Monday, February 20, 2023

Happy Presidents Day 2023! 20 Are My Cousins

 Since it is President's Day today (and George Birthington's Washday on Wednesday), I thought I would list all of my known relationships to American Presidents.

2.  JOHN ADAMS - 4th cousin, 8 times removed
6.  JOHN QUINCY ADAMS - 5th cousin, 7 times removed
13. MILLARD FILLMORE - 7th cousin, 5 times removed
14. FRANKLIN PIERCE - 5th cousin, 7 times removed
16. ABRAHAM LINCOLN - 7th cousin, 4 times removed (assuming his father was Thomas Lincoln)

18. ULYSSES S. GRANT - 7th cousin, 5 times removed
19. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES - 7th cousin, 4 times removed
20. JAMES GARFIELD - 8th cousin, 3 times removed
21. CHESTER A. ARTHUR - 8th cousin, 4 times removed
22. & 24. GROVER CLEVELAND - 7th cousin, 3 times removed

27. WILLIAM H. TAFT - 7th cousin, 4 times removed
29. WARREN G. HARDING - 8th cousin, 2 times removed
30. CALVIN COOLIDGE - 7th cousin, 3 times removed
31. HERBERT HOOVER - 8th cousin, 3 times removed
32. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT - 7th cousin, 4 times removed


37. RICHARD M. NIXON - 10th cousin
38. GERALD R. FORD - 10th cousin, once removed
41. GEORGE H.W. BUSH - 8th cousin, once removed
43. GEORGE W. BUSH - 8th cousin

44. BARACK OBAMA - 8th cousin once removed

I figured these out by comparing my ancestral name list to the charts in the book Ancestors of American Presidents by Gary Boyd Roberts (with the exception of Barack Obama). Obviously, having this many Presidential cousins relates to my extensive New England ancestry. Like my relationships to GWB, I share many colonial ancestors with some of the guys above.

I have no doubt that I could find more cousinships to the ones not on my list if I had longer ancestral name lists for their ancestors back into the English royal lines.

I may try to figure out my relationships to the Vice-Presidents (I know I'm related to Dick Cheney) and Presidential spouses (I know about Barbara (Pierce) Bush) some day.

My New England cousins were impressed by the list. Reciting these to anyone but genealogists seems to make eyes glaze over.  My grandchildren have asked about specific presidents.


I often think about what my early colonial ancestors would have thought if they knew that their descendants would be famous and/or leaders of a nation. The colonial guys would not have understood - the King was the leader of the Empire, and they had no relationship to the King, as far as they knew. Of course, some of them were cousins to the King also!

How about you? Any Presidential cousins? Tell me about them.

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Copyright (c) 2023, Randall J. Seaver

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