This shouldn’t surprise us when you think of the creativity, the writing, and the powerful influence. While Taylor Swift is already a living icon and will forever be in the history books, this relative already is.
To Connecticut, we go, where Taylor’s lineage traces her to a literary icon according to the CT Insider website.
The two famous writers in this family tree are Taylor with her incredible songs and the one and only Emily Dickinson who is regarded as one of the most important figures in poetry and the literary world.
We’ve all heard of the genealogy company Ancestry.com and maybe you’ve even used it to research your family tree. Well, according to CT Insider the company itself combed through historical records and found that Taylor and the 19th-century poet are distant cousins. They’re sixth cousins to be exact.
Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th-century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut). Taylor Swift’s ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until her part of the family eventually settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they married into the Swift family line.
Ancestry.com
The Emily Dickinson Museum is in Amherst, Massachusetts where Emily was born and raised. It was excited about the news, too inviting Taylor to come visit.
You may recall that according to Rolling Stone Taylor referenced Emily when she was accepting the Songwriter-Artist of the Decade at the Nashville Songwriters Association International in 2022.
If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre.
Interesting that Taylor’s latest album is titled The Tortured Poets Department. Hmmmmmmm. It’s out on April 19, 2024.
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