Presidential Connections

A few years ago a 12-year-old school girl, BridgeAnne d’Avignon, of Silinas, CA created a family tree showing that 42 of the then 43 US presidents were related to each other by their connection to a single common ancestor, King John of England. (see http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2183858/All-presidents-bar-directly-descended-medieval-English-king.html and http://weareallrelated.com/). The only one of the presidents that she was not able to link was Martin Van Buren, who had Dutch roots.

While this young girl’s research was reported to be ground-breaking at the time, there does appear to be a prior individual, Tim Dowling, who had done this same type of research (see https://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/how-all-presidents-are-related-to-king-john/). And Mr. Dowling included Martin Van Buren in his research.

King John was the individual who signed the Magna Carta in 1215 and he was part of the family line in early English history (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England). But this means that an only slightly more distant ancestor of all these presidents is William the Conqueror.

King John was the youngest of five sons of King Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Henry was born in France in 1133 as the eldest child of Empress Matilda and her second husband, Geoffrey the Fair, Count of Anjou (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_England). Matilda was the daughter of King Henry I of England (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Matilda), and Henry I was the son of William the Conqueror (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England).

Of course, since this research was done, we now have a new president, Donald Trump. Does he follow this same pattern? It was recently revealed that both he and Hillary Clinton share a common ancestor (John of Gaunt, a 14^th century royal who is the son of King Edward III) (see http://www.westernjournalism.com/trump-has-a-very-surprising-distant-relative-who-happens-to-be-a-presidential-candidate/). But the family line of the English monarchs is fairly well known and in this case is Edward III <- Edward II <- Edward I <- Henry III <- John, thus putting President Trump into the same well-connected group of all of the former presidents.

But this means that I am a distant cousin of all these presidents as well, since I, and all my Russell relatives, am a cousin of William the Conqueror through a shared ancestor (http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2017/03/genealogy-story-william-conqueror.html). So President Trump is my 32^nd cousin on my father’s side! (Afraid that won’t get me much traction in Washington, DC these days.)

And through some additional research, I can now tie into this presidential family tree on the Pierpont side of my family tree as well. The key, which is documented in the Pierpont family tree, is my 18^th great-grandfather, Sir Henry Pierrepont who lived in the early 1300s. While the official Pierpont family tree has this same information, it is better stated in a book, Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River.

Sir Henry, son of Sir Robert de Pierrepont, of Holme-Pierrepont, married Margaret Fitz Williams, daughter of Sir William Fitz Williams, of Elmsley, Knight, and Maude, daughter of Edmund, Baron Deincourt. Sir William was a grandson of Thomas Fitz Williams and Ella Plantagenet. She was a daughter of Hameline Plantagenet, a son (on the left hand [i.e. an illegitimate son]) of Geoffrey Plantagenet and natural halfbrother of Henry II, of England, and Count of Anjou. Hemeline Plantagenet became Earl of Surrey in right of his wife, Isabel, daughter of William de Warren, Earl of Surrey.

Thus, Sir Robert’s great*4 grandfather was Geoffrey Plantagenet. But Geoffrey was also the father of King Henry II and the grandfather of King John, who is the common ancestor of all of the US presidents. And that makes President Trump is something like my 23^rd cousin on my mother’s side of the family (closer, but still not close enough!)

So, for any of my Russell or Pierpont relatives who are interested, this website (https://realitybloger.wordpress.com/2014/01/13/how-all-presidents-are-related-to-king-john/), which shows the connection of all the presidents to King John, will also, by extension, show their connection to you. The Pierponts are all connected through King John’s grandfather, Geoffrey Plantagenet (the 12^th great-grandfather of the Rev. James Pierpont of New Haven). And the Russells are all connected through King John’s great*7 grandfather, Rollo, who is the great*3 grandfather of the Hugh de Roussel/Rosel/Rozel, the progenitor of all the Russells.

I love genealogy and history!