Galen Gering
Gering in 2013, photo by prphotos
Birth Name: Galen Laius Gering
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: February 13, 1971
Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Basque/French, other
Galen Gering is an American actor. He is known for playing Luis Lopez-Fitzgerald on Passions, and Rafe Hernandez on Days of Our Lives, both soap operas.
His father, Alan Gering, is of Jewish, of Russian Jewish/Romanian Jewish descent. His mother, Michele de Oñate, has Basque/French ancestry. At eighteen, he moved to New York City to model.
Galen is married to model and actress Jenna Gering (born Hudlett), with whom he has two children, Dillon and Jensen Gering.
He has said:
My mom[‘s] side is Spanish. Her last name is de Onate. She comes from a pretty illustrious Spanish history. She’s the granddaughter of a Basque immigrant from Spain. My father is a Jewish American. I don’t mind being cast in Latino roles; I’m not complaining. It’s paying the bills!
Galen’s paternal grandfather was George Gering (the son of Joseph Gering and Anna Gorfus/Gorfis). George was born in New York, to Russian Jewish parents.
Galen’s paternal grandmother was Evelyn/Eveline Ehrlichman (the daughter of Aaron D. Ehrlichman and May Baykansky/Boykansky/Boykin). Evelyn was born in Michigan, to Russian Jewish parents. Aaron was born in Koigorvd/Kupenord, Podolia, the son of Daniel Ehrlichman and Ethel or Gertrude Axman/Oxman. May was born in Kishanof, the daughter of Aisek/Isaac Baykansky/Boykansky and Eva or Lida Finnelstein.
Galen’s maternal grandmother was Juliette Lucie Fleche (the daughter of Jean/John Jules Fleche and Marie A. Picot). Juliette was born in Pennsylvania. Jean was born in St.-Gengoux-le-National, Saone-et-Loire, Burgundy, France, the son of Pierre Fleche/Flaiche and Claudine Dubuis/Dupuis. Marie A. was born in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France, the daughter of Philippe/Philip Picot/Picaud and Marie Rosalie or Catherine Bresagere/Breysacher/Breisacher/Biesagere.
Sources: Galen’s paternal grandfather, George Gering, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Galen’s paternal grandmother, Evelyn/Eveline Ehrlichman, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Galen’s maternal grandmother, Juliette Lucie Fleche, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
In 1950, Galen’s mother lived with her own mother and Ralph de Oñate, whose daughter she is listed as. Her own and Ralph’s race is listed as Filipino, and Juliette’s race is White. Ralph and Juliette are both listed as married at the time.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGK-JQZ4
I saw that, that’s some evidence in one column perhaps.
I’m very puzzled at Gering not mentioning being part Filipino, at least technically, if that’s the case.
In any case, you know I think his grandfather was actually Ellen McAdoo’s first husband William Alfred Hinshaw.
https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2020/108/42051852_458de390-9a2b-449d-9aca-7be48c37340b.jpeg
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/94/2b/d7/942bd79a750e4a39d2e63ead04d6d01e–presidents.jpg
It’s a striking resemblance.
Well, this is interesting.
Yes, Juliette Lucie Fleche is Gering’s maternal grandmother. I don’t think she was of Basque descent. Can anyone find any Basque-sounding names among her ancestors?
Juliette married Robert Norris Carlisle (the son of Robert D. Carlisle and Goldie Segal) in 1943, in Arizona.
Goldie was Jewish, by the way.
Galen’s mother was born in November 1948 in Los Angeles.
I haven’t found a marriage record, but evidently Juliette married Rafael/Ralph Lopez Novarro de Oñate around 1959. At least that’s what one Ancestry.com tree states.
In 1948, Juliette’s voter registration still lists her as Juliette Carlisle. Her husband, Robert Carlisle, re-married to Helene A. Dubouloy around this time.
Galen’s mother is listed as Lopez DeOnate on her birth record, but these records are often changed well after the fact to reflect a stepfather adopting a child (Cher’s birth record lists her as Cherilyn Lapierre, though her stepfather Lapierre married her mother years after).
So, I don’t know what to make of this.
Rafael and Juliette almost certainly weren’t married in 1948. Perhaps the fact that Rafael wasn’t able to marry a white woman in California before (in 1934) is why they didn’t marry until later, though interracial marriage was legalized in California, coincidentally, in October 1948. Or, if they wanted to, they could have married out-of-state, the way Rafael and his first wife Ellen McAdoo did.
So, I don’t know who Galen’s mother’s biological father is.
The obituary of Rafael’s son Richard F. McAdoo doesn’t mention a half-sister, whether by birth or adoption. Then again, they almost certainly didn’t know each other very well, if at all.
