Polish Mushroom Farmer Discovers He’s Related to Nicolas Cage and Other Famous People Through MyHeritage

My name is Ireneusz Nawrot, and I live in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, a beautiful region in western Poland. At 64 years old, I’m a year away from retirement, and my days are usually spent managing my mushroom production business, yielding an impressive 1,300 tons a month! But recently, my life has taken an exciting turn, thanks to an unexpected push into the world of genealogy.

Ireneusz Nawrot

How MyHeritage hooked me

It all started when my son, Marcin, encouraged me to begin researching my family. He suggested I log into my aunt’s MyHeritage account — who belonged to my ex-wife Małgorzata’s family — and help fill in some information about the relatives I knew. As I began entering details, I felt a hook sinking in. I decided then and there to create my own tree on MyHeritage, bought a subscription, and I haven’t looked back since!

Initially, I explored various genealogical platforms, but MyHeritage quickly became my favorite. Its tools proved incredibly helpful, especially the DNA Matches and Smart Matches, which allowed me to unearth some truly fascinating connections.

Uncovering remarkable connections

While not all are close relatives, the links are undeniable, and here are just a few of the remarkable individuals I’ve found in my family tree:

• King Jan Sobieski III of Poland: I discovered an link to this historic Polish monarch through Smart Matches.
• Henryk Michał Zygalski: A brilliant mathematician and cryptologist who, along with his colleagues, famously broke the German Enigma cipher.

• General Joseph Karge: Born in Poland in 1823, he became a general appointed by President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.

General Joseph Karge’s gravestone at Princeton Cemetery. Photo by John Colcord

• Kathryn Bancks (née McCann): A descendant of the Polish Kozłowski family who emigrated to Australia.
• Tony Philip Fuller: A descendant of Tomasz Thomas Borkowski, who emigrated to New Zealand, and Lorayne Mina Burmeister from Australia.
• Annette Miller (née Knoll): A Canadian descendant of Marianna Dobeck (née Miloch).

And that’s just a glimpse! I’ve found many more relatives and connections. The “show relationship” feature on MyHeritage has been invaluable, helping me navigate my increasingly large tree.

A Relationship Report of Ireneusz’s connection to mathematician Henryk Zygalski

My genealogical journey also helped me solve a long-standing family mystery. I had an additional challenge because I didn’t know who my father, Henryk Nawrot, and my godfather, Józef Suszek, were. Thanks to my research, I managed to find them both.

My surprising connection to Nicolas Cage

MyHeritage tools like DNA and Smart Matches are especially useful in Poland, where historical records can be challenging to find. Many church records were lost or destroyed, particularly during the turbulent 18th century when Poland was under foreign rule, leading to significant emigration. This period saw my ancestors emigrate to Australia and New Zealand. Earlier, at the beginning of the 16th century, 3 of our families, including Jadwiga Welding (née Przybyła), Anna Kaczmarek (married name Siputa), and Lawrence Nawrot and his wife Mary (née Helak), emigrated to the U.S. It’s with Anna Kaczmarek that the story of Nicolas Cage begins.

I never knew Nicolas Cage was a relative — it was a complete surprise! I only remembered my grandmother, Maria Rokita, mentioning someone from the Kaczmarek family had emigrated to the United States. My previous searches led to Paul August Kaczmarek, a teacher who emigrated to the U.S., but his lineage seemed to end there. Then, on March 23, 2025, a friend, Andrzej Zielenda, called me after seeing a video where a journalist was searching for Polish roots among famous Americans. He thought one of them might be my relative. I watched the film by Janusz Andrasz and there I saw my ancestors Maciej Kaczmarek (1817–1903) and his wife Marianna Kaczmarek (née Radom) (1812–1879).

It turns out they are also the ancestors of Nicolas Cage, Christopher Coppola, and Marc Coppola! With Anna Kaczmarek (married name Siputa, 1886–1976), Nicolas Cage’s great-grandmother, already in my tree, everything else fell into place. I added details of her husband, Andrew Siputa, and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, using archives, the internet, and, of course, MyHeritage. I even tried to contact Nicolas Cage’s family through various channels to share the exciting news, but unfortunately, without success so far.

Ireneusz’s connection to Nicolas Cage

My advice for aspiring genealogists

My family, understandably, doesn’t always share my intense interest in genealogy, but I’m doing my best to get them hooked! I’ve even funded DNA testing for key branches of the family, which has been immensely helpful, especially for those relatives who are no longer with us — their DNA remains! My family tree is now incredibly vast, and sometimes the system struggles to generate new descendants due to its size, but it’s a small price to pay for the incredible discoveries.

This has been an incredible journey of discovering who I am, where I come from, and the remarkable stories woven into my very being. If you’ve ever considered researching your family history, I wholeheartedly recommend MyHeritage. You never know what amazing connections you might uncover!

Many thanks to Ireneusz for sharing his amazing discoveries with us! If you’ve also made some incredible discoveries with MyHeritage, we’d love to hear about it. Please share it with us via this form or email us at stories@myheritage.com.

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Source: My Heritage