In the winter of 2016, I sat down to watch an episode of Finding Your Roots. I did not expect to find a connection that night to Neil Patrick Harris. The show went on to tell how Neil was connected to Germanna Colonies in Virginia. I thought wow, several ancestors of mine were part of that settlement. The episode went on to tell about Neil’s 12th great grandmother, Gertrude “Trude” Stuell. She was convicted of witchcraft in 1590 Germany and burnt at the stake! Here is the clip where he finds this out.
After the Show
Once the show was over, I then pulled up his genealogy, I recognized so many surnames! After comparing trees, the connection was clear. We share the same 8th great grandparents Herman Otterbach (1663-1724) and Elizabeth Heimbach (1662-1698), making Neil Patrick Harris my 9th cousin! Further down the line, I see that Gertrude is my 12th great grandmother as well! I never knew about her or her story. This brings my genealogical research to a new high – finding clues on television!
The German Foundation in Virginia did much of the research on this line. They wrote this up and have several links for Neil Patrick Harris’ genealogy. https://germanna.org/2016/02/23/neil-patrick-harris-learns-of-his-germanna-roots/
Bonus Finds
While researching the Gertrude for this post, I discovered more famous people tied to her lineage. Janis Joplin and Brad Pitt are also 12th great-grandchildren of Gertrude Stuell. https://famouskin.com/famous-kin-menu.php?name=158741+gertrude+stuell
I added their genealogies and discovered Janis Joplin is my 7th cousin twice removed. Brad Pitt is a closer relationship because we share a set of 6x great-grandparents, John Frederick Fishback and Ann Elizabeth Holtzclaw making us 6th cousins once removed. John Frederick Fishback is one of my proven revolutionary war patriots.
Sometimes the best genealogical research is reviewing what you already have but have not looked at in some time. You never know where a hint will pop up! Happy Hunting!
Patty,
I would love to connect with you as I am also a descendant of Gertrud Stuell AND Hans Jacob Holtzclaw and his first wife, Anna Margreth Otterbach. Their son, Johann Henrich “Henry” is my ancestor and he’s the brother of your Ann Elizabeth Holtzclaw. I’m also a descendant of John Frederick Fishback’s parents, Johannes/John Fischbach/Fishback and Agnes Catharina Haeger, they’re my 8th great grandparents and their daughter, Anna Catharina Fischbach and her husband, Johannes/John Richter/Rector are my 7th great grandparents….whew! The Holtzclaw/Otterbach is my mother’s side and the Haeger/Fischbach/Richter is my father’s side, I didn’t know for many, many years that I have Germanna on both sides of my family.
I plan and lead the Historic Germanna Germany Trip so I’m very familiar with all of the villages of the Germanna immigrants. The homes of the Holtzclaws, Otterbachs and Fischbachs are still standing and occupied today, although last year some major renovations were being done to the Holtzclaw home, Kromme, so we will see what’s left of it! We tour Siegen every year and we always pay homage to Gertrud Stuell when we pass the Hexenturm where she was imprisoned for two years, poor woman, accused of witchcraft by her own daughter in law. Sad!
Get in touch with me!