Birth Name: Jillian Kristin Hervey
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: June 19, 1989
Ethnicity: African-American, 1/4 Louisiana Creole [African, French], small amounts of English and Welsh
Jillian Hervey is an American singer and dancer.
She is the daughter of actress, singer, songwriter, producer, model, and television personality Vanessa L. Williams and music executive Ramon Hervey II. Her uncle is actor and comedian Chris Williams.
All of her grandparents were/are black.
Jillian’s paternal grandfather was Ramon/Raymond Triche Hervey (the son of Henry Peter Hervey and Georgianna/Georgiana/Georgia Wilhemine Triche). Ramon was born in Illinois, to Louisiana Creole parents. Henry was the son of Octave/Olin Hervey and Rita Gasper. Georgianna was the daughter of George/Gus Triche and Amelia/Amanda Gauff.
Jillian’s paternal grandmother was named Winifred L. Collins.
Jillian’s maternal grandfather was Milton Augustine Williams (the son of Milton Augustine/Abner Williams and Iris Agnes Carl/Carll). Jillian’s grandfather Milton was born in New York. Jillian’s great-grandfather Milton was the son of John Hill Williams and Mary L. Fields. Iris was the daughter of Frank S. Carl/Carll and Imogene Jackson.
Jillian’s maternal grandmother is Helen L. Tinch (the daughter of Edward James Tinch and Doris Catherine Griffen/Griffin). Edward was the son of John Wilbur Tinch and Helen Elizabeth Fitzgerald. Doris was the daughter of Moses George Wilson and Elvira Viola Johnson.
In an interview, a journalist stated that Jillian’s mother’s mixed heritage includes African American, Welsh, and Native American. It is not clear if this Native American ancestry has been verified/documented. Jillian’s mother’s appeared on the program Who Do You Think You Are? (2011), where she discovered that her own great-great-grandfather, David Carll, was a “mulatto” (mixed race) man who avoided slavery and married a white woman (her great-great-grandmother).
One of her Jillian’s maternal great-great-great-great-grandfathers, George Appleford, was born in Surrey, England, in 1802.
An Ancestry.com DNA test stated that Jillian’s mother’s genetic ancestry is:
*56% African
——–*23% Ghana
——–*15% Cameroon/Congo
——–*7% Togo
——–*6% Benin
——–*5% Senegal
*44% European
——–*17% British Isles
——–*12% Finnish/Ural/Volga
——–*11% Southern European
——–*4% Spain/Portugal
Jillian’s mother’s has said:
Now, I can’t wait to go to Ghana and Cameroon and Togo and Senegal — it’s a great opportunity to see why the customs resonate with you. I love to travel and I love to explore, and I have to admit that I was always jealous of people who knew their cultural background. Both my family and myself came out with light eyes, so obviously there is a recessive gene here. Not knowing what that was just made me very curious.
Sources: Genealogies of Jillian Hervey – http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com
http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Jillian’s maternal grandfather, Milton Augustine Williams (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.findagrave.com
Jillian’s maternal great-grandmother, Iris Agnes Carl/Carll, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
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