Christopher Hitchens

Birth Name: Christopher Eric Hitchens

Date of Birth: 13 April, 1949

Place of Birth: Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, U.K.

Date of Death: 15 December, 2011

Place of Death: Houston, Texas

Ethnicity:
*English, some Welsh (father)
*English, Ashkenazi Jewish (mother)

Christopher Hitchens was a British author, literary critic, and journalist. He was also an American citizen. Christopher was known for his controversial political stances, and for his criticism of religion. His brother is author and journalist Peter Hitchens.

Christopher’s father, Eric Ernest Hitchens, was of English, and one quarter Welsh, ancestry. Christopher’s mother, Yvonne Jean (Hickman), was of English and three eighths Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and was born into the Jewish religion. Christopher’s mother did not disclose the fact that she was Jewish to her children.

Christopher’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to Isaac Hitchens, who was born, c. 1768, in Devizes, Wiltshire, England.

Christopher’s paternal grandfather was Alfred Ernest Hitchens (the son of James Hitchens and Mary Susan Tarrant). James was the son of George Hitchens and Avice/Avis Chivers. Mary Susan was the daughter of Thomas Tarrant and Susanna Monday.

Christopher’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Marianne Gardner (the daughter of Ishmael Somers Gardner and Elizabeth Ann Rule). Christopher’s grandmother Elizabeth was Welsh, born in Rhymney, Monmouthshire, Wales. Ishmael was the son of Ishmael Gardner and Mary Ann Summers. Christopher’s great-grandmother Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry Rule and Elizabeth.

Christopher’s maternal grandfather was Lionel Frederick William Hickman (the son of Reginald Francis Hickman and Eleanor Jane Harbud). Christopher’s grandfather Lionel converted to Judaism when marrying Christopher’s maternal grandmother. Reginald was the son of Richard John Hickman and Sarah Etheldreda Vigers. Eleanor was the daughter of Joseph Harbud and Eleanor Jane Perkins.

Christopher’s maternal grandmother was Dorothy Levin/Lynn (the daughter of Lionel Eustace Levin and Rachel Blumenthal). Christopher’s great-grandfather Lionel Levin was born to a Jewish family (of Polish Jewish, German Jewish, Austrian Jewish, and Czech Jewish descent). Lionel was the son of Joseph Levin and Bluma/Bertha Bleine Barnett (whose own father, Raphael Barnett, was a Rabbi). Christopher’s great-grandmother Rachel Blumenthal was the daughter of Nathan ben Mordechai Blumenthal, a Jewish emigrant from Kempen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (of German Jewish and Latvian Jewish descent), and of Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk.

Christopher’s matrilineal great-great-grandmother Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk was born to an English Christian family, the daughter of John Suffolk and Elizabeth Faulkner. Sarah Elizabeth Suffolk converted to Judaism when marrying Christopher’s great-great-grandfather, Nathaniel Blumenthal. As such, Christopher Hitchens was considered Jewish through matrilineal descent (a topic he had written about).

Sources: Genealogies of Christopher Hitchens – http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
http://www.geni.com