightfully unexpected surprise. That is, unless one has found a serial killer, a member of the Nazi party, or someone equally unsavory in the family tree.
A professional musician myself, I share with you some famous musicians to whom I’m related in some way.
The “Hollywood Cathcarts”
I have previously written about these talented brothers. The four Cathcarts were all extremely talented musicians and attended the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, a well-known and highly regarded music school. They all studied jazz and ended up going to Hollywood and finding jobs and meeting spouses there.
- John Wylie “Jack” Cathcart, Jr. (1912-1989) A trumpet player, he played with the Artie Shaw Orchestra.
- James Edward “Jimmy” Cathcart (1916-1970). The namesake of the brothers’ big band that performed at all of the Big Ten universities and other colleges, Jimmy was a violinist. From IU, he went on to play with Ray Noble and his Orchestra and, later, with Stan Kenton.
- Thomas “Tom” Matthew Cathcart (1920-2010) Tom played drums with Alvino Rey’s Orchestra, featuring the King Sisters.
- Charles Richard “Dick” Cathcart (1924-1993) A trumpet player, Dick was a member of the Army Air Force Radio Orchestra during World War II. He later performed with such big band names as Ray McKinley, Alvino Rey, and Bob Crosby. He played in the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, appearing on the Lawrence Welk television show.
The brothers married other popular musical entertainers on the Hollywood scene. Jimmy and Tom Cathcart married Mary Lyn Wilde and Marion Lee Wilde respectively. Mary Lyn and Marion performed together as The Wilde Twins. Dick Cathcart’s second marriage was to Peggy Lennon, one of the musical Lennon Sisters.
Jack, the oldest, was first married to Mary Ann Gumm who, along with her sisters, also performed at a very young age in vaudeville acts. The sisters eventually changed their names. Mary Ann became “Suzy Garland,” and her sister Frances Gumm became “Judy Garland.”
So, Jack Cathcart, my 4th cousin 2X removed, married the sister of Judy Garland, whose daughter is, of course, Liza Minelli. Liza just published a book, by the way, and is still going strong at the age of 80.
Below are two audio recordings. The first features Jack Cathcart’s trumpet playing and Judy Garland singing. The second features Judy Garland with the Jack Cathcart Orchestra. Additionally, there are a number of Judy Garland’s recordings on which Jack Cathcart is listed as the conductor.
Woody Guthrie (1912-1967)
My mother taught all her elementary music students–including me–the song “This Land Is Your Land.” She told us about the man who wrote the song—folk singer Woody Guthrie—and how he had lived in Oklahoma just like us but had to leave with his family because of the Dust Bowl. We learned how he wrote songs that were meant to lift the spirits of the poor, vagabonds—many of whom had gone to California to find work just as he and his family had, sharecroppers, and immigrants.
I was always interested in Woody Guthrie and how he used his music to show the plight of the common man, the downtrodden, and the marginalized. A card-carrying union member for 35 years, I admire all he did to support organized labor in particular. Upon discovering that we are distant cousins (6th cousins, 2X removed), I have made it a point to find out even more about his life and his music.
I have visited the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa many times and have delighted in their efforts to showcase Woody’s musical accomplishments and activism. In addition, the museum features rotating exhibitions, a concert series, and each year awards the Woody Guthrie Prize to “an artist who best exemplifies Woody Guthrie’s spirit and work by speaking for the less fortunate through music, film, literature, dance or other art forms and serving as a positive force for social change.” Past recipients include Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Bruce Springsteen.
I had the pleasure of seeing the exhibition “Woody Guthrie: People Are the Song” at the Morgan Library here in New York four years ago. Many of Woody’s notebooks, song sheets, correspondence, memorabilia, and instruments were on display.
The Dropkick Murphys wrote the music, but the lyrics to “Shippin’ Up to Boston” were written by none other than Woody Guthrie. The song became one of the band’s most well-known songs and was co-opted by Boston sports teams as a de facto anthem. Woody’s hand-written lyrics were among many items displayed in an exhibit at the Morgan Library.
Interestingly, it appears that Woody had not yet settled upon the specific choice of words for the opening line, writing “shippin’ up to,” “shipping off to,” and “shipping off for.”
Woody Guthrie carried this fiddle with him during World War II while serving with the Merchant Marines. After surviving two separate torpedo attacks, he wood-burned the ships’ names and locations (Normandy and Sicily) onto the instrument’s face. He also carved his name and the date-his birthdate, “7-14-45″—as well as the words “This machine killed 10 fascists.” The instrument was on display at the Morgan Library.
I used “This Land” as the basis of a musical contribution I made to a grass-roots effort to bring attention to racial injustice in the wake of the death of George Floyd. The Principal Clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic and my former MET Opera colleague, Anthony McGill, posted a heartfelt rendition of “America the Beautiful” to social media and challenged fellow musicians to create their own musical statement for an initiative he started called “Take Two Knees.”
Woody’s musical gifts were passed on to his son, Arlo Guthrie, whose children have had their own successful musical careers.
Dale Clevenger (1940-2022)
The Chicago Symphony has long enjoyed a justified reputation as one of the Big Five American orchestras. And, particularly when Georg Solti was their Music Director, it was known for its illustrious brass section in particular.
The Principal Horn from 1960 to 2013 was Dale Clevenger. From the time I entered music school I had heard about this horn player from brass students. His performances and recordings were the stuff of legend.
I met Dale Clevenger only once. He and I were both personally invited by Solti to perform in the first ever World Orchestra for Peace. This orchestra was comprised of hand-picked members of numerous orchestras, representing every nation that had formed the United Nations. The single concert given in Geneva marked the 50th anniversary of the founding of the U.N.
Although our paths never crossed again, I got in touch with him at some point after I had determined that we were related. I had discovered a Clevenger on my father’s side. On the remote chance that I might be able to find a connection, I began to build Dale’s tree back a few generations. It didn’t take long to find our common ancestor.
While I will continue to prioritize research of my more direct ancestors, the discovery of unexpected connections like these, no matter how remote, serves to remind me of our common humanity and the connections we have to one another that we may never even know about.
“Realize that everything connects to everything else.” — Leonardo da Vinci.
Top Photo: The author, standing in front of a large mural on the exterior of the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Thank you for sharing this, I enjoyed your self-accompanied video and found it very moving. I think the oboe’s tone is hauntingly evocative.
Thank you so much for reading AND listening, Barb!