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=woodrow_wilson&id=I00025
I found pictures of a man I thought was Rafael and he looked so much like Galen that I guessed that must be him. Then it turned out these were actually pictures of Ellen McAdoo and her new husband, William Alfred Hinshaw.
https://images.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2020/108/42051852_458de390-9a2b-449d-9aca-7be48c37340b.jpeg
https://i.pinimg.com/236x/94/2b/d7/942bd79a750e4a39d2e63ead04d6d01e–presidents.jpg
Here’s a picture of Robert Norris Carlisle.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45476695/Robert-Norris-Carlisle#view-photo=142091619
Here are pictures of Rafael/Ralph Lopez Novarro de Oñate.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gib13v0APCo/TeQaj19R9ZI/AAAAAAAAA5w/ITB-g_1dCy4/ellenrafaelwedding2.jpg
https://thumbs.ebaystatic.com/d/l225/m/mAN_gtX2FpIDgsxFlGT8otw.jpg
Here’s a bunch of stuff I found, for future reference:
Robert Norris Carlisle was the son of Robert D. Carlisle and Goldie Segal. Robert Norris was born in Delaware. Robert D. was the son of Robert W. Carlisle and Malinda Greenfield. Goldie was born in Pennsylvania, the daughter of Russian Jewish parents, Max/Marcus Segal and Sarah “Sallie” Cohen.
Rafael/Ralph Lopez Novarro de Oñate, an actor, was born in San Marcelino, Zambales, Luzon, Philippines, the son of Isabel Novarro.
Robert Norris Carlisle on the 1910 U.S. Census –
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MVVV-PW3
Robert Norris Carlisle on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:C4BV-H3Z
Death record of Robert Norris Carlisle – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/45476695/Robert-Norris-Carlisle
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p61esit/Rafaels-sister-Mercedes-Lopez-De-Onate-West-oered-a-slightly-dierent-version-of/
What clues does that add?
1959 is a long time after Galen’s mother was born… Would they bother to change the birth record of an eleven year old?
Also, should we suppose Galen knows the true circumstances of his mother’s birth? Since he mentioned Basque ancestry from Spain in the interview.
Basque and French can be separated, if the birth places are correct, his grandmother had no Basque ancestry. And I don’t think he meant his grandmother as being the one who is descended from a Basque immigrant since he specifically mentioned “de Onate” and Spain.
Cher was born in 1946 and her mother married Gilbert LaPierre in 1961. Yet she’s listed as Cherilyn LaPierre on her current California birth certificate.
I’m sure Gering was talking about the DeOnate side being Basque, but that doesn’t without question make it a biological relation. Rosario Dawson, for one, has had her adoptive stepfather’s background ascribed to her many times.
This is confusing.
This is probably Rafael. He is listed as “white”.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K97C-CV9
Yes, it’s him, and there was a big debate in the mid 1930s over how white he was. I think he said he was completely white, but people believed he may have been of 1/8th or 1/16th Filipino (Asian) background, which is why he wasn’t able to marry Ellen McAdoo in California.
He would have been about 52 if he was the biological father, but that happens.
Like I said, I think Gering most resembles William Alfred Hinshaw. But it doesn’t look like there’s any direct connection there. :-)
To expand on the paragraph about Ralph Novarro:
the son of Isabel Novarro —> the son of Pablo Lopez De Onate and Isabel Novarro Rafael. Pablo was born in Spain. Isabel was born in Manila, Philippines.
The claim about the Filipino ancestry comes from Ralph’s step-father, Phillip Whitaker. He told reporters in Manila that his wife Isabel was of “1/4 or 1/8 Filipino blood” after she had passed away.
Is his mother only Basque? “She’s [his mother] the granddaughter of a Basque immigrant from Spain.” She could very well only be one quarter Basque.
I think this is his mother:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VGC7-8SZ
She’s called Michele de Onate and she’s an artist just like his mother.
Fleche is a French name, and she’s described as Franco-Spanish Basque in this article:
http://people.com/archive/galen-gering-actor-vol-53-no-18/
This could be his grandmother:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK25-9M5F
She’s from Lewiston like the Michele I mentioned above and she has a daughter with the same name.
Here she is on a census:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X48P-DTF
This is his mother.
In this interview she says her father was an actor.
https://issuu.com/enjoymagazine/docs/71_august2012issuu/33
There was an actor Rafael Lopez de Oñate (and he is the only person in the USA I found with those last names), who went by the name Ralph Novarro. He was an ex-husband of Woodrow Wilson’s grandaughter. There was a big hoopla about whether they were allowed to marry or not and if he was white or not, since he was from the Phillipines. One source on the internet claims he was 1/8 or 1/16 Filipino, but there’s no source for that claim.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4D4-HJ8
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/85865100
Could easily pass as Irish.
Cute guy. I like his coarse eyelashes.