A Pretty Cool Cowboy Cousin: Duke Wayne, Chatsworth, and Me

 Long before I ever looked into family pedigrees or traced bloodlines back to 17th-century New England, I knew John Wayne simply as "The Duke"—the towering, slow-talking star who commanded the silver screen. Like millions of kids growing up in the mid-20th century, I spent my youth admiring his cinematic grit.

It wasn't until years later, while untangling the branches of my family tree, that I discovered a surprising genealogical thread: Marion Robert Morrison—John Wayne—was my 10th cousin 2x removed.

Our shared lineage winds back through New England history to our colonial ancestors, the Spencers. While one branch of the family tree led through the Baileys down to my mother, Velma, another branch moved through the Parsons family—down through Wealthy Chase Parsons and Clyde Leonard Morrison to a boy born in Winterset, Iowa, named Marion.

Riding the Same Dirt

What makes this kinship special isn't just a shared ancestor in colonial Connecticut or Massachusetts; it's the physical ground we both covered in the San Fernando Valley.

During the 1930s, long before he became an Oscar-winning icon, Marion Morrison was a working actor making his mark in early B-Westerns. He spent countless days on location in the Santa Susana Mountains surrounding Chatsworth. Ranches like Iverson, Brandeis, and Ray "Crash" Corrigan’s Corriganville served as the backdrop for his early films—including The Dawn Rider (1935), Overland Stage Raiders (1938), Pals of the Saddle (1938), and John Ford's landmark Stagecoach (1939).

Two decades after John Wayne rode through those sandstone outcroppings for the camera, I was an fourteen-year-old kid riding my red dun pony, Sandy, along those same Chatsworth trails. As members of Equestrian Trails Inc. (ETI), my friends and I rode from Calabasas up past the western edge of the Chatsworth Reservoir to Oak Park and Lake Manor—passing right through the shadows of the movie ranches where my distant cousin had made film history.

In 1955, I sat in the stands at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the L.A. County Sheriff's Championship Rodeo, watching the grand parade of Hollywood Western stars alongside world-champion bronc and bull riders. Wayne himself was a regular fixture at those Coliseum events throughout the era, celebrating the culture of the American West before massive crowds.

Crossing the Great Divide

Looking back, it’s a wonderful piece of personal history to realize that the land I rode as a young cowboy was the same landscape my cousin helped immortalize on film.

While Duke Wayne rode across the big screen into cinematic immortality, I was lucky enough to live the real thing—boots in the stirrups, reins in hand, breathing in the dust of the Santa Susanas. He may have been Hollywood's ultimate cowboy, but to this Drifting Cowboy, he was also a pretty cool cousin.

John Wayne’s — Reel Cowboy Chatsworth Filmography

Dakota (1945) starring John Wayne, Vera Ralston and Walter Brennan - Republic

The Dawn Rider (1935) starring John Wayne - Monogram

The Fighting Seabees (1944) starring John Wayne, Susan Hayward and Dennis O'Keefe (Iverson) Republic

Fort Apache (1948) starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda (Corriganville) RKO

Haunted Gold (1932) starring John Wayne (Iverson Ranch) Warner Bros.

How the West Was Won (1962) starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and James Stewart (Corriganville) MGM

The New Frontier (1935) starring John Wayne and Ray “Crash” Corrigan - Republic

New Frontier (1939) starring John Wayne, Ray "Crash" Corrigan, Raymond Hatton, and Jennifer Jones (Republic). This film was the last of eight Three Mesquiteers B-movies with Wayne.  Lensed on the Iverson, Brandeis Ranch, and Corriganville. It should not be confused with John Wayne's 1935 film The New Frontier.

Overland Stage Raiders (1938) starring John Wayne and Ray “Crash” Corrigan/Max Terhune (Iverson) Republic

Pals of the Saddle (1938) starring John Wayne, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Max Terhune (Corriganville) Republic

Red River Range (1938) starring John Wayne, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Max Terhune (Corriganville) Republic

Santa Fe Stampede (1938) starring John Wayne, Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune (Brandeis)(Corriganville) Republic

Stagecoach (1939) starring John Wayne (Iverson Ranch) United Artists

Texas Cyclone (1932) starring Tim McCoy with John Wayne (Iverson Ranch) Columbia

Three Texas Steers (1939) starring John Wayne, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Max Terhune (Corriganville) Republic

The Trail Beyond (1934) starring John Wayne and Noah Beery Jr. (Chatsworth Trains) Monogram

The Undefeated (1969) starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson - 20th Century-Fox

Winds of the Wasteland (1936)  starring John Wayne (Brandeis Ranch) Republic

Wyoming Outlaw (1939) starring John Wayne, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Raymond Hatton (Corriganville) Republic

My personal all-time favorite John Wayne Western was John Ford’s “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” (1949), however it was not filmed in Chatsworth.

Happy Trails

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

To learn more about Chatsworth Movies see:

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2025/03/chatsworth-movies-comprehensive-list-of.html