Your great-great-grandfather was a first cousin of Thomas Eakins. Aha! I believe that my great-great-grandfather, David, was a brother of Thomas Eakins's father, Benjamin, (son of Alexander), which makes Thomas Eakins and my great-grandfather Clemmons (or Clemens) first cousins as well.

Samuel Tigert Eakins, the brother of my great-grandfather, was married to Clara Maria MacDowell, and they had a daughter named Cora May Eakins, who was married to Samuel Gross. We believe that Clara may have been the sister of Thomas Eakins's wife Susan and that Samuel Gross is the "Gross" of the Gross Clinic painting.

Can you shed some further light on all this?

Patricia Eakins