Zelda Williams

Williams in 2011, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Zelda Rae Williams

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

Date of Birth: July 31, 1989

Ethnicity:
*father – English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, German, French, remote Dutch
*mother – Filipino [Boholano], Finnish

Zelda Williams is an American actress. Her father was actor and comedian Robin Williams (Robin McLaurin Williams). Her mother, Marsha Garces Williams, is a former nanny, and is now a film producer, having co-produced her father’s films Mrs. Doubtfire, Patch Adams, and Jakob the Liar. Her half-brother is Zak Williams.

Zelda’s father had English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, German, French, and remote Dutch, ancestry. Zelda’s mother is of half Filipino and half Finnish descent.

Zelda’s paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Anselm Joseph McLaurin, was a Democratic politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from Mississippi, from February 7, 1894 to March 4, 1895, and again from March 4, 1901 to December 22, 1909, and Governor of Mississippi, from January 20, 1896 to January 16, 1900.

Zelda’s paternal grandfather was Robert Fitzgerald Williams (the son of Robert R. Williams and Ellanora Fitzgerald). Zelda’s grandfather Robert was born in Evansville, Vanderburgh, Indiana, and was a senior executive at Ford’s Lincoln-Mercury Division. Zelda’s great-grandfather Robert was the son of Haywood Ross Williams and Mary Elizabeth Riley. Ellanora was the daughter of James Jackson Fitzgerrell and Sarah Melissa Whitlow.

Zelda’s paternal grandmother was Laura McLaurin Janin (the daughter of Robert Armistead Janin and Laura McLaurin Berry). Zelda’s grandmother Laura was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and was a model. Robert was the son of Herbert/Hubert Lawrence Janin, whose father was of French descent, with roots in Paris and Tours; and of Julia Louisa/Louise Fassmann/Fassman. Zelda’s great-grandmother Laura was the daughter of John Pleasant Berry and Stella May McLaurin. Zelda’s grandmother Laura later took on the surname of her own stepfather, Robert Forrest Smith.

Zelda’s maternal grandfather was Pantaleon Marciano “Leon” Fernández Garcés (the son of Isaac Garcés and Felicidad Fernández). Pantaleon was Filipino, born in Ubay, Bohol, Central Visayas, Philippines.

Zelda’s maternal grandmother was Ina Rachel Matilla (the daughter of Victor Eric Mattila and Selma Amanda Melendin). Ina was born in Wisconsin, to Finnish parents, with her own father being from Kortesjärvi.

Sources: Notes on Zelda’s father’s ancestry – http://vita-brevis.org

Genealogy of Zelda Williams – https://www.geni.com

Genealogies of Zelda’s father – http://famouskin.com
http://www.wikitree.com
http://www.findagrave.com
http://freepages.rootsweb.com

Zelda’s paternal grandfather, Robert Fitzgerald Williams, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Marriage record of Zelda’s paternal great-grandparents, Robert R. Williams and Ellanora Fitzgerald – https://familysearch.org

Article about Zelda’s paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Governor and Senator Anselm J. McLaurin – http://mshistory.k12.ms.us