Discussion Main / FamousAncestor

Pulled this from the Discworld entry.

• Granny Weatherwax is a descendant of Black Aliss, the most infamous bad witch who ever lived. (Among other things, she was responsible for the Discworld version of Sleeping Beauty and Hansel and Gretel. She also turned people into gingerbread and had a house made of frogs.) This gives Granny a certain level of anxiety about turning bad herself.

I keep seeing this idea around the net, and I've no idea where it comes from; it's not in any of the books. Black Aliss is mentioned several times, but the idea she's Esme's ancestor, never. The only Weatherwax ancestor who's been mentioned is Alison Weatherwax, who despite the slight similarity of name is not the same character. (Her death has never been reported and in Carpe Jugulum Granny is relieved to learn she never turned bad, either, whereas Aliss Demurrage was definitely shoved in her own oven by a couple of kids she was planning to eat.)

I'm pretty sure that Barack Obama is not a descendent of Jefferson Davis. On most webpages on Obama's ancestry I've seen, Jefferson Davis is not listed anywhere. It is true, however, that many of Obama's ancestors on his mother's side were white slave-owners.