Eminem

Eminem in 2002, Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Marshall Bruce Mathers III

Place of Birth: St. Joseph, Missouri, U.S.

Date of Birth: October 17, 1972

Ethnicity: English, German, Swiss-German, Scottish, distant Polish

Eminem or EMINƎM is an American, Detroit-based rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, film producer, and actor. Eminem also goes under the names Slim Shady, Slim, Marshall Mathers, M&M, MC Double M Em, and Shady; he was also known as Evil, as part of hip hop duo Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5’9″. He starred in the film 8 Mile.

Eminem is the son of Deborah R. (Nelson) and Marshall Bruce Mathers. His parents were in a band called Daddy Warbucks, and played in Ramada Inns along the Dakotas-Montana border. He was raised mostly in Missouri and Detroit, Michigan, and grew up with his mother. His ancestry includes English, where two of his great-grandparents were born; German, Swiss-German, Scottish, and between 1/32 and 1/64th Polish.

Eminem has a daughter with his former wife Kimberly Anne Scott. He has also adopted Kimberly’s other child, and his niece.

Eminem’s paternal grandfather was Marshall Bruce Mathers (the son of Chester William Mathers and Myrtle Ivy Parrish). Marshall’s grandfather Marshall was born in Missouri. Chester was the son of Samuel Mathers and Josephine Graves. Myrtle was the daughter of William Chauncey Parrish and Mary C. Staggs.

Eminem’s paternal grandmother was Rae Waverly Drowns (the daughter of Grover Cleveland Drowns and Ella Elizabeth Dennie). Rae was born in Missouri. Grover was the son of William Henry Drowns and Mary Catherine Glockler, whose father was German. Ella was the daughter of Arthur Daggett Dennie and Catherine Bell Heffley.

Eminem’s maternal grandfather is named Robert Ray Nelson (the son of William Nelson, and of a woman surnamed Harris). Robert was born in Michigan, to English immigrants.

Eminem’s maternal grandmother is Betty Hixson (the daughter of William A. Hixson, Jr. and Georgia Anna/Ann Roesch). Betty was born in Missouri. William was the son of William A. Hixson and Nora A. Machmer. Georgia was the daughter of Henry P. Roesch, whose father was Swiss, of Swiss-German descent, and whose mother was also of German ancestry; and of Martha Jane Scheinert. Martha’s father, George A. Scheinert, was born in Poland, the son of Joseph Scheinert and Eva Wazuski.

Sources: Genealogies of Eminem – http://www.wargs.com
https://www.geni.com

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

70 Responses

  1. cartoonfan11 says:

    George A Scheinert’s parents are Joseph Scheinert Sr. and Eva Wazuski
    His mother’s Polish last name appears in one record from his brother
    https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/L61R-735
    https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q298-Y957

  2. Nicholas says:

    Wow, this site continues to surprise me although i may have come across Eminem before I just can’t recall.

    Surprised he’s so mixed a si thought he was pure German.

  3. ethnic233 says:

    Note: Scheinert is most widespread in Saxony, Germany, which is famous for being home to the Sorbs (even the largest cities like Chemnitz, Dresden and Leipzig have Slavic etymologies) since the early Middle Ages. Many of them were Germanized and assimilated. So there is a considerable probability that “Scheinert” was of Sorbian descent. So we can’t state the the Scheinerts were of “ethnic German ancestry” based on this surname. Also, Eminem’s biographers claimed Polish descent, so he must have Polish descent on some side. Perhaps on another side beside the Sorb/German one.

  4. Thenabster says:

    Isn’t he part Luxembourgish?

    • Manila says:

      Not anymore. Josephine was born out of wedlock, therefore her biological father remains publicly unknown, thus her maiden surname, Graves (which was anglicized from Graff in the 18th century, which is of German origin), is inherited from her mother, who later got married and had more children.

  5. Stark says:

    Same here, I thought he was 1/2 German 1/2 Polish.

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