Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor in 2007, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor

Date of Birth: February 27, 1932

Place of Birth: Hendon, Middlesex, England, U.K.

Date of Death: March 23, 2011

Place of Death: Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Ethnicity: English, with one eighth Swiss-German, some Scots-Irish/Northern Irish and French, more distant Dutch, Welsh, and Danish

Elizabeth Taylor was a British and American actress and humanitarian. She twice won the Academy Award for Best Actress, for BUtterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Her films also included There’s One Born Every Minute, National Velvet, Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun, Ivanhoe, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Giant, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly, Last Summer, Cleopatra, The V.I.P.s, The Sandpiper, The Taming of the Shrew (1967), Reflections in a Golden Eye, Doctor Faustus, Night Watch, The Mirror Crack’d, and The Flintstones.

She was born in Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, England, to American parents, Sara Sothern (born Sara Viola Warmbrodt), an actress, from Arkansas City, Cowley, Kansas, and Francis Lenn Taylor, an art dealer, from Springfield, Sangamon, Illinois. Her parents moved to London in 1929, where they opened an art gallery. The family returned to the U.S. in 1939 with the impending war, settling in Pasadena, California, with Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather.

Elizabeth had two children with her former husband, English actor Michael Wilding; a daughter with her late husband, producer Mike Todd, to whom she was married until his death; and a daughter, who was adopetd, with her former husband, Welsh actor Richard Burton, to whom she was married twice.

Much of Elizabeth’s ancestry was English, with colonial American roots dating back to the 1600s. One of her maternal great-grandfathers was a Swiss-German immigrant, and she also had Scots-Irish/Northern Irish and French roots, with fairly distant Dutch, Welsh, and Danish, ancestry.

She was raised a Christian Scientist. Elizabeth converted to Judaism in 1959, taking the Hebrew name Elisheba Rachel, and identified herself as a Jew for the rest of her life. She was buried with a Jewish service.

Elizabeth’s paternal grandfather was Francis Marion “Frank” Taylor (the son of Peter Taylor and Margaret Jane Perigo). Francis was born in Indiana. Peter was the son of Lewis/Louis Taylor and Rachel Thompson Baker. Margaret was the daughter of Jonathan Perigo and Isabella McGill. The Perigo line is said to originate with a French immigrant of the late 1700s, Romey Perigo.

Elizabeth’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Mary Rosemond (the daughter of Moses Morton Rosemond and Martha Jane/E. Likes/Lokes). Elizabeth’s grandmother Elizabeth was born in Ohio. Moses was the son of Philip/Phillip Rosemond, who was born in Ireland, and of Mary Morton. Martha was the daughter of Rhoda.

Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather was Samuel Sylvester Warmbrodt (the son of Samuel Warmbrodt and Mollissa Ann Flora). Elizabeth’s grandfather Samuel was born in Illinois. Elizabeth’s great-grandfather Samuel was born in Siselen, Bern, Switzerland, and was of Swiss-German descent, the son of Johannes/John/Hans Jacob Warmbrodt and Elisabeth/Elsbeth Graden. Mollissa was born in Kentucky.

Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother was Anna/Ann Elizabeth Wilson (the daughter of John A. Wilson and Sarah Glen/Glenn). Anna was born in Ohio. Sarah was the daughter of Joseph Glen and Ann Moore.

Elizabeth’s matrilineal line can evidently be traced to Jane Thompson, who was born, c. 1695, in Ireland or Northern Ireland.

Sources: Genealogies of Elizabeth Taylor – http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com
https://www.geni.com
http://www.findagrave.com
http://famouskin.com

Elizabeth’s father on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Elizabeth’s paternal great-grandfather, Moses Morton Rosemond, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Discussion of Elizabeth’s conversion to Judaism – http://religion.blogs.cnn.com

Creative Commons License photo credit: cliff1066™