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10 Things You Didn't Know about Rachel Maddow's Roots

Without further ado, here are some snippets of Ms. Maddow's family history.
Megan Smolenyak
By 

genealogical adventurer and storyteller

genealogical adventurer and storyteller
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2012-10-02-MaddowSmitsnatSmolenyak.jpgDeclaration of Intention (to become a citizen) for Rachel Maddow's great-grandfather, John Smits

The g-word -- genealogy -- has popped up recently on The Rachel Maddow Show, prompted by Scott Brown's fixation on Elizabeth Warren's heritage. I've written previously about my head-scratching over this manufactured issue, but as both a genealogist and TRMS viewer, I suppose it was inevitable that I would eventually peek into Rachel's past, and the mere mention of my profession on her show was enough to trigger a little sleuthing on my part. So without further ado, here are some snippets of Ms. Maddow's family history:

  • I wonder if Scott Brown would be able to tell that Rachel Maddow is one-quarter Dutch and one-half Canadian (with roots extending back mainly to Ireland and England). The remaining quarter of her ancestors were Jewish and self-identified as Russian and Polish at the time of their arrival in the U.S., but by today's borders, their old country hometowns are located in Ukraine and Lithuania.

  • If you have any of the following surnames in your family tree, you could be related to Rachel: Bakker, Berhardt, Codnor, Cole, Goss(e), Israelowitz, Keijzer, Kelly, Maddow, Matuk, McGrath, Smits and, my personal favorite, van Ravenswaaij.

  • Like many of us, Rachel is sporting a modified version of her family's original surname. Her Maddow great-great-grandfather came here with four young sons from Poltava, Ukraine. Their name at the time? Medwedof.

  • Her Dutch-born great-grandfather, John Smits, did whatever it took to make a living. Among his occupations over the years were conductor, electrician, merchant for a "grocer store," shipping clerk for a silk mill, and watchman for a print works.

  • 1973 must have been a special year for Rachel's Canadian-born mother. She became an American citizen, and less than a month later, gave birth to Rachel.

  • Ms. Maddow had a great-grandmother named Sarah Bernhardt, but no, it wasn't that Sarah Bernhardt.

  • Her Dutch great-grandmother was 10 years old when she arrived with her family at Ellis Island in 1892, the same year it opened. By the age of 22, she was tragically widowed when her husband died from "perforation of bowels following typhoid fever." She supported her young family as a confectioner making candy, finally remarrying and eventually having seven daughters.

  • The place on the planet that holds the highest cousin density for Rachel is the vicinity of Torbay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. This predominantly Catholic half of her family tree has had large families for generations (my research indicates that her mother is one of eight children), resulting in numerous close and distant cousins for Ms. Maddow.

  • In terms of the Netherlands, it's Leeuwarden, Friesland and Dirksland, Zuid-Holland Rachel should visit if she ever wants to walk in her ancestors' footsteps.

  • Rachel's father apparently has the ability to predict family history. When she was 23, he said of his daughter, "She'll never run for elective office or anything like that, but she will do something with her drive and her ability to focus, and she's incredibly articulate and a really fun kid at the same time." Now we all know.
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