Henry Thomas
Henry Thomas – 43rd Annual Saturn Awards – Press Room – Castaway Restaurant, 1250 E Harvard Road – Burbank, CA, USA, 2017 – Photo Credit: Carla Van Wagoner / PR Photos
Birth Name: Henry Jackson Thomas, Jr.
Place of Birth: San Antonio, Bexar, Texas, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 9, 1971
Ethnicity: English, German, Scottish, distant Dutch, likely Welsh
Henry Thomas is an American actor and musician. He is known for his roles in the film E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and for appearing in Mike Flanagan’s horror films and series.
He is the son of Carolyn and Henry Thomas, a hydraulic machinist. He has said that his family is from Wales.
Henry is married to Annalee Fery. He has a daughter with his former wife, German actress Marie Zielcke; and two children with Annalee.
Henry’s paternal grandfather was named George William Thomas.
Henry’s paternal grandmother was named Sadie Eulene Kendrick.
Henry’s maternal grandfather was Melvin Timothy Davis (the son of Thomas Jefferson Davis and Ella Lee Simpson). Melvin was born in Texas. Thomas was the son of William Henry Harrison Davis and Phoebe Lou Green. Ella was the daughter of Adolphus Lee Simpson and Nancy Matilda Sims.
Henry’s maternal grandmother was Mary Pauline Knop (the daughter of Ernest Otto Wilhelm Knop and Johnnie Davis). Mary was born in Texas. Ernest was born in Iowa, the son of German parents, Johann August Theodore Knop, from Prussia, and Pauline Wilhelmine Marx. Johnnie was the daughter of John Smith Davis and Mary Adeline Eldridge.
Source: Genealogy of Henry Thomas (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://heathcock.org
What’s his mother’s maiden name?
The mother’s ancestry is the one most documented in the profile.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GDPF-Z4R
Here’s more about her paternal family, more specifically her paternal grandmother, Sadie Eulene Kendrick.
No recent Welsh ancestry whatsoever. Perhaps there is in the line of his grandfather, George William Thomas, but it is not certain.
In fact both his parents’ surnames are commonly Welsh, so perhaps he does not lie.
Despite that, he has documented recent Welsh ancestry:
http://heathcock.org/genealogy/wc04/wc04_255.html
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LTJH-C6P
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/9JFF-BS8
He has English, German, Scottish, distant Dutch ancestry (and possibly Welsh).
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBMJ-M99
-> NO documented recent Welsh ancestry
Are any of his ancestors Jewish? Marx seems to be a common Jewish surname, but I am not sure if it is exclusively Jewish.