|
|
|
While Romney’s documented ancestry does not quite reach the
heights of the family legend, which claimed that they are
descendants of the fourth-century dragon slayer, St. George (the
patron saint of England), it is still an impressive one, with
some of the most celebrated thinkers (maternal great-grandfather,
Parley Parker Pratt, was one of the chief literary defenders of
Mormonism), famed fighters (Carl Heinrich, a member of the
Prussian army, and later, Utah’s militia) and natural leaders
(Miles Romney, who founded and administered the Mormon sanctuary
in Mexico in the 19th century) of post-Independence America.
The family can trace their lineage to modern England, Scotland
and Germany. Miles Park Romney, Mitt’s great-great grandfather
(paternal), hails from Lancashire, England, while on the maternal
side, Archibald Newell Hill was a resident of Renfrew, Scotland.
His great-great grandfather, the legendary Prussian soldier, Carl
Heinrich, was a native of Holstein, Germany.
Romney's family tree is rife with polygamists on the paternal
side, though there is no indication of polygamy on the maternal
side of his family. According to a research by The Salt Lake
Tribune, Romney's ancestry harbors six polygamous men with
forty-one wives. Romney, however, is a confirmed monogamist and
polygamy has been absent in his family background for more than
two generations.
|
|
|
|
|
Obama is of mixed African and Caucasian parentage. His father,
Barack Obama Sr., is an ethnic Kenyan Luo from the Nyanza
province.
His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, is a Caucasian of English,
Scottish, Irish, French, Swiss, German and Welsh descent.
Dunham’s great-great-great-great-great grandfather from the
maternal line, Christian Gutknecht Goodnight, was originally from
Bischwiller, France, and arrived here in 1749 with his
Swiss-German wife, Maria Magdalena Grüholtz (1723- unknown).
Dunham’s eighth generation paternal grandfather, Jonathan
Singletary Dunham (1639-1724), is of English/Scottish stock. His
lineage can be traced back to Edward I of England (1239 – 1307)
and William the Lion (1143–1214). Robert Perry (1785-1852), her
great-great-great grandfather from her maternal line, is a
Welshmen. Dunham’s paternal great-great grandfather, Falmouth
Kearney (1830-1878), arrived in New York City in 1850 from
Moneygall, Ireland.
President Obama and wife, Michelle, greeting Henry Healy, his
distant
cousin, during a visit to Moneygall, Ireland, on May 23,
2011.
Obama, through his maternal great-great-great-great-great-great
grandfather, Philip Ament (1755-1836), is related to Lyndon B.
Johnson, the country’s 36th President, who is the great- great-
great-grandson of Ament. He is also the eighth cousin, twice
removed, of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, through his seventh
generation maternal grandfather, Moses Teague (1718-1799).
Interestingly, Obama is the tenth cousin of former presidents
Gerald Ford (once removed), George H.W Bush (once removed) and
George W. Bush (twice removed) through his tenth generation
paternal grandfather, Samuel Hinckley (1589-1662). Obama is,
additionally, the distant relative of two more former United
States Presidents, James Madison and Harry Truman, as well as
former Vice President, Dick Cheney.
|
|
|
