For those unfamiliar, WikiTree is where genealogists collaborate to build one big family tree together. It has great tools for collaboration and one fun aspect of it is their challenges.
They do a weekly WikiTree Challenge connecting famous people to the larger tree and building out more connections to them. This week’s challenge was American actor Tom Cruise, who recently had great success starring in Top Gun: Maverick.
I’ve been part of these challenges before. It’s fun to contribute. This week was extra fun, as I learned I’m a distant cousin to Cruise himself!
Before writing this, I verified each chain in the link, checking sources to make sure there was no doubt, and it is now confirmed. We’re 9th cousins, 1x removed.
We’re related through our Moms. Specifically, it’s our maternal grandmothers that lead to the link, both of whom have ancestry in Alsace, France.
The first fun discovery is when I saw he had Alsace ancestry. Checking his pedigree with mine, I quickly saw familiar places. Here’s our ancestral hometowns on a map – my ancestors’ towns red squares, his yellow circles, & places we BOTH have ancestry orange diamonds.
Then it was off to checking names. One “brick wall” in the challenge, Julienne (Grossell) Acker, caught my eye. Both her maiden name & married name sounded familiar to me. Sure enough, I checked my tree & she was there. My 2nd cousin, several times removed.
To Tom Cruise, that’s his 5th great-grandmother. Just like that, I knew we were related. Our common link: the Dahlmann family of Hermerswiller, Alsace. But as stated, I still wanted to double check the trail to make sure it was rock solid.
I had only one “leap” in my tree that had very strong evidence, but still needed proof. But by the end of last night, I had the proof I needed.
The issue: In 10+ years of research, I hadn’t yet found a document to prove that my 7th great-grandmother Marie Madeleine Griesbach was the daughter of Jean Michel Griesbach & Anne Marie Dahlmann. I had plenty of circumstantial evidence. Godparents of her children, godparents of other Griesbachs, and other birth, marriage & death records all supported that she was part of their immediate family; she fit the timeline, place, etc. to be their child. I still needed one more record.
A key record that should list her parents would be her marriage, around 1745-1748. But I checked all of the Catholic church records years ago in the vicinity of her hometown (town is red diamond below, churches the yellow crosses) & it was nowhere to be found.
FamilySearch.org has been busy indexing new records recently, so I tried a search there, and there it was!
Married on 30 January 1748, Philipp Langenbronn, son of Johannes Langenbronn and Barbara Loesch, to Magdalena Griesbach, daughter of Michael Griesbach and Anna Maria Dalmann. [Source]
Why couldn’t I find it before? It was in the “rural chapters” of the parish books of Haguenau, 23km (14 miles) from the hometown, at the bottom of the map above. I would have never thought to look there.
It turns out, she actually married in Soultz-sous-Forets, the cross to the left of her hometown above, but those marriage records went missing over the years for the timeframe in question. Haguenau had duplicates of those original records in their “rural chapters” book. So there it was.
Sure enough, her parents are identified clearly on the record as Michel Griesbach & Anne Marie Dahlmann. The same Anne Marie Dahlmann who was the half-sister (different mothers) of Marie Barbara (Dahlmann) Schaeffer, Tom Cruise’s direct ancestor, grandmother of Julienne (Grossel) Acker.
My Mom’s Mom & Tom’s Mom were 8th cousins, both born in the 1930s in the United States, and both descended of Jean Jacques Dahlmann (Thalmann), who died in 1735 in Hermerswiller at age 91. That’s the link. And the rest is history.
