Taylor Swift’s ancestors: an opera singer and a seafaring engineer
2 min read
·
Apr 25, 2024
??
Good morning to the Taylor Swift
earworm
that might be stuck in your head this week
Today: Swiftian ancestry, life on O.J. Simpson’s block, and everyday magic
By
Many of Taylor Swift’s fans know that “
Marjorie
” ? a haunting ballad on her ninth album,
Evermore
? is dedicated to the opera singer
Marjorie Finlay
, Swift’s maternal grandmother. Finlay’s career as a soprano in the 1950s and ’60s led her to Cuba, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, where she emceed a TV show (
El Show Pan-Americano
) and sang in hotels and social clubs.
On Medium, genealogist
digs
even deeper
into
The
Tortured Poets Department
creator’s ancestry, uncovering birth certificates and immigration records that tell the story of Swift’s great-grandfather George Finlay (Marjorie’s father-in-law).
An engineer who
patented the concrete pile
(a long pole driven into the ground to support a structure), Finlay was a colorful character. He was born at sea en route from Cape Town to London ? his mother was once married to a customs official for the British Empire, so this family traveled the globe. He lived in at least five U.S. states and Trinidad, nicknamed himself “Lancelot,” and was married four times.
Smolenyak concludes: “
this portion of Taylor’s family tree… seems to have injected wanderlust into her gene pool, a trait she apparently inherited.
”
TTPD
alone includes songs about “
Florida!!!
” and
London
, and Swift is known for painting
vivid lyrical portraits of places she’s been
.
What else we’re reading
- Retired medical doctor
argues that mistaking correlation for causation led most of the medical establishment to perpetuate the
false belief
that cholesterol is categorically bad for your heart. Mokotoff explains: “
Although eating cholesterol and other fats plays
some
role in heart disease, in moderation, some play a helpful role in maintaining a balanced diet and weight control.
” As with anything, balance is key.
- O.J. Simpson passed away last month at age 76. Here’s
reflecting on
what it was like to live down the block from O.J.’s condo
during the double-murder trial in the ’90s. It’s an eerie look back in time, and a meditation on how notoriety brought all of O.J.’s neighbors together ? including Gloria Stuart (best known for playing Old Rose in
Titanic
), who lived across the street from where Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were killed.
Your daily dose of practical wisdom (about everyday magic)
If you’re feeling uninspired, tune into
everyday magic
. Step one: notice the tiniest details. “The place I live is as wondrous as anywhere on the planet,” writes
, “so long as I remember to look at it...”
