Curious – Am I Related to an Opera Singer?

 When I began my journey into genealogical research, I contacted one of my paternal 2^nd cousins who had been working on our family’s history. He very graciously shared some of the information he had found. This section of my family had been members of the Society of Friends, often called Quakers. Since our local genealogical society had a series of books in their library, entitled Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, I eagerly began researching there. This was a 6 volume set, compiled through the efforts of William Wade Hinshaw. I was thrilled to find so many of my ancestors listed in these books. In doing more reading I found that Mr. Hinshaw had an earlier career as an opera singer. He was known as the leading American baritone singer with the Metropolitan Opera from 1910 to 1912.

Photo of W W Hinshaw, digital image from

The Musical Blue Book of America, 1916-1917, page 5

Accessed on Internet Archive, 25 Jan 2022

I continued to research my Quaker relatives in other sources. Eventually I learned that a sister (Elizabeth 1813-1882) of my 2^nd great-grandfather, Francis Hockett, had married a man named Hinshaw. Then I discovered that a sister (Elizabeth 1809-1866) of my 3^rd great-grandfather, Isaac Hockett, had also married a man named Hinshaw as her 2^ndhusband. Was it possible they were from the same family as the compiler of the books? Recently I found a pedigree chart for William Wade Hinshaw in the Family Search Family Tree. There I discovered that it was his grandfather who married my 3^rd great-aunt, so I am related to him by marriage.

Many people who have Quaker ancestors find they are related to other Quaker descendants. William was born in Hardin County, Iowa, in 1867. My Quaker great-grandparents, Nathan E. and Mary M. (Hockett) Albertson, were married in Hardin County in 1870. But, am I really related to William Wade Hinshaw by blood? Using that same pedigree chart, I found that not only am I related to him, I am related to him in two different ways.

First: William Hunt (1693-1746) and Mary E. Woolman (1692-1745) were his 3^rd great-grandparents. They were my 7^th great-grandparents, so we are 4^th cousins 4 times removed.

Second: John Beals (1685-1745) and Sarah Bowater (1689-1765) were his 4^th great-grandparents. They were my 7^th great-grandparents, so we are 5^th cousins 3 times removed.

Therefore I can say that I am related to an opera singer.