Here is exactly how we’re related-
Common ancestor: Jean-Jacques Dahlmann (Thalmann)
My 9th great-grandfather, Tom Cruise’s 8th great-grandfather
MY FAMILY’S BRANCH
Daughter: Anne-Marie Dahlmann, born 1688, married Jean-Michel Griesbach
Daughter: Marie-Madeleine Griesbach, born c1725, married Philipp Langenbronn
Son: Jean-Michel Langenbronn, born 1748, married Elisabeth Schilinger
Daughter: Marie-Madeleine Langenbronn, born 1785, married François-Gallus Studi
Daughter: Barbe Studi, born 1813, married Nicolas Übelhör — immigrated to Williamsville, NY USA
Daughter: Barbe Übelhör, born 1838, married John Beaser — immigrated to Williamsville, NY USA
Son: Andrew Beaser, born 1863, married Magdalena Klein
Daughter: Frances Beaser, born 1905, married Howard Grundtisch
Daughter: Lois Grundtisch, born 1937 — my grandmother
TOM CRUISE’S BRANCH
Daughter: Marie-Barbe Dahlmann, born 1698, married Jean-Jacques Schaeffer
Daughter: Marie-Eve Schaeffer, born 1725, married Jean-Martin Grossell
Daughter: Julienne Grossell, born 1764, married Jean Adam Acker
Daughter: Madeleine Acker, born 1792, married Jean Merckel
Son: Georges Merckel, born 1817, married Barbe Schütz — immigrated to Indiana, USA
Daughter: Catherine Merkel, born 1847, married George Ramser
Son: Joseph Ramser, born 1870, married Susan Mackey
Daughter: Camala Ramser, born 1896, married Charles Pfeiffer
Daughter: Mary Pfeiffer, born 1936
Son: Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (Tom Cruise), born 1962 — my 9th cousin, 1 time removed
Craig Kanalley 
79 responses to “The Cruise Connection: WikiTree Challenge Establishes Distant Relation To Tom Cruise”
25-06 ammo
[…]here are some links to web pages that we link to mainly because we consider they’re really worth visiting[…]
LikeLike
weight loss injection
[…]please visit the websites we stick to, including this a single, as it represents our picks from the web[…]
LikeLike
6.5 grendel ammo
[…]usually posts some incredibly exciting stuff like this. If you are new to this site[…]
LikeLike
sicarios madrid
[…]although internet websites we backlink to beneath are considerably not associated to ours, we feel they’re basically really worth a go via, so have a look[…]
LikeLike
SaaS Contracts Attorney
[…]we like to honor numerous other online web sites around the web, even though they arent linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages really worth checking out[…]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]The info talked about inside the article are a number of the best obtainable […]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[…]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]very handful of internet websites that transpire to be comprehensive below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine some unrelated data, nevertheless genuinely really worth taking a look, whoa did 1 master about Mid East has got more problerms at the same time […]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]we prefer to honor quite a few other online internet sites around the internet, even if they arent linked to us, by linking to them. Beneath are some webpages worth checking out[…]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a couple of unrelated data, nonetheless actually worth taking a appear, whoa did a single discover about Mid East has got far more problerms also […]
LikeLike
itsMasum.Com
[…]Here are some of the web sites we suggest for our visitors[…]
LikeLike
salaire ingénieur suisse
[…]one of our visitors just lately suggested the following website[…]
LikeLike
apprendre le code
[…]that could be the finish of this article. Right here youll obtain some web pages that we assume you will enjoy, just click the links over[…]
LikeLike
catégorie de logiciels malveillants
[…]Sites of interest we’ve a link to[…]
LikeLike
mail frauduleux gendarmerie
[…]although web-sites we backlink to below are considerably not related to ours, we really feel they may be really really worth a go via, so possess a look[…]
LikeLike
deux catégories de logiciel malveillant
[…]the time to read or pay a visit to the content material or sites we’ve linked to beneath the[…]
LikeLike
FÜHRERSCHEIN SCHWEIZ (CH)
[…]check below, are some entirely unrelated web-sites to ours, even so, they’re most trustworthy sources that we use[…]
LikeLike
Nangs delivery
[…]we came across a cool web-site that you could get pleasure from. Take a look when you want[…]
LikeLike
quick nangs delivery
[…]The data mentioned in the article are several of the top available […]
LikeLike
nangs delivery in Sydney
[…]Wonderful story, reckoned we could combine a few unrelated information, nevertheless seriously really worth taking a appear, whoa did one particular learn about Mid East has got extra problerms as well […]
LikeLike
Plombier Tours
[…]although web sites we backlink to below are considerably not associated to ours, we really feel they are truly worth a go via, so have a look[…]
LikeLike
link
[…]Here are some of the web sites we advocate for our visitors[…]
LikeLike
website
[…]please stop by the web-sites we adhere to, which includes this 1, as it represents our picks in the web[…]
LikeLike
itsmasum.com
[…]we came across a cool web site which you may well get pleasure from. Take a appear if you want[…]
LikeLike
online stranger chat
[…]just beneath, are several entirely not related internet sites to ours, nevertheless, they are certainly really worth going over[…]
LikeLike
talkwithstangers
[…]Here are several of the web pages we advocate for our visitors[…]
LikeLike
itsmasum.com
[…]we came across a cool web site that you may well enjoy. Take a appear should you want[…]
LikeLike
frenchie for sale texas
[…]usually posts some very intriguing stuff like this. If youre new to this site[…]
LikeLike