'Lone Ranger' stars have historic roots in justice

[June 26, 2013]  LOS ANGELES (AP) --  Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer fight for justice in their upcoming film, "The Lone Ranger," but their ancestors did it for real.

Genealogy research website Ancestry.com revealed Wednesday the two actors descend from historic American freedom fighters.

Hammer plays the Lone Ranger and Depp portrays his Native American sidekick, Tonto. Yet the site's historians discovered that it's Hammer with the native roots. The 26-year-old actor is a descendent of Cherokee leader and peace advocate Chief Kanagatucko, who was known as "Old Hop" or "Stalking Turkey" because of his age and gait.

Researchers said Depp's eighth great-grandmother was Elizabeth Key, the first slave in the American colonies to sue for her freedom and win. It happened in 1656 in Virginia, where some of Depp's ancestors have lived since the early 1600s.

[Associated Press]

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