The Popes fascinating genealogy.

[JLW]

This article may be behind a paywall unfortunately. The Pope’s family tree is truly an amalgam of American history. Conquistadors, Freedom fighters, royalty, slaves and slave holders.

Nothing controversial, just a very interesting family tree.

Just FYI if you’re into that kind of thing.

We Traced Pope Leo XIV’s Ancestry Back 500 Years. Here’s What We Found.

Noblemen, enslaved people, freedom fighters, slaveowners: what the complex family tree of the first American pontiff reveals.

www.nytimes.com

 

[1srelluc]

The wife is a descendant of Robert E. Lee.

Her family on her dad's side was very wealthy but got wiped out in The Panic of 1857. They had to sell the planation/slaves around Culpeper, Virginia.

Panic of 1857 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

All they were left with was a general store, grist mill, and some land around the town. The grist mill was later burned by the Yankees then rebuilt by the Yankees for their use. Weird.

They did end-up making money off dead Yankees by burying them on their land for $5.00 a head. The burial grounds was the beginning of the current National Cemetery there now.

Culpeper National Cemetery - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org