Rosemary Clooney was a well-known singer and actress in the 1950’s. Her most famous role is White Christmas with Bing Crosby. She is also the aunt of the well-known actor George Clooney.
Our connection to Rosemary begins with the fact that she was born in Maysville, Kentucky, the same town as my Great-grandmother (we called her Grandma Stubbs, her maiden name was Anna Duncan). The connection runs a little deeper than that though. Rosemary’s parents bought the house Grandma Stubbs was born in from the Duncans (her parents). Sometime after this purchase, Rosemary and her brother Nick were born in the same house.
Now I’m not exactly sure what house the three of them (Rosemary, Nick & Grandma Stubbs) were actually born in. Where the actual house was seems to be lost in the mists of time, although if someone spent a few hours poking about in the Mason County archives, they might be able to solve the mystery.
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| NOT this house! |
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| NOT this one either! |
I do know several places that are not the right house. It is not the Rosemary Clooney House. That is actually in Augusta, Kentucky, several miles downstream from Maysville. Rosemary bought that as an adult in 1980, well after her successful career. None of the houses that Rosemary lived in with her Grandmother Guilfoyle, at least one of which is listed in the National Historic Register, are the correct house either.
*******************To read about some notable people I actually have met, click this link.
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Tom, great stories. I never knew grandma stubbs, but she is oh so famous in our family because of stories so many of you had told. One in particular that I heard often was her claim that we were related to Daniel Boone. What do you have to say on that subject?
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to make of the Daniel Boone connection.
I looked into it, but genealogy records in Kentucky are scarce due to floods and fires. I spent some time in Maysville and was unable to obtain any information about Anna Duncan's (Grandma Stubbs) parents.
On the other hand, in general, these oral history stories tend to have many elements of truth to them.
Best,
Tom