Was Lucille Ball Ginger Rogers Cousin?

Lucille Ball

So here's the scoop on the rumor that Lucille Ball was Ginger Rogers' distant cousin. After two years of genealogy research my daughter and I cannot find any connection to the two women. The one thing they had in common was that they had an ancestor with the name of Saphrona Ball on both sides - but the Saphronas were different people altogether. One died as a child, and the other was Ginger's Grandmother who lived to an old age.

The only possible connection we've found goes back to Martha Washington, who may have been a common ancestor. We will keep digging! 

Lucille Ball and Ginger Rogers were born the same year only a month apart. Lucille was under the tutelage of Lela Rogers and was a very good friend of Ginger's. I hope they put that part of her life in the new film that Lucille's children are making about her. 


Photo: By Studio - Flickr, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=69664506
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Marge Padgitt is a genealogy researcher and director of the Ginger House Museum in Independence, Missouri. Contact her at thegingerhousemuseum@gmail.com.