Carly Simon
Simon in 2013, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Carly Elisabeth Simon
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: June 25, 1945
Ethnicity:
*50% Ashkenazi Jewish
*25% German
*25% Cuban [African, Spanish, likely small amount of Indigenous]
Carly Simon is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author.
Carly is the daughter of Andrea Louise Heinemann Simon, a community leader, and Richard L. Simon (Richard Leo Simon), a book publisher, who co-founded Simon & Schuster. Carly has two children, singer and songwriter Sally Taylor and musician and actor Ben Taylor, with her former husband, singer, songwriter, and guitarist James Taylor.
Her father was Jewish, of German Jewish descent. Her maternal grandfather was of German ancestry.
Throughout much of her life, Carly was unsure of her maternal grandmother, “Chibie”‘s, background, believing her to have been from Spain, and of Spanish and Moorish descent. Research performed by the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2017) indicated that Carly’s maternal grandmother’s family was actually from Cuba, and was of part African-Cuban descent.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on Finding Your Roots stated that Carly’s genetic ancestry includes:
*10% Africa[n]
*2% Native America[n]
Thus, Carly’s maternal grandmother was likely of around 40% African ancestry.
Carly’s paternal grandfather was Leo Leopold Simon (the son of Leopold B. Simon and Sophie Friedenburg/Fiendenburg). Carly’s grandfather Leo was born in Connecticut, to Jewish parents from Saxony, Germany.
Carly’s paternal grandmother was Anna Meier/Mayer (the daughter of Wilhelm/William Meier/Mayer and Rosine/Rosina Mendel). Anna was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to a German Jewish family.
Carly’s maternal grandfather was Frederick Adolph “Fred” Heinemann (the son of Adolph Heinemann/Heineman and Mary Amelia Haas). Frederick was born in Pennsylvania. Adolph was Prussian, the son of August Heinemann/Heineman, who was born in Brunswick, and of Dora K. Mary Amelia was born in Pennsylvania, of German descent.
Carly’s maternal grandmother was named Ofilia/Ofelia “Elma/Alma Marie”/Maria “Chibie” Oliete/Ollright. Ofilia was most likely born in Cuba. On her marriage record, she is listed as the daughter of Jose/Joseph Agustin Oliete/Ollright and Maria/Marie Patrociana de Jesús Baez. However, DNA and other research performed by Finding Your Roots indicates that Ofilia’s biological mother may have been Lauriana Oliete, who was Maria/Marie Patrociana’s daughter. Thus, Maria/Marie Patrociana may have been Carly’s great-great-grandmother rather than great-grandmother. Whether Jose Oliete was Carly’s great-great-grandfather was not addressed.
In her autobiography, Boys in the Trees: A Memoir, 2015, Carly wrote:
It was Chibie, above all, who fascinated me. Who was Chibie? Where had she come from?… One story went that she was the illegitimate daughter of King Alphonso XIII of Spain and a Moorish slave he had gotten pregnant… I was able to confirm that until her mid-teens, Chibie lived in England, and that when she left the convent [where she spent time], she could read in eight languages. She was brainy, brilliant, and an utter original. She had dark olive skin and spent the rest of her life bleaching it in order to “pass” in a Caucasian world.
Sources: Genealogy of Carly Simon – http://www.geni.com
Genealogies and obituaries of Carly’s parents – https://www.findagrave.com
Marriage record of Carly’s paternal grandparents, Leo Leopold Simon and Anna Meier/Mayer – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy of Carly Simon (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.wikitree.com
Carly’s mother on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Carly’s maternal grandparents, Frederick Adolph “Fred” Heinemann and Ofilia/Ofelia “Elma/Alma Marie”/Maria “Chibie” Oliete/Ollright – https://www.familysearch.org
Carly’s maternal grandfather, Frederick Adolph “Fred” Heinemann, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Carly’s maternal great-grandparents, Adolph Heinemann/Heineman and Mary Amelia Haas, on the 1870 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Carly’s maternal great-great-grandparents, August Heinemann/Heineman and Dora K., on the 1870 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
People calling her black must be American with that stupid One Drop Rule.
If her maternal grandmother was “likely of around 40% African ancestry”, she was also (likely) 8% Native American and evidently 52% European then. Hence Spanish must be put before African. It’s not difficult to understand.
No, you are incorrect. I recommend reading about how DNA is passed down to each generation from Ancestry.com or genetic.tech.org. Dna does not work like that. DNA is passed down a random 50% ancestries from each parent, BUT by the grandparent level, a person gets AROUND 25% from each grandparent because it is a combo. That means a person can get more OR less than 25% at grandparent and so forth in each generation. Her 10% makes sense. Her mom is probably 20-30% from and grandparent 40% or more African. For example, you could get 5% from one great-grandparent while 17.5% from another ( and lets say from other six grandparents you get exactly 12.5%)with how combo work in genes( avg 12.5% at great-grandparent level).
https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Unexpected-Ethnicity-Results
Easier way to put it is that you get about half from each parent, but which segments you get can greatly vary. In a mixed person, for instance, you can have one sibling get more African than you, the other more European, etc.
