Relative Strangers

About Relative Strangers

Poet and teacher Taylor Mali knows more about his family than anyone really needs to know, especially the branch that has lived in New York City for 400 years. However, they don't all know him or each other—they are relative strangers to each other—so getting all 450 of them to meet in person in the summer of 2024 is going to be a struggle or a train wreck.

Publisher

Taylor Mali

Category

history

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Jun 2023

Latest episode

30 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

15 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2025

   14. The Aftermath

   Over a year after the event, Taylor Mali finally describes what The Marble House Meeting was actually like, from champagne at The Met to coffee in the cemetery, all in the company of cousins he'd never met before and may never see again. This is a short and imperfect episode, and this should not be the first one you listen to if you haven't heard any before. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please f...

2. 

   23 Jul 2024

   13. The Prospect of Freedom

   In this episode, which is the first to have been recorded after the singularly wonderful and marvelously successful Marble House Meeting at the end of June, Taylor has a proper conversation with Kate McCabe, the retired educator, amateur historian, and self-described "Morristown Girl" who knows more about the family of James Colles than anyone who—unlike her—actually shares some of his DNA. McCabe talks about some of the prickly personalities that tried to fit in with the family. She calls Emily Johnston De Forest a "rockstar." She explains "the squabble" over Colles's estate and is pretty sure what good works his son George Wetmore Colles did with the funds he pilfered from it. "To what extent does James Colles owe his wealth to the slave trade?" is another question that gets asked and answered. There is some profanity in this episode, and Taylor explains that hooking up with cousins in his family is definitely a thing, "but only because we all find one another so attractive!" The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

3. 

   1 Jul 2024

   12. The Letter

   One hundred sixty-one years ago today—on July 1, 1863, which was a Wednesday—Frances Colles Johnston, the 37-year-old wife of John Taylor Johnston, took advantage of the sudden quiet in her father's summer house in Morristown, NJ, and dashed off a letter to her baby brother George Wetmore Colles who was fighting for the Union Army in The Civil War. In this episode of Relative Strangers, Taylor Mali talks with retired educator Kate McCabe, the self-proclaimed "Morristown Girl" who lived across the street from the Colles summer house and has been inside it and played in its back yard. It was McCabe who found the original handwritten letter and brought it to the attention of this podcast. The letter itself is read and performed by actor and friend-of-the-podcast Megan McQuillan. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

4. 

   28 May 2024

   11. We Children (Ausable Club Recollections)

   This episode is built around a 40-year-old recording of Eva Mali Noyes and her brother Henry "Harry" Mali conducted in 1984 by David and Rosemary Coffin. The recording was discovered by Cousin Amy Stewart Webb (1955) in a box of her mother's belongings, and the complete unedited recording can be accessed here (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5inj9jvgimelrzcxw3rp2/Eva-Noyes-and-Harry-Mali-1984-interview-Early-Adirondack-Recollections-Interviewed-by-David-and-Rosemary-Coffin.mp3?rlkey=ztpnpball4ad0zga7qlk5or5e&dl=0). Cousin Taylor Mali (1965) had the audio restored (thanks to artificial intelligence and audio engineering teacher Chad Anderson), and he plays selected segments of the interview while providing context. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

5. 

   13 Apr 2024

   10. The Mothers & the Grandmothers

   With about 10 weeks to go before 100 distant cousins get together in New York City for the first time in over a century, Taylor Mali takes a closer look at three female ancestors that all the relative strangers share, Frances Colles, Rachel Ogden Wetmore, and Adrienne Cuvelier. Also included at the end of this episode are voice memos sent in from Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz, Caroline Dubois, Kate McCabe, Megan McQuillan,  Tony Stewart, Olivia Jacobs, and Cordelia Pierson. Last, be sure to visit @RealtiveStrangersPodcast on Instagram to watch Trip Stowell talk about the Mystery Trunk that we will all break into on Saturday! The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

6. 

   12 Mar 2024

   9. Hanky Panky in Marble House in 1872!

   This episode begins with the most SHOCKING, PRURIENT, and SCANDALOUS installment of "The Scullion's Hearth," Taylor Mali's entirely fictional (although completely plausible) account of what life might have been like in Marble House as seen through the eyes of housemaid named Bridget (beautifully read by New York City actress Megan McQuillan)! Also included are some updates on planned activities for the long-awaited family reunion in June of 2024. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

7. 

   15 Feb 2024

   8. "Drunk Cousin with an iPhone"

   Taylor talks with his second cousin Sarah Elder (1947) about how to be a lady and the tribal nature of most of the world. They talk about privilege and whether you can hide it, the paucity of motherly love, and the "poor cousins" who had to attend The Chapin School. What do you have the strength to endure out of kindness alone? Taylor recites entirely too many poems in the course of the interview, but Sarah confesses to having sex in the maid's rooms of her grandmother's apartment. Interestingly, this is the first episode of the series in which the name John Taylor Johnston is never mentioned. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

8. 

