Chris Cornell
Cornell in 2007, MIMMO FERRARO / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Christopher John Boyle
Date of Birth: July 20, 1964
Place of Birth: Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Date of Death: May 18, 2017
Place of Death: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Ethnicity: Norwegian, Irish, English, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, German, French, remote Manx and Swiss-German
Chris Cornell was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for rock bands Soundgarden (1984–1997) and Audioslave (2001–2007). Other members of Soundgarden include or have included Matt Cameron, Jason Everman, Ben Shepherd, Scott Sundquist, Kim Thayil, and Hiro Yamamoto. The other members of Audioslave were Tim Commerford, Tom Morello, and Brad Wilk.
Chris’s father, Edward Francis “Ed” Boyle, was a pharmacist, from Everett, Washington. Chris’s mother, Karen Ruth Cornell, was an accountant, from Seattle, Washington. His ancestry was Norwegian, Irish, English, Scottish, Northern Irish, Welsh, German, French, and remote Manx and Swiss-German. His parents were married by a Catholic priest in 1957.
Chris was married to publicist Vicky Karayiannis, until his death. He had a daughter with his former wife, manager Susan Silver; and two children, including musician, singer, and songwriter Toni Cornell, with Vicky.
Chris converted to the Greek Orthodox religion of his wife Vicky.
In an interview on Howard Stern’s show, c. 2007, Chris appeared to state that his mother is Jewish. This is not accurate.
Chris’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced back to his third great-grandfather, Denis Boyle.
Chris’s paternal grandfather was Edward John Boyle (the son of Dennis Peter Boyle and Anna Louisa “Louise” Zahler). Edward was born in Washington. Dennis was born in Renfrew, Renfrewshire, Scotland, to Irish emigrants, Terrence/Terrance Boyle, of County Sligo, and Mary McVey. Louisa was the daughter of German emigrants, Michael Zahler, of Trier, Rhine (now Rhineland-Palatinate), and Ann Katarina/Catherine Stenger, of Dillishausen, Lamerdingen, Bavaria.
Chris’s paternal grandmother was Anona Ruth Olson/Olsen (the daughter of Eivin/Ivan Olaus Olsen, later Olsen, and of Carrie Lorena Jones/McGuire). Anona was born in California. Eivin was a Norwegian emigrant, from Stavanger, Rogaland, and was the son of Ole Olsen Blaasenberg, later Vaaland, and of Andrine Tønnesdatter Bjuland.
Chris’s maternal grandfather was Ralph Trivett Cornell (the son of Julian Trivett Cornell and Emily Keillor Emmerson). Ralph was born in Rothesay, Nova Scotia, Canada. Julian was the son of Robert/Ralph Filmore Trivett Cornell, whose parents were Irish, and of Anne/Annie Eudora Maxon/Maxim. Emily was the daughter of Henry Robert Emmerson and Emily Charlotte Record, whose father was from Maine. Chris’s great-great-grandfather Henry was a lawyer, businessperson, politician, and philanthropist, who as a member of the Liberal Party, was Premier of New Brunswick, from October 29, 1897 to August 31, 1900, among other duties.
Chris’s maternal grandmother was Marion/Marian Margaret MacNutt (the daughter of James Frederick “Fred” MacNutt and Clarabell/Claribel Josephine Hubbell). Marion was born in Seattle, Washington. James was a Canadian emigrant, from Darmley, Prince Edward Island, and had Irish, Scottish, and Colonial American (English) ancestry. He was the son of George Beairsto MacNutt and Annie McGougan Rodd. Clarabell was born in Wisconsin, the daughter of Fred Keaton Hubbell and Annetta Alta Remer.
Chris’s matrilineal ancestry can be traced to his fourth great-grandmother, Elisabeth Hoffmann, who was born, c. 1821, in Hesse, Germany.
Cornell with wife Vicki Karayiannis in 2007, photo by s_bukley/www.bigstockphoto.com
Sources: Genealogies of Chris Cornell – https://www.geni.com
https://www.wikitree.com
https://www.findagrave.com
Marriage record of Chris’s parents – https://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov
Chris’s father on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Chris’s paternal grandfather, Edward John Boyle, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Birth record of Chris’s paternal great-grandfather, Dennis Peter Boyle – https://familysearch.org
Birth record of Chris’s paternal great-grandmother, Anna Louise Zahler – https://familysearch.org
Chris’s paternal grandmother, Anona Ruth Olson/Olsen, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Baptismal record of Chris’s paternal great-grandfather, Eivin Olaus Olsen – https://media.digitalarkivet.no
Marriage record of Chris’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Ole Olsen Vaaland and Andrine Tønnesdatter – https://digitalarkivet.arkivverket.no
Baptismal record of Chris’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Ole Olsen Vaaland – https://media.digitalarkivet.no
Chris’s mother on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Marriage record of Chris’s maternal great-grandparents, Julian Trivett Cornell and Emily Keillor Emmerson – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy of Chris’s maternal great-grandmother, Emily Keillor Emmerson – http://brentglad.com
Chris’s maternal grandmother, Marion/Marian Margaret MacNutt, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Birth record of Chris’s maternal great-grandmother, Clarabell/Claribel Josephine Hubbell – https://familysearch.org
His daughter said that her grandmother, Chris’ mother has some Jewish ancestry…
https://m.facebook.com/jewishtelegraph/posts/10158013359402832
Nova Scotia may look a bit bleak, but it certainly isn’t Russia.
(it’s odd this is only available on facebook).
While she says her own maternal grandfather was of Russian Jewish descent (Cornell’s father-in-law), she states of Chris’s mother, “there is Jewish heritage on my dad’s side, as my grandma – his mum – does talk about it…. there is definitely some Jewish heritage there, but none of us really know for sure.”
The part “none of us really know for sure” is definitely a little different from Cornell’s statement that his mother is outright “Jewish.” As before, if anyone can trace it, I’ll include it…
I wonder if his mother’s family were just Judaizers like the Subbotniks or something akin. I’ve known a few families that practice traditions of Judaism and they don’t have a drop of Jewish blood, well at least not for the last 5 centuries.
Are you sure he didn’t have some Jewish ancestry?
Wikipedia still says so.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=83662708
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Boyle-2048
Henry Robert Emmerson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Emmerson
Another Irish person who very much had Iberian features. It’s hard to believe that he had a lot of northern European ancestry on top of that. He doesn’t look even remotely German or Norwegian of all things.
He looks like he belonged in Andalusia or something.
I can see it; he has blue eyes and narrow facial features. My dad is Norwegian and even though he and two of his brothers look like stereotypical Scandinavian Germanic white people; his late sister and his third brother has dark brown straight hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin. With their facial features being the same phenotype as typical Scandiavians as well. And NO my grandmother didn’t cheat on my grandfather with some Southern European guy because my uncle took a DNA test and he turned out being over 97% Norwegian and 3% Italian. So Germanic white and Celtic white Europeans can still end up having dark brown straight hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin.