Most of my life, I'd heard that Ava Gardner the Movie Star was related to me. I've been working on Dad's side of the family since 2000. I needed something I could work on that would ease my troubled mind after being flooded out of my home (and then back in after working 3 tiring months to repair the damage). It was my therapy. I would call around to anyone with my last name in the 4 surrounding counties and meet with the oldest members. I met a lot of great people. Had extra grandparents for a short while. Thurman Baker, Annie Mae V Tuck (my Grandma Rosa's cousin), Daisy Webb and others.
I have pictures I inherited and in 2017, I found out one of the pictures my Grandma Rosa had (in an old purse behind the sofa at Uncle Doc's trailer on N Fountain Rd, Macclesfield, NC) was of 2 girls. When I asked Uncle Doc who they were; he didn't know. When I was visiting with 90 plus year old Daisy Webb; I asked her and she stated "Looks like the Gardner girls". In my research of some pictures I inherited from Dad's Aunt Effie V Edwards (Cannie), I found the same two young ladies pictures on ancestry; and realized they were Ava Gardner's sisters.
Ava's parents and Grandparents were from Edgecombe County. Edgecombe County census records show that Ava's Grandfather, George Gardner, lived in St. Lewis; a community beside Macclesfield (Town). The St. Lewis Ruitan Club is where we have f
facilitated many Varnell and Wiggins family dinners.
Here is how we are related:
Me
My father -PV
My Grandfather - OV
My 1st Great Grandmother - Elizabeth "Betsy" Batts (Joseph V)
My 2nd Great Grandfather - William Woodard Batts (Col CSA)
My 3rd Great Grandfather - William Batts Sr 1771-1856 (Martha Patsy Woodard Batts)
My 4th Great Grandfather - William Alexander Batts 1741 - 1806 (Chastity Barnes)
Ava
Ava's father - Jonas Bailey Garner
Ava's paternal Grandmother - Cynthia Batts Gardner (William M Gardner)
Ava's paternal 1st Great Grandfather - Bailey Batts (Ester Jordan Batts)
Ava's paternal 2nd Great Grandfather - William Alexander Batts 1741 - 1806 (Chastity Barnes Batts)
So my 4th Great Grandfather and Ava's 2nd Grandfather are the same (William Alexander Batts)
My 3rd Great Grandfather (William Batts Sr) and her 2nd Great Grandfather (Batts) are brothers.
My 2nd Great Grandfather (William Woodard Batts) and her 1st Great Grandfather are 1st cousins.
My 1st Great Grandmother (Elizabeth "Betsy" Batts) and her Grandmother were 1st cousins once removed.
My Grandfather (OV) and her Father (Jonas Bailey Gardner) were 2nd cousins once removed.
My Dad (PV) and she are 3rd cousins once removed.
I am Ava's 4th cousin, once removed.
Children of Jonas Bailey and Mary Elizabeth Baker Gardner
1) Elizabeth Beatrice "Bappie" Gardner 11/14/1903-11/6/1993 md Larry Cole before 1941
2) Elsie Mae Gardner 11/2/1904 - 1/29/1987 md David Lester Creech
3) Edna Inez Gardner 12/15/1906 - 12/11/1981 md John Alvis Grimes
4) Raymond Allison Gardner 12/5/1908 - 2/21/1911 (Accidental Death by blasting cap swept in fireplace, explosion)
5) Jonas Melvin "Jack" Gardner 9/11/1911 - 1/14/1981
6) Myra Merritt Gardner 11/5/1915 - 4/18/2005 md Bronnie Clifton Pearce
7) Ava Lavinia Gardner 12/24/1922 - 1/24/1990
1st Husband: Mickey "Joseph Yule Jr" Rooney 1942 (b 9/23/1920 - d 4/6/2014)
2nd Husband: Arthur "Artie" Jackob (Arshawsky) Shaw (marriage 10/17/1945 - 1946) b5/23/1910 - d12/30/2004)
3rd Husband: Fracis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (marriage 11/7/1951 - 1957)
Ava's Mother - Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Baker
Ava's mother was from Edgecombe County also, lived near Fountain NC (just east of Macclesfield NC). There are plenty of Baker's in my family tree and sure there is a connection, but think it's more distant than the Gardner side.
Ava's Mom Mary Elizabeth "Mollie" Baker
Ava's Grandfather - King David Baker of Fountain, NC (Edgecombe County)
Still reading anything on Ava that I can get my hands on. If I have any regrets in this life, it is that I was studying in London England in 1983 (Summer) and was there for 6 weeks. I now know that Ava was living there just 2 miles away from my location of University of London - Chelsea College on Hortensia St. She lived at 33 Ennismore Gardens in Kensington London England. I bet she would have been a forever friend/pen pal, and wouldn't have seen me as a pest. I wouldn't have been able to tell her how I was related because I found out recently due to Ancestry.com, Dad's information, etc. I didn't go to the library and find out before going. I should have gone to visit my Great Aunt Margaret as I'm sure she could have told me how we were related. Young and stupid was I. :(
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
We are also related to Mary Elizabeth Winstead - currently an actress in Hollywood, from Rocky Mount. She's related to Ava. She has played in Final Destination 3 and played 'Lucy' in the 3rd and 4th Die Hard Movies (Franchise).
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (born November 28, 1984) is an American actress and singer. She has starred in scream queen roles[1] in the horror films including Final Destination 3 (2006), Black Christmas (2006), Death Proof (2007), The Thing (2011), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012), and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016). She appeared as John McClane's daughter Lucy in the fourth and fifth films in the Die Hard franchise (2007, 2013), Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Leah in The Beauty Inside (2012), and Kate Hannah in the Sundance drama Smashed (2012).
The youngest of five children of Betty Lou (Knight) Winstead and James Ronald Winstead, Mary Elizabeth Winstead was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Her grandfather was a cousin of actress Ava Gardner. When she was five years old, her family moved to Sandy, Utah, a Salt Lake City suburb.
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