Profile Text
Date of Birth: December 5, 1934
Place of Birth: Sacramento, California, United States
Date of Death: December 23, 2021
Place of Death: Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.
Ethnicity: German, English, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, distant French Huguenot and Dutch
Joan Didion was an American essayist, memoirist, and novelist.
Joan was the daughter of Eduene (Jerrett) and Frank Reese Didion, a finance officer in the Army Air Corps. She was married to novelist, screenwriter, and literary critic John Gregory Dunne, until his death. The couple had a daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, who was adopted. Her nephew, her late husband’s brother’s son, is actor Griffin Dunne .
Joan had German, English, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and distant French Huguenot and Dutch, ancestry, including Colonial American roots.
Joan’s paternal grandfather was Joseph Francis “Frank” Didion (the son of John F. Didion and Mary Jeanette Dreman). Joseph was born in Sacramento, California. John was born in Bavaria, Germany. Mary was born in Sacramento, the daughter of John Frederick Dreman, who was born in Hannover, Prussia; and of Ann Clarke/Clark, whose mother was Welsh.
Joan’s paternal grandmother was Ethel Mira Reese (the daughter of David D. Reese and Mira L. Kilgore). Ethel was born in Florin, Sacramento, California. David was born in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and was sheriff of Sacramento. He was the son of John Rees/Reese and Elizabeth Anthony. Joan’s great-grandmother Mira was born in Sacramento, the daughter of William H. Kilgore and Elizabeth Hanlon, whose grandparents were all Irish, with at least partial roots in Templecrone, County Donegal.
Joan’s maternal grandfather was Hermann/Herman Daniel Jerrett (the son of Daniel Jerrett and Clarinda Ellen “Clara” Farnsworth). Hermann was born in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California. Joan’s great-grandfather Daniel was born in Scriba, Oswego, New York, the son of Robert Jerrett, whose father was born in Lancashire, England; and of Diadama Worden. Clarinda was born in Hollidays Cove, Hancock County, West Virginia, the daughter of Seba Calvin Farnsworth, who was born in Washington, Sullivan County, New Hampshire; and of Hulda Shaw.
Joan’s maternal grandmother was Edna Francena Magee (the daughter of James Bernard Magee and Sarah Elizabeth Geiger). Edna was born in Oregon. James was Irish. Sarah was born in Forest Grove, Washington County, Oregon, the daughter of William Geiger, Jr. and Elizabeth C. Cornwall, whose father was a minister.
Sources: Genealogies of Joan Didion – https://www.geni.com https://www.findagrave.com https://www.familysearch.org