Helen Reddy can quote the words of her ancestors.
Specifically, that is, farmer and Australian pioneer Richard Morgan."It's so wonderful that I have a direct quote from my fourth great
grandfather," said the Australian singer, who rode the feminist anthem "I Am Woman" to fame.
"He said: `I'll knock your brains out if you don't sign it.' "
Reddy traces her family history back to Morgan, who was on the first fleet of convict ships banished to Australia in the early 1800s. According to original court depositions that Reddy found, witnesses claimed Morgan, of Bristol, Enlgand, was an opportunist who set up a rich landowner's son. Morgan waited under a bed, armed with a hammer, while the man was awaiting an assignation from a lady friend. Hence the infamous line, quoted by witnesses who were peeking through gaps in the wall.
Morgan hoped the plan would make him 500 pounds and a watch richer. But instead, he received a one-way ticket to the penal colony of Australia. At the time, Reddy said, the British legal system designated 160 crimes warranting the death penalty, including that heinous public enemy, the Egyptian impersonator.
Reddy, an amateur family historian who says she is passionate and "hopelessly addicted" to her hobby, spoke in Salt Lake City Friday night at "Windows to the Past," a conference co-sponsored by the Utah Genealogical Association.
Reddy brags that her convict grandfather eventually became an Australian frontiersman and father of eight. Four of his descendants became clergymen, and one was an archbishop in the Church of England. Reddy is proud that her family history parallels the history of her country, the land's "blood and bone."
The singer began searching her roots in 1973. That's the year she gave birth to a son and three hit singles. And the same year she buried both parents.
As she mourned, she wanted to connect with her family. She began interviewing her parents' friends. Through her research, she discovered a performer's heritage. "I didn't even know I was third-generation show business," she said.