Are You Related to Anyone Famous?

**forHISglory** · 03-25-2008, 05:46 PM

I found the following story on the AP today, and thought it was interesting. Are you related to anybody famous? My grandmother swore that we were related to John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), but I have no written proof of it. Guess I'm glad that I'm related to those that I am!

Obama Related to Pitt, Clinton to Jolie
Mar 25, 5:21 PM (ET)
By DENISE LAVOIE

BOSTON (AP) - This could make for one odd family reunion: Barack Obama is a distant cousin of actor Brad Pitt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton is related to Pitt's girlfriend, Angelina Jolie.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society found some remarkable family connections for the three presidential candidates - Democratic rivals Obama and Clinton, and Republican John McCain.

Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is also a distant cousin of singers Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush, his cousins. McCain is a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush.

Genealogist Christopher Child said that while the candidates often focus on pointing out differences between them, their ancestry shows they are more alike than they think.

"It shows that lots of different people can be related, people you wouldn't necessarily expect," Child said.

Obama has a prolific presidential lineage that features Democrats and Republicans. His distant cousins include President George W. Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. Other Obama cousins include Vice President Dick Cheney, British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

"His kinships are across the political spectrum," Child said.

Child has spent the last three years tracing the candidates' genealogy, along with senior research scholar Gary Boyd Roberts, author of the 1989 book, "Ancestors of American Presidents."

Clinton's distant cousins include beatnik author Jack Kerouac and Camilla Parker-Bowles, wife of Prince Charles of England.

McCain's ancestry was more difficult to trace because records on his relatives were not as complete as records for the families of Obama and Clinton, Child said.

Obama and President Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662.

Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769.

Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in St. Sulpice, Quebec, in 1718.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, is the oldest and largest nonprofit genealogical organization in the country.

**M55FF** · 03-25-2008, 05:48 PM

I'm related to 2 very, very famous people, they are household names...
and known all over the world just by their first names.

Adam and Eve.

**mombottoo** · 03-25-2008, 05:49 PM

Family lore has us related to Jesse James in some fashion, but I did a lot of work on our family tree and I sure haven't been able to find the branch. I love working on the family trees for both my side and my hubby's...interesting the things you can find.

**Holly** · 03-25-2008, 05:53 PM

Way way back on my grandmother's side ( maternal ) Lucille Ball.
( Not proud of it though )

**halloweenfreak** · 03-25-2008, 06:01 PM

Originally Posted by mombottoo

Family lore has us related to Jesse James in some fashion, but I did a lot of work on our family tree and I sure haven't been able to find the branch. I love working on the family trees for both my side and my hubby's...interesting the things you can find.

my grandfather always claimed his sister (i think) dated jesse james. if its true our families could have known one another.

my maiden name is boggs and my cousin always told me we were related to wade. who knows tho.

**IntlMom** · 03-25-2008, 06:13 PM

Let's see if I can get this right:
My Dad's, Mom's Parents (my great grandparents) were Adams. Through my great grandpa's line John Quincy Adams in an ancestor of mine.

**Missy** · 03-25-2008, 06:28 PM

Family lore has it here that i am related to william bonny, and i have found a bonny branch off my grandmother's mothers' side. But i can't link to him specifically. Nifty fun though.

**POOTERSMOMMY** · 03-25-2008, 06:30 PM

Ronald Reagan was about 6th or 7th cousin on paternal side.

**many houseapes** · 03-25-2008, 08:20 PM

Robert of Lile(Lilly) -right-hand man of William the Conqueror.Eventually he was given an estate in Northern England(now Scotland) for his service to William the Conqueror. The Lilly family settled in W.Va in 1620 & now has the world's largest family reunion.
Related to Bob Lilly(football player) Eli Lilly(pharmacueticals). Also related to Clarence Meadows who was Governor of W.Va. in the 1940's, Abe Lilly(W.Va Legislature).Distant cousin to Patsy Paugh Ramsey(Jon-Bonet's mother)
My dh is related to "The Robin Hood of Italy" Salvidor Guiliano - they made a movie back in the 80's called "The Scicillian"about him. Also his distant cousins are Shirley Temple & Elvis Presley.

**AmyBoz** · 03-25-2008, 08:29 PM

I'm related to the Roosevelt's on my maternal grandmothers side.

**lwlynch** · 03-25-2008, 08:42 PM

I am a daughter of the mother who is in the daughters of the american revolution. We go all the way back. Distant Uncles are the president buchanan and admiral byrd that discovered the antartic. And a few more choice ones. It is a very interesting thing.

**IntlMom** · 03-25-2008, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by lwlynch

I am a daughter of the mother who is in the daughters of the american revolution. We go all the way back.

Actually me too. I have paperwork that make me eligible to be a member of the d. of the am rev as well. We go way WAY back on my moms side. They are still all up north in Maine. My grandfather was the first to leave since they homesteaded there in the late 1600s/early 1700s. I have an ancestor that was present for the signing of the dec. of ind.