Stephen Colbert's Rochester Connection

Stephen Colbert is a descendent of the original four Fee Bros. who started a wine business in Rochester back in the 1860s. Their slogan: “The House of Fee by the Genesee since eighteen hundred and sixty-three.”

“We have the same great-grandfather as Stephen Colbert. His grandmother (Marie Fee) and my grandfather (John Charles Fee II) were sister and brother. His mother (Lorna Tuck Colbert) and my father (Jack Fee) are first cousins,” explains Ellen Fee, 56, who now runs the Portland Avenue beverage ingredients company with her brother Joe.

Both Joe Fee and Colbert turn 50 next month and have an undeniable family resemblance, adds Ellen Fee.

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None of the Rochester Fees have met their famous second cousin, though they have tried. Before Colbert came to give a speech at the University of Rochester several years ago, Ellen Fee sent a letter to Comedy Central inviting Colbert to visit them when he was in town. Though the pseudo-conservative comedian did not have time to do so, his secretary later told Ellen Fee that when he saw the Fee Bros. letterhead on her desk, he immediately exclaimed, “Those are my cousins.”

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Erica Fee, who is also well known in the United Kingdom theater world, said the news of Colbert’s career change made her swell with family pride.

“I immediately thought of how his great-great-grandfather, Owen Fee, had struggled to make a life for himself and his family in Rochester. Owen moved to Rochester from Ireland in the 1830s and owned a grocery store at the corner of Main Street and St. Paul. He was the father of all four Fee brothers. To think that his great-great-grandson would achieve such dizzying heights surely proves the American dream is real.”

Full Article: Democrat and Chronicle.