Which Lady of Country Music are you most closely connected to?

Question

We're honoring the memory of recently deceased Naomi Judd, part of the mother-daughter country music duo The Judds, by featuring her in the Connection Finder this week.

Featured alongside Naomi are other remarkable ladies of country music:

• June Carter Cash
• Patsy Cline
• Mickey Guyton
• Loretta Lynn
• Rita MacNeil
• Reba McEntire
• Joy McKean
• Dolly Parton
• Minnie Pearl
• Kitty Wells

Which one is most closely connected to you? If you're one of the 25.9 million of us who are connected to each other on our big tree you can check with the Connection Finder.

You can check for shared ancestors with the Relationship Finder. Are you a cousin to any of them? Your Relationship Finder Quick Links page (see your profile pull-down menu under "Relationships") has quick links for several notable groups.

Special feature: Check out how you're connected to other notables by using the green MyConnections button in the upper right hand corner of the category page. Browse related categories like Grand Ole Opry, Country Music Hall of Fame, and Famous Singers of the 20th Century.

Let us know how you're related below! If you want to share your connection on social media with cousins and friends, click the "get shareable image" below the results, e.g. Patsy Cline and Naomi Judd. Then just upload it along with the URL of your direct connection. (Please refrain from sharing your connection on the featured profiles themselves, though. It clutters conversations on research and collaboration. Thanks!)

Help us with next week's Science Celebrities Feature by helping to choose and improve profiles for it.

Comments

8 degrees from Rita MacNeil thanks to my brother in law with his Cape Breton connection.

Answer 1

Hmmm, I noticed that I am cousins with June Carter Cash, Patsy Cline, and Reba McEntire almost on the same line! And indeed, Wikitree shows that Reba McEntire and Patsy Cline are cousins through the ancestors they share with me. Both are 10th cousins once removed from me. And I happen to have confirmed my own line to those ancestors with mtDNA.

Answer 2

I am most closely connected to Reba McEntire at 15 degrees of separation.

• 15 degrees from Reba McEntire
  • 1 branch (16) • 7C
• 18 degrees from Minnie Pearl
  • 3 branches (10-2-7) • 15C1R
• 18 degrees from Patsy Cline
  • 2 branches (3-16) • 15C2R
• 18 degrees from Valerie Cash
  • 3 branches (1-8-10) • 16C1R
• 19 degrees from Loretta Lynn
  • 4 branches (6-2-5-7) • 15C1R
• 19 degrees from Naomi Judd
  • 4 branches (10-3-2-5) • 16C1R
• 20 degrees from Dolly Parton
  • 4 branches (7-3-7-4) • 16C
• 21 degrees from Kitty Wright
  • 2 branches (11-11) • 18C1R
• 26 degrees from Joy Kirkpatrick
  • 7 branches (1-4-3-3-5-3-8)
• 27 degrees from Mickey Guyton
  • 9 branches (4-3-2-1-4-2-3-2-7)
• 36 degrees from Rita MacNeil
  • 7 branches (7-5-6-3-5-3-8)

Comments

Did you do the link colors and branches manually? Or do you have a plugin / script to do it?

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The colors I do manually.  The branches are computed by the WikiTree BEE Chrome browser extension.

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Thank you.

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Wow, thanks...lol, I have that little bee staring at me right now, need to use it more :)

Answer 3

In terms of connections Dolly Parton and Reba McIntire and 17 degrees each.  Others are up to 37 degrees away.

I'm amused to find that Dolly Parton is my 8th cousin with MRCA Joanna (Reeder) Green.  In fact 6 of the 11 are cousins this time, a record for me.

Answer 4

Wow! I am connected with and related to a number of these Ladies of Country Music:

20 degrees: Naomi Judd (10th cousins); June Carter Cash (14th cousin/1xr); Reba McEntire (19th cousins/3xr)

21 degrees: Patsy Cline (14th cousins); Loretta Lynn (20th cousins)

22 degrees: Dolly Parton (12th cousins)

Other non-related Ladies:

21 degrees: Minnie Pearl and Kitty Wright; 24 degrees: Joy Kirkpatrick; 30 degrees: Mickey Guyton; 34 degrees: Rita MacNeil

Comments

Same here!  And since you said that, I thought I'd check, and hey, we are 21C1R :)

Answer 5

14 degrees from Loretta Lynn, my closest connection, who is also a cousin--10th cousin, once removed.

