Emily Dickinson and Taylor Swift are cousins, Ancestry reveals

Taylor Swift has an unexpected historical figure in her bloodline, Ancestry confirmed on Monday (March 4). The 34-year-old pop sensation is a distant relative of famous American poet, Emily Dickinson.

According to the popular genealogy site, the pair are sixth cousins thrice removed. “Swift and Dickinson both descend from a 17th-century English immigrant (Swift’s 9th great-grandfather and Dickinson’s 6th great-grandfather who was an early settler of Windsor, Connecticut),” Ancestry told TODAY.

“Taylor Swift’s ancestors remained in Connecticut for six generations until her part of the family eventually settled in northwestern Pennsylvania, where they married into the Swift family line.”

In 1830, Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She was a prolific writer who produced nearly 1,800 poems up until she died in 1886.  Since then, she has been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry.

Meanwhile, Swift was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1989 and relocated to Hendersonville, Tennessee when her music career took off at age 14. In 2022, Swift mentioned the 19th-century poet after receiving the songwriter-artist of the decade award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

During her acceptance speech, she said: “If my lyrics sound like a letter written by Emily Dickinson’s great-grandmother while sewing a lace curtain, that’s me writing in the Quill genre."

Additionally, fan theories suggest there's a link between Swift's ninth studio album 'Evermore' and the 19th-century poet. According to Swifties, the Grammy-nominated album was announced on Dickinson's birthday and is a reference to the word 'forevermore' featured in the writer's poem, 'One Sister Have I in Our House'.

Taylor Swift is currently in the midst of her sold-out Era's Tour, and is playing six concerts at Singapore's National Stadium. The run of shows will be Swift's first appearance in Singapore after nine years and her only Era's Tour stop in southeast Asia.

Swift will then fly to Paris in May to start the European Leg of her Era's Tour. The much-anticipated UK tour will kick off in June and features stops in Edinburgh, Liverpool, Cardiff and London.