Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Why Madonna And Hilary Clinton Can't Make A Baby Together


When news reports came out a few months ago that Barack Obama and Dick Cheney were related I thought it would be interesting to know if there are any other unusual connections. Well it turns out there was a guy sitting in a dark room in New England for the last three years doing just that. This is culled from an AP story earlier today, but hey, they won't mind.

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.

10 comments:

link88 said...

Interesting.

Hey, I checked out the Crazy Days and Nights message board. After reading awhile, I opened Ent's name and it said, "Location: Select" I opened the select option and a map of Scarborough, Ontario came up, with Scarborough Ontario as the name of the location.

Curious, I opened JeezeLouise's and the location said Los Angeles, Ca. Opening Hez shows her photo, with Vancouver, BC, and others are either "US" or a specific locale.

I wonder: Is Ent located in Scarborough, Ont? Why wouldn't it have come up either the general "US" or Los Angeles? Check it out and play around with it, clicking on names - it is interesting!

Kristen S. said...

That's a bunch of horseshit....nobody did hours of work on this. Ancestry.com has a nice little button you can click that says "find famous relatives" or some shit. I'm related distantly to Catherine the Great, George W. Bush & Co., Sir Walter Scott, Edwin Hubble, among others.

Kristen S. said...

OK, here we go. With one click of my mouse, I find:

Nancy Astor (1879-1964)
Viscountess of Britain
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed


George Herbert Walker Bush (1924-)
41st President of the United States of America
Relationship: 9th Cousin

John F. Kennedy, Jr. (1960-1999)
American Icon
Relationship: 10th Cousin 1 times removed

Catherine the Great (1729-1796)
Empress of Russia
Relationship: Distant (28) Great Grandmother

Andrew Johnson (1808-1875)
17th President of the United States of America
Relationship: 3rd Cousin 7 times removed

Mark Twain (1835-1910)
American Author
Relationship: 5th Cousin 5 times removed

Edwin Hubble (1889-1953)
American Astronomer
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed

Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957)
American Actor
Relationship: 7th Cousin 3 times removed

Gore Vidal (1925-)
American Writer
Relationship: 8th Cousin 2 times removed

Jimmy Hoffa (1913-1971)
Teamster Leader
Relationship: 8th Cousin 3 times removed

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)
26th President of the United States
Relationship: 4th Cousin 4 times removed

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
Scottish Novelist and Poet
Relationship: 1st Cousin 14 times removed

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Scottish Novelist and Poet
Relationship: 5th Cousin 7 times removed

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
American Author
Relationship: 6th Cousin 8 times removed

brendalove@gmail.com said...

I want some famous relatives! Heading over there now.

brendalove@gmail.com said...

Uh, don't see the famous people link

Kory said...

Doobie, that is weird.

surfer said...

doobieus, the reason is this. Not sure if you noticed, but when you scrolled over "select one," it was a link to google maps, and if you clicked on it, the address "One Select Avenue," which happens to be in Scarborough (a suburb of Toronto) showed up. That's not where he lives. He probably just chose the option "select one" instead of an actual location. Hope that helps.

MnGddess said...

You know - this is all well and good, but the most important question has yet to be answered...

Exactly how many degrees separate them from Kevin Bacon?

link88 said...

Okay, I see what you mean. I got excited for a second there, thinking I uncovered his whereabouts!

Jerry said...

I don't find this to be good news.

I've always been in the face of people who discriminate. "How can you hate black people when they were born that way" or "how can you hate gay people when more scientific evidence says it's in the genes and not a choice?"

Now, I despise politicians. Doesn't matter what party or what office, I can't stand any of them. But along comes this article and it's basically telling me POLITICIANS ARE BORN THAT WAY -- and I can't hate them any more.

Turned my whole world upside down. This is gonna be one shitty day.

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