Wednesday, December 28, 2011

I'm Mitt Romney's (Distant) Cousin

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In my unending quest to find cousin relationships with famous people, I went searching for my connection to Republican candidate for President, Mitt Romney. I found that I'm probably an 9th cousin once removed to him.

Our Most Recent Common Ancestors are probably Francis Nurse and Rebecca Towne (yes, the Rebecca Nurse hanged as a witch in 1692 in Salem). Here is the descent from them (with ahnentafel numbers and information from http://www.wargs.com/political/romney.html):

1. 1954 Francis Nurse (????-1695) m. 1644 Rebecca Towne (????-1692)
2. 977 Elizabeth Nurse (1665-????) m. 1678 William Russell (1655-1744)
3. 488 Ebenezer Russell (1688-1762) m. 1710 Deborah Hubbard (1687-????)
4. 244 Ellis Russell (1730-????) m. 1751 Joanna Wolcott (1733-????)
5. 122 Oliver Russell (1777-????) m. 1794 Nancy Newton (1779-????)
6. 61 Nancy Russell (1799-1889) m. 1815 Robert Berry (1783-1847)
7. 30 Robert Berry (1823-1905) m. 1842 Elnora Warner (1822-1865)
8. 15 Rosetta Mary Berry (1843-1918) m. 1865 Charles Edward Robison (1845-1883)
9 7 Alma Luella Robison (1882-1938) m. 1903 Harold Arundel LaFount (1880-1952)
10 3 Lenore LaFount (1908-1998) m. 1931 George Wilcken Romney (1907-1995)
11 Willard "Mitt" Romney (1947- )

My line from Francis Nurse and Rebecca Towne is:

1. 2394 Francis Nurse (1618-1695) m. 1644 Rebecca Towne (1621-1692)
2. 1197 Sarah Nurse (1648-????) m. 1669 Michael Bowden (1651-1740)
3. 598 Michael Bowden (1673-1741) m. 1697 Sarah Davis (1676-1754)
4. 299 Mary Bowden (1705-????) m. 1726 Michael Bowden (1703-1748)
5. 149 Mary Richards (1733-????) and Isaac Buck (ca1730-????)
6. 74 Isaac Buck (1757-1846) m. 1780 Martha Phillips (1757-1820)
7. 37 Sophia Buck (1797-1882) m. ca 1833 Thomas J. Newton (????-????)
8. 18 Edward Hildreth (1831-1899) m. 1852 Sophia Newton (1834-1923)
9. 9 Hattie L. Hildreth (1857-1920) m. 1874Frank W. Seaver (1852-1922)
10. 4 Frederick W. Seaver (1876-1940) m. 1900 Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962)
11. 2 Frederick W. Seaver (1911-1983) m. 1942 Betty V. Carringer (1919-2002)
12. 1 Randall J. Seaver (1943- )

So in this line I am the 9th cousin once removed to Mitt Romney.

There are several other New England colonial families that we share; the common immigrant ancestors include (ahnentafel numbers from here)

1952 William Russell and Martha --?--
3920 William Towne and Joanna Blessing
and probably others in later generations

Do you think that if Mitt Romney becomes President, that he will consult with me, or even acknowledge our distant relationship? If he does take the office, I'm going to write him and tell him that I am at his genealogical service. He'll probably pick someone more known than me, but maybe he will give me some consideration.

Do you have a connection to Mitt Romney? What about any of the other Presidential candidates?

7 comments:

Dawn said...

I don't usually search for famous cousins, but did find one recently. Here's my post about it, Randy:

http://www.wisteria-dawn.blogspot.com/2011/12/famous-relatives.html

Cathy Champion said...

Our family is related to President Grant and John Quincy Adams, one is a fairly straight line and the other meanders around but is still legit. No one questions these lines, but I've had several people get very upset when my meandering relates me to their fairly common trees; they say I'm straying too much. What would you say to them?

Sholom90 said...

My wife is connected to Mitt Romney through John Lathrop and Hannah House/Haws -- which makes her a 10th cousin, once removed. (And, although, very distantly through royalty).

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Comment to Cathy Champion, who wrote: I've had several people get very upset when my meandering relates me to their fairly common trees; they say I'm straying too much. What would you say to them?

I don't even understand the complaint! It's your genealogy, your tree, you can meander however you want!

Anonymous said...

I have just recently started using ancestry.com. My grandfather used to tell us he was related to George Romney, but I never knew how to check it out. Alma Luella Robison (she is Mitt's maternal grandmother), is my Grandfather's Aunt, which makes Mitt my second cousin, once removed. (Charles Albert Robison, is Grandpa's dad,and Alma's brother). Small world.

Anonymous said...

Mitt Romney's maternal grandmother, Alma Leulla Robison is my Grandmother's Aunt, which also makes Mitt my second cousin, Once removed. I am wondering who posted before me?

Anonymous said...

Re: May 29th post...
My grandfather is Legrande Robison.

David Banks said...

Hi Randy.. Since William and Johanna(Blessing) Towne are your 10-great grandparents, and my 8 great grandparents....

We've lost touch over the centuries...

1684- Remember Rebecca's nephew Jacob? he married one of the Smith girls in the spring. Bob and Mary's little Phoebe.

1740 - The big news this year, Jacob & Phoebe's son Stephen finally got married. At age 40.
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One day I started to dig into the events that my 5-G Grandfather (1700-1777) lived through.

1740... What a year.