You may have heard the rumor that Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is related to George Strait, the king of country music. But is it true? And if so, how are they connected? In this article, we will explore the surprising truth about the relationship between these two famous men.
The Family Tree
According to several sources, Jeff Bezos and George Strait are indeed related, but not very closely. They are second cousins once removed, meaning that Strait’s grandfather and Bezos’ great-grandmother were siblings.
Here is a simplified version of their family tree:
John Joseph Strait (1868-1944)
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+– John Samuel Strait (1896-1975) +– Yancey Clarence Strait (1900-1979)
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| +– John Byron Strait (1922-2013)| +– Mattie Louise Strait (1924-2015)
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| +– George Strait (1952-) | +– Jacklyn Gise (1946-)
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| | +– Jeffrey Preston Jorgensen (1964-)
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| | +– Jeff Bezos
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+– other children
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As you can see, George Strait’s grandfather, John Samuel Strait, and Jeff Bezos’ great-grandmother, Mattie Louise Strait, were both children of John Joseph Strait, who was born in Texas in 1868. Mattie Louise married Lawrence Preston Gise in 1943 and gave birth to Jacklyn Gise in 1946. Jacklyn became pregnant with Jeff at age 16 and married his biological father, Ted Jorgensen, in 1963. However, the marriage did not last and Jacklyn remarried Miguel Bezos in 1968, who adopted Jeff as his own son.
The Connection
So, how did the public find out about this connection? Well, it seems that it was first reported by the Dallas News in 1999, when they casually mentioned that Bezos and Strait were cousins in an article about Bezos’ visit to Texas. Later, in 2018, the Austin American-Statesman brought up the fact again when Bezos was considering Austin as the location for Amazon HQ2. And in 2020, Taste of Country did some more research and confirmed the relationship using Find a Grave, a website owned by Ancestry.com.
However, neither Bezos nor Strait have ever publicly acknowledged or commented on their family ties. It is possible that they are not even aware of them or that they do not consider them significant enough to mention. After all, they are very distant relatives who have never met or interacted with each other. They also have very different backgrounds, careers and lifestyles.
The Conclusion
So, is Jeff Bezos related to George Strait? The answer is yes, but only in a very loose sense. They are second cousins once removed who share a common ancestor from over a century ago. They are not close family members who have any influence or impact on each other’s lives. They are simply two successful men who happen to have a surprising link in their genealogy.
