I’ve introduced you to my grandmother in this blog before.

Me with my grandmother about 15 years ago. I was telling her this really dirty joke, and she was laughing so hard the swing started to crack. She died not long after this photo was taken. I miss her terribly.

My beloved Mamaw was Catherine Cecilia Brady. She was a hoot and a half. She was also one tough cookie: A badass IRS auditor (the only woman in that office, who also became the manager of said office in the 1940s), a great cook, and a woman who took care of everybody.

She was a great storyteller, and keeper of my family’s history. After she died, I was given her genealogy papers (she kept extensive family tree information for her side of the family, along with supporting documents, letters, certificates, the family Bible, and so forth).

I was going through one of the boxes this weekend, and came across a notation about Mathew Brady, and that we (my grandmother, mother, myself) were somehow related to him.

Mathew Brady, 1875. Brady is buried in Congressional Cemetery. He’s said to haunt that place because he is still angry at Congress for reneging on a photo deal. Source: LOC Prints and Photographs Division.

Whoa. Related to THE Mathew Brady, Father of Photojournalism.

When I was a teenager, I remember my mother talking about this, and I never thought to question it.

Now that I am in middle age, and I have power of technology and (I think) above average sleuthing skills, I had to confirm this.

I put aside poor old Emmett (sorry, fella), and dug in.

What I found was this:

My grandmother was not related to him.

But I am, by marriage. Check it out:

A threadbare connection! Source: Geni.com

I showed this to my husband (who is also interested in genealogy); he considers this barely a connection — but interesting family lore, considering this was an old story passed around by my side of the family. It’s too bad I can’t share this information with Mamaw. She’d have loved all of this genealogy research, even though this disproves that old family story.

However…

I did find something else interesting in this side research excursion. Here I was (at my desk), looking through the list of U.S. Presidents, and I thought I’d check on a few things.

Here’s who I’m related to:

Meet my cousin. Martin Van Buren. Source: Geni.com

True dat. Fourth cousin Martin V.B. of the awesome sideburns. Kin.

Source: Geni.com

Finally. An explanation for my lack of height.

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And now, back to the manuscript!

Categories: Family Interesting & Odd

Tagged as: congressional cemetery Martin Van Buren Mathew Brady

jsmith532

Professor,
Communication, Arts, and the Humanities
The University of Maryland Global Campus