Famous Cousins #2 - Alec Baldwin + Baldwin Brothers

Alec Baldwin

And the Other Ones

And now its time to look at another famous cousin!

This guy's name is Alec Baldwin. Finally, when people see that your last name is Baldwin on a form or medical sheet and inevitably, incessantly, invariably ask you, "Are you related to Alec Baldwin!?!?" you can say "YES, we are related. Now go away!" before you lamely tip over a plastic picture frame on their desk and awkwardly stumble away, only to return sheepishly, because remember, you still have an appointment there.

Not only that, but now you can also know exactly HOW this family relationship came to be...

Alec Baldwin

Below is my 10th great-grandfather Sylvester Baldwin's lineage, down to Alec Baldwin. You may remember that Sylvester is the one who died on the boat. His son John "of Stonington" is one of Richard Baldwin's brothers. This is the Richard who settled in Milford (born 1622). John married a Rebecca Palmer and it continued from there. Please note that John's son is Deacon Theophilus Baldwin, who should not be confused with Deacon Nathaniel Baldwin (the one whose dog drowned in Dog Pond, Goshen CT.) This Theophilus should also not be confused with the one my branch is descended from. Yes, brothers Richard and John both named their children Theophilus. Theophilus had a (1st) cousin named Theophilus, and so did Theophilus. Original bunch, they were.

"This might be a different Theophilus." "Yeah! I mean, Theophilus is a very popular

name nowadays!" "Remember, like, a few years ago, every other boy was named

Jason, and the girls were all named Brittany?!"

Sylvester down to Alec is as follows:

5) Sylvester Baldwin (1598 - 1637) - Sarah Bryan (1606 - 1669)

6) John Baldwin of Stonington (1635 - 1683) - Rebecca Palmer (1647 - 1713)

7) Dea. Theophilus Baldwin (1683 - 1736) - Priscilla Mason (1691 - c.1719)

8) Sylvester Baldwin (1719 - 1795) - Bridget Chesebrough (1737 - 1818)

9) Sylvester Baldwin (1761 - 1795) - Rebecca Bryant (1765 - 1795)

10) Capt. Sylvester Baldwin (1788 - 1822) - Esther Brown (1796 - 1845)

11) Capt. Roswell Brown Baldwin (1818 - 1885) - Hannah Miles (1829 - 1872)

12) Sylvester Davis Baldwin (1856 - 1923) - Helen Irene McNamara (1860 - 1942)

13) Alexander Rae Baldwin (1897 - 1969) - Ruth Mary Noble (1898 - 1968)

14) Alexander Rae Baldwin Jr. (1927 - 1983) - Carol Newcomb (Martineau) (b.1929)

15) (Alec) Alexander Rae Baldwin III (1958)

The name Sylvester kind of stopped in our line (see the first ever blog post for reference), seemingly replaced with William and Lyman as popular monikers. In this branch, however, we can see that Sylvester carried on with force, so dates really have to be used to keep all these guys separate.

We don't link back here at any weird points that I am aware of, making all of these Baldwins simply our cousins, with the closest common ancestor in Sylvester, father of Richard and John. This is not another Asahel-Esther situation... but that Rebecca Bryant listed in generation 9 is giving me pause... Sylveter's wife Sarah Bryan is also known as Sarah Bryant...

Best not to think about it right now.

Of course Alec has three famous brothers, although I honestly can't recall any movies I have seen them in. These of course would be our cousins as well.

William, Alec, Daniel, Stephen Baldwin

Alec is Sylvester's 8th great-grandson. This makes Alec and his siblings my 9th cousins twice removed. If there is a closer link, I am not aware of it. (Please note that these famous cousin posts will all use the closest family link that I am aware of.) It should also be noted that these Baldwins also descend from John Howland, the man who fell off of the Mayflower. As far as I know, we Baldwins do not. (Descend from him. Not fall off the Mayflower. Though we didn't do that, either, JOHN.)

Alec seems to be most-known lately for his work on Saturday Night Live, where he impersonates another distant cousin of ours named Donald Trump. He's also been on television shows such as 30 Rock and I think I saw him more than once in some Muppet programs. Maybe it was the latest movie. Or maybe I am conflating 30 Rock and Tina Fey with the new Muppet movie and associating it with Alec Baldwin? Seems like something my brain would do. My favorite work of Alec's is probably Beetlejuice, in which he portrays a hapless ghost doomed to haunt his old house with Geena Davis. Together they must watch as a bunch of weirdos move in and sully their home, ultimately calling on Beetlejuice himself to "exorcise the living".

Beetlejuice... Beetlejuice... Beetleju-

Great movie for kids. I saw it when I was like 3 and I'm perfectly fine today.

Don't look at me like that.

Alec Baldwin also was married to Kim Basinger, a few years after she appeared in "Batman". This would have made her also my cousin, by marriage, sadly. Oh well.

Kim Basinger's trading card

So there's Alec Baldwin. We are related. And now you know.