   10 Dec 2023

   7. "We Were Forced to Eff Ourselves"

   Taylor Mali interviews distant cousin B. A. Van Sise, a charmingly nerdy photographer and polymath and one of the closest living relatives of Walt Whitman. THERE IS ONE WELL-PLACED SWEAR WORD EARLY IN THE EPISODE. There's also news of The Marble House Meeting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and audio clips of Broadway actor Michael Crane reading selections from Taylor's grandfather's journal. Van Sise asks Taylor whether his extended family considers him their "shepherd" or their "Judas Goat." Last, if you are a relative stranger and plan to be at the opening cocktail reception, you might want to remind yourself of the words to "Edelweiss." The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

9. 

   13 Nov 2023

   6. The Mystery of Colles Johnston

   Host Taylor Mali reveals all he knows about his great-great-uncle Colles Johnston, the only one of the Johnston kids to have died without marrying or having children of his own; as a result, Colles will have no descendants representing his branch of the family at The Marble House Meeting in June of 2024, which starts with a cocktail reception at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. This episode starts with a delicious bit of ancestral romance audio fan fiction called "The Scullion's Hearth" (voiced by the amazing Megan McQuillan!). If you are one of the relative strangers, please go RSVP to The Marble House Meeting using the link that Taylor includes in all his emails to the family. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

10. 

    14 Oct 2023

    5. The Marble House Meeting

    Marble House was the name given to the white marble townhouse built by John Taylor Johnston (with railroad money) at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 8th St. in the 1860s. He lived there with his wife Frances Colles Johnston and their five children—Emily, Colles, John Herbert, Frances, and Eva—until they all died or got married and moved out. After the last family member moved out, it was for many years a boarding house (still called "Marble House"), but it was torn down in the 1940s or 50s to make room for the building that stands there today. The Marble House Meeting will be the name of the reunion of all the descendants—the relative strangers—when they gather in New York City next June, starting with a cocktail reception at The Met. In this episode host Taylor Mali talks about the new plans and urges his cousins to RSVP. If you'd like to see what Marble House looked like in 1936, click here to see a famous photo taken by Berenice Abbott (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/14ee5d90-9810-013a-2f2b-0242ac110002). The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

11. 

    11 Sept 2023

    4. One Skeleton at a Time

    Every family has secrets, and you eventually realize that most of them are not being kept from the world but from OTHER SIDES OF THE FAMILY! In this episode, cousin Taylor Mali talks about some of those secrets. For example, did you know that John Taylor Johnston's father owned an enslaved person in New York City in the early 1800s?! Or that his mother slept with a man who was not his father!? Some relative strangers may think they recognize whispered scandals from their own branches of the family—especially in the poem Taylor recites somewhere in the middle (although you will likely not be able to tell when it starts)—but but there's nothing here to bunch anyone's pantaloons into too tight a wad. Nevertheless get ready to clutch your pearls! The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

12. 

    10 Aug 2023

    3. "The Boys Definitely Outplayed the Girls"

    On this episode of Relative Strangers host Taylor Mali (1965) speaks with third cousin Robert Whitman Easton (1945), whom he has yet to meet in person, about pretentiousness, family resentment over perceived inequity in the settlement of estates, the problem with attics, and whether you can keep a husband around by having another baby. Discuss legacy admissions, secret scholarships, and the odds that The Metropolitan Museum of Art will rent us their rooftop garden bar for a Friday night cocktail reception of all the descendants of John Taylor Johnston (1820) and Frances Colles (1826) in June of 2024. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

13. 

    31 Jul 2023

    2. Ascendancy vs. Descendancy

    John Taylor Johnston, one of host Taylor Mali's great-great-grandfathers, was one of those 19th-century railroad tycoons whom Malcolm Gladwell has noted were all born in New York City within about a decade of one another. He may not have been an Astor, Vanderbilt, or Carnegie, but he made enough money to be able to make a lasting contribution to the cultural life of New York City that endures today. In this episode, Taylor talks about what that contribution was and discusses—perhaps a little too much—the difference between ASCENDANCY family charts, which list all the parents but none of the siblings, and DESCENDANCY CHARTS, which list all the children but none of their spouses. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

14. 

    13 Jul 2023

    1. Keeping Track of the Johnstons

    In this first episode, host Taylor introduces John Taylor Johnston and Frances Colles, the patriarch and matriarch of the family, at least this branch of it. If you ever watched The Gilded Age on HBO, then you'd understand why Taylor's wife Rachel calls that show "the documentary about Taylor's family." This episode will give you an overview of the couple at the heart of this podcast series. And there has already been some family drama. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

15. 

    15 Jun 2023

    0. ALL ABOARD! [Promo]

    Poet and "longtime New Yorker" Taylor Mali introduces himself and some of the themes of the podcast: Family, Privilege, Poetry, and Secrets. Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Instagram @RelativeStrangersPodcast for a little less drama. The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast (https://www.instagram.com/relativestrangerspodcast/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=YzAwZjE1ZTI0Zg==), where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

Contact Relative Strangers

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.