Lots of cousins in this group--6 in all!  I wish my dear Daddy were alive, he would get a smile from this news.  

Patsy Cline--8th cousin, once removed

Dolly Parton--10th cousin

June Carter Cash--10th cousin, once removed

Naomi Judd--12th cousin, once removed

Reba McEntire--17th cousin

Answer 6

I am 16 degrees from both Patsy Cline and Dolly Parton.  Patsy Cline is also my 6th cousin, 3 times removed, and Dolly Parton is my 14th cousin, once removed.

More cousins from this group:

June Carter Cash--8th cousin, once removed

Naomi Judd--9th cousin, once removed

Loretta Lynn--13th cousin, once removed

Reba McEntire--19th cousin, once removed

Answer 7

16 degrees from Loretta Lynn (13th cousins)
16 degrees from Dolly Parton (11th cousins)
17 degrees from Valerie Cash (13th cousins, 2x removed)
18 degrees from Naomi Judd (10th cousins, 1x removed)
19 degrees from Patsy Cline (9th cousins, 4x removed)
19 degrees from Minnie Pearl
20 degrees from Reba McEntire (17th cousins, 1x removed)
21 degrees from Kitty Wright
26 degrees from Joy Kirkpatrick
28 degrees from Mickey Guyton
38 degrees from Rita MacNeil

Comments

My closest is Loretta Lynn at 14 degrees. Patsy Cline is at 17 degrees  and an 8th cousin.

Answer 8

• Naomi Judd - 9th cousins twice removed, 17 degrees, paternal
• June Carter Cash - 13th cousins three times removed, 17 degrees, maternal
• Patsy Cline - 9th cousins once removed, 17 degrees, maternal
• Mickey Guyton - 29 degrees
• Loretta Lynn - 13th cousins three times removed, 15 degrees, paternal
• Rita MacNeil - 33 degrees
• Reba McEntire - 19th cousins once removed, 22 degrees, maternal
• Joy McKean - 25 degrees
• Dolly Parton - 12th cousins twice removed, 20 degrees, maternal
• Minnie Pearl - 21 degrees
• Kitty Wells - 23 degrees

Answer 9

What I love about my answer to this is that I am related most directly to these women through my maternal lines. And to answer the question, I'm most related to Loretta Lynne (7th cousins twice removed) and June Carter Cash (9th cousins once removed).

Answer 10

June Carter Cash - 16c4r

Patsy Cline - 20c2r

Mickey Guyton - 32 degrees

Naomi Judd - 18c2r

Loretta Lynn - 13c1r

Rita MacNeil - 40 degrees

Reba McEntire - 17c4r

Joy MacKean - 26 degrees

Dolly Parton - 13c2r

Minnie Pearl - 22 degrees

Kitty Wells - 24 degrees

Answer 11

I am most closely connected to Dolly Parton and Kitty Wells at 23 degrees.

Answer 12

I am 16 degrees from June Cash (13th C, 3x r), 17 degrees from Patsy Cline (19th cousins), 26 degrees from Mickey Guyton, 17 degrees from Naomi Judd (22nd cousins), 15 degrees from Loretta Lynn(9th c 1x r), 37 degrees from Rita MacNeil, 20 degrees from Reba McEntire (20th cousins), 26 degrees from Joy Kirkpatrick, 19 degrees from Dolly Parton (19th cousins), 20 degrees from Minnie Pearl, 19 degrees from Kitty Wells and 30 degrees from Andrew Turvey(23rd cousins). 

Answer 13

15 degrees from Loretta Lynn. 10th cousin. MRCA Margaret (Osborne) Lockett (abt 1649 - bef 1708).

16 degrees from Valerie (Carter) Cash, 12th cousin twice removed. MRCA Helena (de Beauvoir) de Havilland (abt 1450 - ?). This relationship (thru the Pitt/Pitts) has been disproven by DNA testing, however, 16 degrees from her husband, Johnny Cash. 11th cousin once removed. MRCA Jane Semer (1534 - 1600).

