Birth Name: David Scott Mustaine
Place of Birth: La Mesa, California, United States
Date of Birth: September 13, 1961
Ethnicity:
*English, German, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, remote French and Dutch (father)
*Ashkenazi Jewish (mother)
Dave Mustaine is an American singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, author, and talent manager. He is the lead singer and guitarist of the thrash metal band Megadeth, and was previously the lead guitarist of Metallica. Metallica’s members also included/include Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich.
Dave is the son of Emily (David) and John Jefferson Mustaine. Dave’s father had English, German, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and remote French and Dutch, ancestry. Dave’s mother was a Jewish immigrant from Germany, of Polish Jewish and German Jewish descent; she moved to the U.S. around 1923.
Dave was raised a Jehovah’s Witness. He is now a born-again Christian.
Dave has repeatedly stated that he has Finnish ancestry, and that his surname was spelled “Mustonen” several generations back. It is not clear if this ancestry has been documented/verified. Dave’s patrilineal line can be traced back to his fifth great-grandfather, Thomas Averleigh Mustain, who was born, c. 1720, in Lunenburg, Virginia. There were not many Finnish immigrants in the U.S. before the the 1870s, when “The Great Migration” started, although some Finnish people settled in the Swedish colony of New Sweden between 1640 and 1655.
Dave’s paternal grandparents were Frank Leslie Mustaine (the son of Jefferson Keech Mustaine and Adriah/Adria Ellen Lucas) and Metta Marie Parker (the daughter of John Anderson Parker and Emma Capicola/Capacola/Capitola Clancey).
Dave’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich Otto David (the son of Foster David and Dara) and Hedwig J. Krause (the daughter of Joseph Krause and Gertrude Huskin). Friedrich was born in Pomerania, Poland. Hedwig was born in Esse, Germany.
Sources: Genealogies of Dave Mustaine – http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Genealogies of Dave Mustaine (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com
Genealogy of Dave’s father, John Mustaine – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy of Dave’s paternal grandfather, Frank Mustaine – http://www.findagrave.com
Dave’s mother, Emily David, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Death record of Dave’s maternal grandmother, Hedwig Krause – https://familysearch.org
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