Leighton Meester
Meester in 2011, Featureflash / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Leighton Marissa Meester
Place of Birth: Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, U.S.
Date of Birth: April 9, 1986
Ethnicity: German, Dutch, English, Irish, along with Scottish and Welsh
Leighton Meester is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and fashion model. She is known for her role as Blair Waldorf on the series Gossip Girl.
Her surname, Meester, means master or teacher in Dutch. Her father is of approximately one quarter German, one quarter Dutch, one quarter Irish, and one quarter English, ancestry. Her mother is of half German descent, with her other roots being English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh.
She is married to actor Adam Brody, with whom she has two children.
Leighton’s patrilineal ancestry can be traced to Jacob Harms Meester, who was born, c. 1788, in Ostfriesland, Germany, to Harmen Roelfs Janssen Meester and Sophie Jacobs. It is possible that the Meester family in Germany has Dutch ancestry of some kind.
Leighton’s paternal grandfather was Jacob Meester, Jr., later Jay Meester (the son of Jacob/Jake Aneus/Ernest Meester and Mae Kathryn Jacobs). Jacob, Jr. was born in Bannon, Arizona. Jacob was born in Iowa, to Harm M. Meester, who was born in Illinois, of German descent, and Maria Koenig, who was a German immigrant. Mae was born in Iowa, to Abraham Jacobs and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Van Neuren, who were both Dutch immigrants.
Leighton’s paternal grandmother was Helen Joy Morrissey (the daughter of Leonidas “Lee” Francis Morrissey and Olive Frances Stone). Helen was born in Long Beach, California. Lee was born in Nebraska, to Edward Francis Morrissey, who had Irish ancestry, and Louise Genevieve Fahey, whose parents were Irish immigrants. Olive was born in Vernal, Utah, to Henry John Stone, who was born in England, and Susan Louisa Stratton, who was born in Utah, to English parents, James E. Stratton, from Hertfordshire, and Frances Clark, from Cambridgeshire.
Leighton’s maternal grandfather was Robert Henry Haas (the son of Michael Haas and Marie/Mary Helen Niebling). Robert was born in Arizona, to German parents.
Leighton’s maternal grandmother was Violet Marie Reed (the daughter of John Logan Reed and Daucie Katherine “Dossie” Kerley). Violet was born in Tennessee. Violet’s ancestry included English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh. Many branches of Violet’s family tree had lived in the United States since the 1600s. John was the son of James Reed and Martha. Daucie was the daughter of Green Berry Kerley and Margaret Ann Sherrell/Sherrill.
Sources: Genealogies of Leighton Meester – http://gw.geneanet.org
https://www.geni.com
Leighton’s paternal grandfather, Jacob Meester, Jr., on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s paternal great-grandmother, Mae Kathryn Jacobs, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s paternal grandmother, Helen Joy Morrissey, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s paternal great-grandfather, Leonidas “Lee” Francis Morrissey, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s paternal great-grandmother, Olive Frances Stone, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s maternal grandfather, Robert Henry Haas, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s maternal great-grandparents, Michael Haas and Marie/Mary Helen Niebling, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Leighton’s maternal grandmother, Violet Marie Reed, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy of Leighton’s maternal great-grandmother, Daucie “Dossie” Katherine (Kerley) Reed (focusing on her own father’s side) – https://findagrave.com
Genealogy of Leighton’s maternal great-great-great-great-grandmother, Jemima (Oxsheer) Kerley – https://www.geni.com
Meester in 2008, photo by David Shankbone
She’s pretty. She was my favorite character on Gossip Girl.
she looks like she could have native american in her.
She looks like she could be a Castiza.
LMAOOO
How is she exotic again?! Non-narrow face & a big forehead?! Oh my! I wonder who’ll have the heart to tell & Malin Ackerman she’s a quadroon now…Big foreheads & square faces are common in the Netherlands, England, Scotland & Scandinavia(namely Denmark, Netherlands & Norway) & Heinrich Kiepert’s face was anything but narrow
correction; while she does look white of euro ancestry she has dark hair, very dark eyes (too dark to be full Caucasian), her face isn’t narrow and she has a rather large forehead, she definitely looks like she’d have part mongoloid or negroid in her, I highly doubt she is 100% german and dutch
What is the “correction” part? Adding “mongoloid” or “negroid”? Did one of her great-grandparents come to the U.S. from Mongoloidia or Negroidia?
I have added more on her ancestry.
she is quite average looking I dont see any “exotic” element in her
the word exotic means foreign, I fail to see how she doesn’t look exotic considering she’s an American of European ancestry and isn’t native
exotic?
https://www.google.com/search?q=leighton+meester&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TeCUUry8I7SO7Qby04GwAw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1366&bih=638
She doesn’t look exotic at all. She looks like your average white girl.
There’s a lot of Caucasian people with dark eyes and dark hair, also I don’t see how the shape of her face indicates anything about her race or ethnicity.
She’s a natural blond. She dyed her hair for her role on gossip girl.
J.J you are a racist idiot. I mean, do you ignorant stupid pathetic bastards still exist in the 21st century, where you believe that whites are blonde/blue eyed human beings? My father is white ‘100%’ as you put it, and he has black hair and dark brown eyes and pale skin and all traits of his race – white. Because, I’m sorry to break it to you, but the white race is the only human race whose members come in different eye/hair colours (where it’s normal, while non whites with these traits are strange and uncommon – so obviously: Asians and blacks come only in the black/black combinations, but whites have all eye colours from blue to black and all hair colours from blond/e to black). And Leighton has blonde hair just fyi.
Not all europeans are blonde and blue eyed same as not every african person is black you’re probably an american who has never been in europe stfu if you don’t know what you’re talking zbout
she looks like a dutch women with brown hair I am dutch and I see many girls kind of looking like her face shape, eye shape, nose shape.