It's in my genes.

I got an email tonight, forwarded from my uncle, Nicholai Sorensen. It's freaking amazing:

"I've been looking for material on Maude Adams lately, the cousin of great-grandmother Beulah Adams [that would be two greats for me]. There's surprisingly little in print, given that a hundred years ago she was perhaps the most popular actress in the US, and that the play "Peter Pan" was written with her in mind. Anyhow, one can find interesting things on the web. For example, apparently Alphonse Mucha did an oil of her as Joan of Arc, to be used as a theatrical poster. The original oil's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'd never seen it before, and was fascinated. Apparently Maude (who never married and has a kind of lesbian following, although there's nothing to indicate any leanings in that direction for her) was the original inspiration behind the turn-of-the-century actress character played by Jane Seymour in the 1980 movie "Somewhere in Time." Richard Matheson, who wrote the novel the movie was based on, saw a photograph of her in Virginia City (one of the frontier towns where her stage career started) and had an intense reaction to it. So Maude never had children, and her cousin Beulah wasn't nearly as attractive, unfortunately for us. One of the reasons the memory of her has largely disappeared was that, unlike her rival Ethel Barrymore, she did not move into movies, although I'd hope that somewhere there's some footage of her performing. I note that she did have a penchant for cross-dressing roles (starting this business of females playing Peter Pan, and she played males in a number of other productions). Maybe that's what attracts lesbians. I find her quite interesting, too."

Katie's convinced we were absolutely meant to be friends since Peter Pan is her favorite children's story. I am just thrilled to know this bit of family history. I'm totally naming my daughter Maude. And I'm doing some research.