It’s why if you’ve ever done DNA you can get matches with someone, but not match their full-blood siblings. I’ve had this happen quite often. The segment I share with the person they don’t share with their siblings, necessarily.
@Oaken05
I agree
genealogy of Carly Simon (focusing on her mother’ side) – https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Simon-Family-Tree-1367
Just saw the Your RoAnother case of Cuban wannabe spanish
Finding Your Roots show states her grandmother’s ancestors according to records were “pardos libres” pardo meaning tri-racial, libre meaning freed. So she’s a descendant of black slaves… A far cry from what she was telling her grandchildren! She was obviously ashamed of being black, sad.
Her mother’s middle name is Louise.
“the son of August Heinemann and Dora”
This is wrong. His parents were Adolph Heinemann and Mary Amelia Haas:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24HK-KBF
The record above also has Carly’s grandmother as Elma Ollright, the daughter of Joseph Ollright and Marie P. Baez.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWJF-Q7F
Assuming this is her grandfather, August and Dora were Frederick’s grandparents. But it says that Adolph was August’s son in law and that Mary/Amelia was his daughter, which doesn’t seem to fit… And Adolph’s surname is Kroll…
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG7W-D98
1910 census says that her grandmother was born in Cuba, to Spanish parents.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=156563649
“A figure of romantic mystery to her own children and grandchildren, Elma (also given as Alma in some records) was rumored to have been the illegitimate child of Spanish royalty and a servant girl. But records, at least on their surface, indicate she was born Ofelia Oliete, daughter of Spaniard Jose Agustin Oliete and Cuban Maria P. Baez. She appears to be the youngest of seventeen children born mostly or all in Cuba, with 9 alive as of the 1900 census, and these eight known by name: Jose A., born in 1863; Claudine c1865; Asuncion (“Suncia,” “Susy,” c1871; Lauriana c1875; Consuela c1878; Auyrero/Amparo c1880; Alfredo c1883; and Ofelia (suspected to be Elma Maria) in 1888.”
I think Carly’s exact words could be included:
“It was Chibie, aboce all, who fascinated me. Who was Chibie? Where had she come from? No one knew for sure, and Chibie’s origins were complicated. One story went that she was the illegitimate daughter of King Alphonso XIII of Spain and a Moorish slave he had gotten pregnant. When Chibie’s mother visited the king, infant in hand, he promptly dismissed them. Eventually, Chibie was handed off to another slave girl planning passage from Valencia to Cuba, who concealed the infant under her clothes. Arriving in Havana, Chibie was handed over to the Del Rio family, Asuncione and Raymond, who, after rechristening her Alma, dispatched her to a convent in England where she was raised by nuns until the age of sixteen.
While her dramatic origins were never fully verified, I was able to confirm that until her mid-teens, Chibie lived in England, and that when she left the convent, she could read in eight languages. She was brainy, brilliant, and an utter original. She had dark olive skin and spent the rest of her life bleaching it in order to “pass” in a Caucasian world. Chibie entered into an arranged marriage with a German-speaking Swiss man named Frederick Heinemann.”
*above all
Melia and Adolph Kroll were probably not Frederick A. “Fred” Heinemann’s parents. For one thing, they’re too young, Melia especially, even by late 19th century U.S. standards. Perhaps Frederick was orphaned.
This is likely Simon’s great-grandfather Adolph Heinemann/Heineman’s death record.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VKZR-DNC
As for the quote, Simon’s maternal grandmother’s ancestry will be discussed on Finding Your Roots on Tuesday, so whatever the real story is is what I’ll report if I see it, along with maybe a relevant fraction of the quote.
Simon´s maternal grandmother history is very stupid and unreal, the reality is that her grandmother was a half black woman from cuba and lie about her roots because she was ashamed of it , Henry Louis gates explain it :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4942312/Genealogy-unlocks-family-secrets-Carly-Simon-more.html
I dont see the black roots, for me looks very jewish.
She claimed to be the offspring of the king of Spain and a Moroccan slave.
Researchers traveled to Cuba to search out Catholic church records unavailable online and found ‘an amazing family tree,’ Gates said, one different than expected.
Simon’s grandmother was found to be 40 per cent black, making the singer-songwriter 10 per cent black.
Her grandmother ‘invented this crazy story, this fabrication, because she knew she was from a mixed-race heritage, and that was very unpopular in the 1950s and ’60s,’ Gates said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4942312/Genealogy-unlocks-family-secrets-Carly-Simon-more.html#ixzz4utMETN9C
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