Distant relatives: American politicians
Nearest common ancestors to me
Being reliant on public sources, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information. Where I have significant doubts, I ignore what might be nearer common ancestors. There might also be other nearer common ancestors who I don't know about. However, I have seen enough data from different sources to be able to establish common ancestors with every American president so far elected. I have seen lists of other American politicians whose ancestry has been traced, but many of these politicians are unknown to me. However, there are a few familiar names among them and some can be found in Table 2.
Table 1
In this table, the presidents are listed in the order in which they served. Following official American practice, presidents who serve two separate terms count twice and are numbered accordingly, but so far only Grover Cleveland has managed to accomplish this feat. So while Barack Obama is the 43rd different American president, he counts officially as the 44th president. (In Britain, we don't bother numbering our prime ministers, but Harold Wilson was the last of several to lose an election then return victorious at the subsequent election.)
Theodore Roosevelt is my closest presidential relative based on the information here. Four other presidents appear to be in a close contest for second place, these being (in serving order) Harry S Truman, John F Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and George W Bush. However, Ronald Reagan could be my closet relative among the four because of other common ancestors that I know about, but further information about any president could change everything.
Table 2
Sarah Palin descends from three children (Agnes, Catherine and Elizabeth) of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. I descend from their son Anthony, but I also descend from either Catherine (an ancestor of Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield) or Elizabeth (an ancestor of King James II of England, King James VII of Scotland). One of these men is the father of Lady Elizabeth Stanhope. Therefore, because I know of no nearer common ancestors, one of these women along with her husband is my nearest common ancestor with Sarah Palin.
Other people who I mention with Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg as my nearest common ancestors may descend from Catherine or Elizabeth but not both, or they may descend from Agnes or another child except Anthony.
| Politician | Ancestors | Born |
|---|---|---|
| Al Gore | Henry De Grey Elizabeth Talbot | 1340 1353 |
| Sarah Palin | either King Edward IV Elizabeth Woodville or Henry Stafford Catherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham and Bedford | either 1442 1437 or 1454 c1457 |
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