Ancestry of
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice
Who was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.?
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He is said to be one of the most widely cited U.S. Supreme Court justices and The Journal of Legal Studies claims he is the third most cited American legal scholar of the 20th century. He retired from the court at the age of 90 as the oldest member of the court in its history.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was the son of American poet Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. He was a veteran of the Civil War having been wounded in three separate battles. During his career, Holmes also served as an Associate Justice and as the Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an alumni of Harvard Law School and later held the professorial position of Weld Professor of Law at the school.
Famous Kin
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. has a very extensive New England ancestry which gives him a very large number of famous kin. His father, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. was a well known American poet. Other well known poets in his family tree include Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales, Robert Frost, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The latter two were also friends of his father. He also has family ties to the infamous Salem Witch Trials. This includes John Proctor, executed as a witch in 1692, and William Stoughton, chief judge and prosecutor at the trials.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.’s ancestry can be traced backed as far as King Edward I and at least five Magna Carta Surities. Other royal connections include the late Princess Diana, Princess of Wales, Leka I, King of Albania, and Ferdinand II, King of Spain. Presidential kin include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, William Henry Harrison, Chester Arthur, William H. Taft, Benjamin Harrison, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, and both Presidents Bush.
Some of the most recently added connections of famous kin for Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Thomas J. Watson, Jr.
President and CEO of I.B.M.
16th cousin 5 times removed
via Eleanor Plantagenet
A. Bartlett Giamatti
Major League Baseball Commissioner
16th cousin 2 times removed
via Richard Fitzalan
Mary Winthrop Gooding
Prolific Mayflower Descendant
14th cousin 1 time removed
via Elizabeth Fitzalan
View entire list of famous kin for Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Please note: The ancestor reports on this website have been compiled from thousands of different sources, many over 100 years old. These sources are attached to each ancestor so that you can personally judge their reliability. As with any good genealogical research, if you discover a link to your own family tree, consider it a starting point for further research. It is always preferable to locate primary records where possible. FamousKin.com cannot and does not guarantee the accuracy and reliability of these sources.