As Tom Hanks prepares to play Mister Rogers in the upcoming film “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” he also found out that portraying Fred Rogers on screen is his only link to him.
According to Access, the two men are sixth cousins and can date their lineage back to Johannes Meffort, who was born in 1732 and immigrated to the United States from Germany sometime in the 18th century.
“Johannes raised a family of patriots; three of his sons (including Tom Hanks’ and Fred Rogers’s ancestors) served in the Revolutionary War,” Ancestry.com said in a statement. “Fred Rogers’s 4x great-grandfather, William Mefford, served in the navy and was captured by the British in 1782. He endured life on a prison ship in Barbados and Antigua until he was released ten months later. “Tom Hanks’s 4x great-grandfather, Jacob Mefford, joined the War as a private and participated in a skirmish at Chesapeake Bay. So, Rogers and Hanks not only share the same ancestor, they also descend from two brothers who fought for America’s independence.”
“It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” premieres on Nov. 22.