Connecting the actors from M*A*S*H to the Global Tree

Question

I have identified 10 profiles that are for the actors that appeared the most on the television series M*A*S*H from the 1970s-80s. Many of them have quite a few members added to their trees. I would appreciate any assistance in connecting them to the tree. I have a freespace page that can be found here.

Comments

David Ogden Stiers (Stiers-19) has been connected.

Answer 1

Harry Morgan will be connected tonight after the links update through his second wife, Barbara Bushman, who is the granddaughter of Francis Bushman, a famous silent film and stage star.

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Connection is confirmed.

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Nice work Scott!

Answer 2

I have a couple of leads on Loretta Swit - her primary family with immigrants from Poland was fairly tough, so I started on her ex-husband. He was previously married to Dennis Holahan, who was previously married to Wylie O'Hara, daughter of a famous author, John O'Hara. There are additional marriages (John was married 3 times) and John's family from Pottsville, PA (several brothers and sisters to explore) - so there's a good possibility that a link can be found somewhere in that area.

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Augh! Found a connection to an existing set of profile... and they're also not connected to the global tree. Oh well, at least these "BRYAN" profiles will be connected when the rest are... The search continues...

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Still working on the Bryan family line - currently adding children of Bryan-2900. The Bryan family is full of doctors, lawyers, authors, and politicians, so lots of opportunities here for connections including Loretta's. I'm sure it will just take the right profile connection and with this many famous and/or well-off people involved, there's going to be a connection somewhere. It's just a matter of time.

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Aaaaand I can stop now...

There's now a connection - Loretta Swit is 28 steps from AJ. Back to Alan Alda...

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Another connection. Great work!

Answer 3

I also looked into Alan Alda and added some family to him. His given name "D'Abruzzo" leads back to Italy and I ran into a bit of a dead end. I think if I dug in a bit more, there might be some answer in that line too. I documented what I was able to find for now. His mother was also a bit of a dead end - I did find some information but her mother's name of DUGGAN threw me off and I wasn't able to go any further. GENI lists her incorrectly. I went way into that line of Sarah Dugan from Philly until I found her married as PETERSON (not BROWN) and backtracked Peterson to where it overlapped Brown. So don't rely on Geni for her real lineage unless you can prove otherwise. No links so far - still have not tried to see if his children married anyone link-worthy as of yet.

Comments

Going to be difficult to track the daughters.

Eve Alda has a facebook page, and based on her 55th birthday celebration video (posted to You Tube by her son, Jake), she married James M. Coffey, whom she met in Cancun, and had 2 children, both boys, Scott Alda Coffey (who is an actor) and Jake Alda Coffey (who appears to be studying screenwriting and just relocated to Burbank, California (Facebook sources).

Beatrice Alda is an actress, but not a lot of information is available on her. It appears she may be married to a Jennifer Brooke, but I can't confirm. I suspect this is the same Jennifer Brooke who is producer/director/writer for one film from Forever Films, but again, it's hard to tell.

Elizabeth Alda is an actress, and even less on her. No family. And little information past her 1986 appearance in Night of the Creeps.

Unfortunately, none of this is very helpful in finding a link.

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We couldn't make it too easy for you. ;-)

Answer 4

William Christopher is interesting. The 1910 Census indicates that his father was adopted, so I've hit a bit of a brick wall with 50% of his family already. His mother is a good possibility, with the family name of WHITEHEAD reaching all the way back to England. She also has a MILLER that I'm struggling to find relatives and a COLE that could bear fruit. Once I get the tree established, I'll go back and branch out into brothers and sisters and see what emerges.

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I've found a good number of family members, but no connections to the global tree - yet. I just picked up a copy of his book that talks about his family, but focuses primarily on his autistic child. We'll see if something jumps out from that book that proves helpful.

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No luck on the Christopher book - it primarily focuses on his immediate family and their struggle to understand their autistic child. Interesting storyline, but unfortunately limited in scope of genealogical references.

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Scott "The Connector" Fulkerson did it again! :) - CONNECTED!

Answer 5

I just picked up a biography on Mike Farrell - we'll see if something comes of it.

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I've got about 20-25 family members to add to Mike's tree - we'll see if a connection comes of it.

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Only about another 3 Farrells to add - great Aunts and great Uncles. Then the spouses will be next and generally I should be able to find a connection down the spouse lines somewhere. Progress at least.

Answer 6

Mike Farrell will be connected tonight. I found a connection through his Aunt Rose on his mother's side.

Comments

Finally confirmed - 26 steps.