When Harl Aldrich, ’47, got interested in genealogy, he traced his family back 10 generations and discovered he’s related to Myles Standish, the captain who sailed on the Mayflower. Recently, he discovered another family surprise –– a relationship to Elvis.
“My five children and eight grandchildren were pretty excited,” he says. “They thought it was really cool that Elvis is a remote cousin.”
Aldrich never thought much about his middle name –– Preslar –– until he discovered that one of his ancestors was Valentin Bressler, who emigrated from Germany to New York in 1709. Over the years, the name Bressler became Presler, Preslar, and Presley.
The Aldriches were never big fans of the superstar, he says. “I just think we felt Elvis was a bit too demonstrative on stage.”
The family does, though, seem to share the glitzy star’s love of music. All of Aldrich’s children studied piano; one daughter is a professional singer and another has long played electric bass guitar.
As far as he knows, though, he says, the swashbuckling King of Rock ‘n Roll is the only one in the family who ever visited Las Vegas in a satin jumpsuit.