John Steinbeck

Birth Name: John Ernst Steinbeck III

Date of Birth: February 27, 1902

Place of Birth: Salinas, California, U.S.

Date of Death: December 20, 1968

Place of Death: New York City, New York, U.S.

Ethnicity:
*father – German, English
*mother – Irish/Northern Irish

John Steinbeck was an American author. He is known for his novels Tortilla Flat, Cannery Row, East of Eden, The Red Pony, Of Mice and Men, and The Grapes of Wrath. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1962.

He was the son of Olive, a school teacher, and John Ernst Steinbeck, a Monterey County treasurer. His father was born in St. Augustine, Florida. His mother was from San Jose, California. His family were members of the Episcopal Church. He later became agnostic. John was married to actress and stage manager Elaine Anderson Steinbeck (born Mary Elaine Anderson), until his death. He had two children, screenwriter, photographer, and journalist Thomas Steinbeck and journalist and author John Steinbeck IV, with his former wife Gwyn Conger.

John’s paternal grandfather was Johann/Johan Ernst Adolph Grossteinbeck/Steinbeck (the son of Johann Peter Grossteinbeck and Maria Christina Loeckenhof). John’s grandfather Johann was born in Heiligenhaus, Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; his family’s farm, named Großsteinbeck, was in Heiligenhaus. He was a founder of messianic farming colony Mount Hope, in then-Palestine. The colony was said to have disbanded after Arab attackers killed his brother and raped his brother’s wife and mother-in-law. Johann arrived in the U.S. in 1858.

John’s paternal grandmother was Alimira Ann Dickson (the daughter of Walter Dickson and Sarah Eldredge). Alimira was born in Groton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, and was of Colonial American (English) descent. Walter was born in Groton, the son of Walter Dickson and Anna Tufts. Sarah was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts, the daughter of Dr. Micah Eldredge and Sarah “Sally” Buttrick.

John’s maternal grandfather was Samuel Hamilton (the son of John Hamilton and Esther Clarke). Samuel was born in Ballykelly, Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

John’s maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Fagen (the daughter of Mike Fegon and Elizabeth Carter). Elizabeth was born in New York City, New York, to Irish parents.

Sources: Genealogies of John Steinbeck – https://www.wikitree.com
https://www.familysearch.org
https://www.geni.com
https://famouskin.com