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I'm wondering if an interest in politics is genetic. I've had my DNA tested by 23andme but that is more of an ethnic and health breakdown, not genealogical. A relative who traced one side of my family said we are related to a minor Irish revolutionary figure. Otherwise, the only famous people were two Scottish writers.
According to 23 and me. Louis the 16th of France is a distant cousin of mines. We share the same paternal haplogroup.
They may be closer through another route but (through the easiest route to follow in the lineage book one of my relatives had done in the mid 20th century, etc.) I know my great grandfather and the current Queen Elizabeth were 14th cousins (so there are a number of shared ancestors).
I also have stored (on a hard drive that is 2,000 miles away right now, and not connected to the internet) articles about the U.S.Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and major party candidates I know I'm related to and who are related to each other, and celebrities and historical figures they are related to. Off the top of my head this includes Obama, the Bushes, Hillary, Cheney, Vlad the Impaler, the Spencers (Diana, her brother the Earl, etc}, Madonna, Celine Dion, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (who are each other's distant cousins), Brooke Shields (through her father Frank), etc.
To see if some of the articles I know I have stored on that hard drive would come up, I just did a search for 'Obama Hillary Bush Kerry all related' and, yes, some of those articles came up.
The most interesting article that came up on that search was one that I hadn't seen before:
^^^^^ That link shows George Washington's relation, if any, to every President through Obama. With the possible exceptions of Clinton, Ford, Taft, and Harrison, all other Presidents are cousins to George Washington. So if you're related to one of those 39 (directly, not by marriage), then you are related to all of the others.
My next thought...what about Trump.
This article was published after Trump and Hillary both declared. They are distant cousins (Hillary's father, Trump's mother) and their 19th great grandfather was King Edward III). This article shows how Hillary and Trump are cousins:
On that same side of my family, one of my great great uncles was the mayor of what is now a large (top 35 in population) U.S.city.
One of my great, great grandfathers was elected to the Board of Supervisors of a major U.S. county.
One of my great, great, great uncles was a close friend of Abraham Lincoln when he was elected president.
My grandfather was the Chairman of a particular committee (appointed by the Feds...I have the letter framed somewhere) during WW II (he a and my grandmother were also friends with one POTUS, three California Governors, one SCOTUS Chief Justice, one ambassador, and two (both in the same admin.) Cabinet members).
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Not ancestors, but current relatives:
One of my first cousins ran for DA in the county where he lives ....he lost.
Another cousin ran the largest political campaign in another metro.
Another cousin was approached to run for Congress, bud decided not to.
Other cousins (or their spouses) serve, or have served (retired), as high level prosecutors and on the command staffs (including at the Chief level) of major law enforcement agencies.
According to a book on the genealogy of my mother's mother's father's family, William the Conqueror was my 42nd great grandfather. Likely everyone here is descended from some famous old dude. It is thought that almost all people of European ancestry are the grandkids of Charlemagne .
Yeah, it's not a big deal. It's more a lot of fun than anything else.
Even Meghan and Harry are 15th cousins (to each other), as are Kate and William.
My grandfather however many generations back was William Bradford, Plymouth Colony governor 1621.
I was shocked when I found that out. Kind of cool, IMO. I'm mostly Norwegian and Irish, but there is that little branch of English as well. I plan on reading his biography, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I just know very basic details of his life.
He is a historical figure, being the shoemaker to Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo and many more.
He immigrated to the US and lived and worked in the Italian North End of Boston....then went to visit a relative out west and the rest is history. It's a billion dollar plus empire.
My SIL (so not my blood) has hundreds of historical and political figures in his family from the MA and Ri area - including the Wards (battle hymn of the Republic) as well as many figures who were here before the USA was the USA.
My fathers side, who we thought had been ground into the dust (Holocaust) has been discovered through the magic of DNA. I was asked not to disclosed all the info yet, but it turns out I am direct line from really famous religious figures right back into the middle ages in Ukraine area...and perhaps back to King David (definitely historical and political)....this has been confirmed by multiple DNA tests, but realistically we will probably only get the accurate records back to about 1400.
My wife is currently into this as a hobby, but these connections were discovered by researchers (pro) and geneticists who then got in touch with us and had me take addition DNA tests in order for them to be more specific.
It's fairly exciting because I somewhat knew our family attitude had to come from somewhere.
The sadder parts of that story are that we found books (in NYC library, etc.) with eyewitness accounts of many of the atrocities. It does makes things sorta personal, although I hold nothing against Russians, Poles and especially Germans (who have changed more than the former two)....
How fun re Ferragamo (they have a men's line as well ).
At some point I'll have my DNA done ( that will open up so many new avenues to explore, that I want to complete other current avenues first ) When my relative (mid 20th century) had our papers done that was, of course, pre Internet and pre DNA tests. He had our papers done because his wife knew he would be eligible and wanted the proof for him to, mainly, join the SAR, but also The Mayflower Society, Jamestowne Society, The Huguenot Society of America, etc.
In our family, for the last couple of generations, the interest has been both male and female...but the interest definitely originally came from a matriarch (sounds as though a similar interest may be starting in your family ).
About 35 years ago I took my lineage book to a SAR meeting. All of the old guys there wanted to look at the book, and I gave it to them to pour over for the rest of the evening. Each one could recall from memory at least one detail from his own ancestry that directly related to my book. I was amazed.
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....he lost.
).