16 degrees from Naomi Judd. 8th cousin once removed. MRCA Martha (?) Blankenship (abt 1670 - 1734).

16 degrees from Minnie Pearl.

17 degrees from Patsy Cline. 10th cousin. MRCA Elizabeth (Creel) Mott (1600 - Abt 1630).

17 degrees from Kathy Wright. 8th cousin. MRCA Sarah (Newman) Browne (abt 1670 - 1745).

18 degrees from Dolly Parton. 8th cousin once removed. MRCA Abraham Forrest (1675 - bef 1759).

19 degrees from Reba McEntire. 15th cousin. MRCA Anne (Huddleston) Curwen (1453 - abt 1502).

23 degrees from Mickey Guyton.

25 degrees from Joy Kirkpatrick.

37 degrees from Rita MacNeil.

Answer 14

Just 14 degrees from June Carter Cash, and this is the closest connection to any on the Featured Connections list, so far.   

Answer 15

• Loretta Lynn: 10 Degrees
• June Cash:13 Degrees 
• Patsy Cline: 14 Degrees
• Naomi Judd: 16 Degrees
• Dolly Parton: 16 Degrees, also 7th cousins once removed

Comments

I'm not as closely connected to the featured profiles as you are, but a lot of my connections to them run through the same Green and allied families that I know you have done a lot of work researching.  <hat-tip>

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Thanks for the compliment! 

However, I'm not sure what I did. I work in so many different areas that sometimes it's hard for me to keep track! 

I have family lines that go back to eastern Kentucky, and some to Tennessee, so it's no wonder that I'm closely connected to country musicians.

Answer 16

This was fun! Apparently I'm 7th cousins twice removed with Loretta Lynn and 10th cousins once removed with Dolly Parton. Lots of 14th and 15th cousins, ha ha. No relation to Minnie Pearl at all :( .

Comments

Note that you don't have to be related to anyone on the list, as it asks what your connection is via the Connection Finder.

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Right, yes I did do the connection bit first (most were around 14-18 degrees away), but thought it would be fun to do the relationship finder, too.

Answer 17

Some of my favorites...
17 degrees from June Cash, through marriage of Todd line.
18 degrees from Patsy Cline, 10th cousins once removed.
19 degrees from Dolly Parton, 12th cousins once removed.

I'm also connected to other greats on the list too, but the three above were my closest connections & faves.

 

Answer 18

• 16 degrees - Valerie June (Carter) Cash (1929 - 2003) 16th Cousin 3xR, both descendants of  Alice Fillongley (abt. 1395 - Bef. 1448) and there are 107 Common Ancesters.
• 16 degrees - Loretta (Webb) Lynn 13th Cousins, Elizabeth (Church) Vessey (1536 - abt.1581) and there was 99 common ancesters
• 18 degrees - Sarah Ophelia (Colley) Pearl (1912 - 1996)
• 19 degrees - Virginia Patterson (Hensley) Cline (1932 - 1963) 17th Cousin 1xR, both descendants of Joan (Francis) abt.1383 - Aft 1450 and there are 114 Common Ancesters.
• 20 degrees - Diana Ellen Judd (1946 - 2022) 10th Cousin. MRCA is Hannah Tuttle (bef. 1623 - 1683) and there are 93 common ancesters.
• 20 degrees - Reba McEntire 19th Cousins 1xR, Eleanor (Flambard) Haute (abt 1354 - 1422) and there are 127 common ancesters.
• 20 degrees - Dolly Parton 12th Cousins, MRCA is John Howse (1566 - 1630) and there are 133 Common Ancesters.
• 21 degrees - Ellen Muriel (Deason) Wells (1919 - 2012)
• 26 degrees - Joy (McKean) Kirkpatrick OAM
• 28 degrees - Mickey Guyton
• 38 degrees - Rita MacNeil CM (1944 - 2013)

Answer 19

19 degrees from Tanya Tucker (through my wife).

Answer 20

I was surprised to find so many cousins among this group-- New England is hardly known for country music. Not surpringly, the connections are through 17th century immigrants to New England or back in England before 1600.

Patsy Cline - 9th cousin once removed

Dolly Parton - 9th cousin twice removed