Do you share an ancestor with Barack Obama?

[goclark]

Ran across this article....


http://mitchell-langbert.blogspot.com/2008/07/searching-for-descendants-of-mary.html

[dysfunctional press]

1. if you go back far enough, most of us probably do.

i have an easy way to check my geneology on the websites that do- i can start at Sam Houston and work back- he's my great-great-great-great grandfather.

but i'd still never want to live in texas.

[goclark]

6. I love searching for my ancestors

Of course, being African American that can be a challenge while searching before 1865.

The new www.ancestry.com search feature is so much improved.

For those of you that have never tried it, I encourage you to do so.

PS/ I am not getting paid by Ancestry. : )

[1]

11. heh...

i loved junior sopranos line from one of the first few seasons...

"it's so far removed, by now tonto's a closer cousin to you."

[NashVegas]

41. Yep. It's Astounding

I'd lay a wager that most people of caucasian descent can trace themselves back to someone called "Frodi."

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. If you go back far enough we all have a common ancestor.

So we're all related. Unfortunately, this also means we're related to Bush and McCain and Karl Rove and Sean Hannity....

[goclark]

7. Nightmare time...

:scared:

[valerief]

3. I think we share an ancestor with an amoeba, too. nt

[goclark]

29. How so?

[valerief]

32. Er, evolution.

[goclark]

44. Oops, I mean real people with names and birthdays

Smiles

[TahitiNut]

4. We're all related .... cousins, at the very least.

:shrug:

[goclark]

28. II feel the same way

Other than Bush, Rove and Cheney :(

[jwirr]

5. Didn't I hear someone say that he can trace his lineage back to the

Mayflower? Anyone know which family on the Mayflower?

[goclark]

8. Not sure about the Mayflower -- the thought of Cheney

sharing any of my DNA scares me out of my mind -- or Rove or Bush.

[Lorien]

45. I hadn't heard that. I'm a direct descendant of William and Mary Brewster

who were passengers on the Mayflower. Though I don't know why anyone would be particularly proud of being directly descended from a bunch of Puritans who were so difficult to be around that they had to leave their home country and start a colony elsewhere. Barack Obama is no less an American than anyone else who has ever held the office, so why are so many people delving into his genealogy?

[XemaSab]

9. Homie has the WHITEST set of ancestors I ever read

Shoot, my ancestors are all Swedes and Irish... way too wild for this cat. x(

[goclark]

10. Don't forget the "one drop" rule

for determining that he is African American.

Real stupid rule that needs to get lost. :shrug:

[XemaSab]

15. He's got more than one drop of HELLA WHITE, based on those names

:P

[goclark]

16. Right ~

[FloridaJudy]

12. I doubt it.

My ancestors all immigrated from Scotland/Ireland or Siberia during the last century. I once tried tracing them, but my searches dead-ended in two foundling hospitals. Of course, we're all related if you go back far enough. True fact: there's less genetic variation between an Inuit and a Watusi than there is between any two members of the same troop of chimpanzees, though the two humans were born at opposite ends of the earth.

Some wag once remarked that the fastest way to trace your family tree was to run for political office. I see that's accurate, but I think I'll spare the living members of my family of that. Worst case scenario would be being related to a Republican celebrity.

[goclark]

13. If I found out my uncle was Dick Cheney

I would be :mad:

[FloridaJudy]

14. Well

My paternal grandmother's parents came from an "orphanage" for deaf-mutes. My maternal grandfather was raised in a foundling hospital in Russia. I suspect they were all dumped by their families for being "defective" or illegitimate. That made me a whole lot less proud of my family - not because the ones who went on to become my fore bearers, but because of the ones who rejected them.

The human race has made a little progress since then. Awful as the headlines are in the daily papers, that gives me some hope.

[EFerrari]

17. Shouldn't that be "bitter Buddhists for Obama"?

:)

[FloridaJudy]

19. Probably

Though we Buddhists do try to avoid bitterness - it makes for even more suffering, and screws up our meditation.

And "long-suffering and all-too-often disappointed but still hopeful Buddhists for Obama" wouldn't fit on the bumper sticker.

[rebel with a cause]

18. I see one name there that is also a name on my list.

but I don't think I have any in the New York/New Jersey area. Mine was a Cherokee woman married to a white man in North Carolina. She and her daughter are on the Cherokee list right before the Trail of Tears march. They supposedly escaped with the help of the husband/father and resettled here in the mid-west. Probably just a romantic fantasy and they just relocated here beforehand. :shrug:

[goclark]

24. Fantastic!

My g grandfather was a Cherokee from North Carolina. They moved to South Carolina and ultimately to PA.

[Zookeeper]

20. Looks like I share an ancestor with Obama.

This post has gotten me started on research for a branch of my family through one of my g-grandmothers. (Like I need another project...)

The best news is that I appear to be more closely related to Obama than to Dick Cheney (a recent horrifying discovery!).

[goclark]

25. Zookeeper ~ it's great to see a spark for the Ancestors

It has been a passion of mine for 10 years.

My Dad, without the internet, searched and searched for his roots in the 70;s. Now I am carrying the torch for him.

" When you know where your roots were planted you understand who you really are ..."

[Kickin_Donkey]

21. Yeah, Mitochondrial Eve ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve

[goclark]

27. Thanks for that link Kickin_Donkey

I am fascinated by all this information.

[eShirl]

22. shouldn't all these names have at least the dates and places of birth and death

to help us narrow it down?

One of the names on the list is the same as one of my ancestors, but I doubt it's the same person.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Probably better to go to the actual family tree page, if people are really interested

The blog just lists names, with no details (it was a pathetic attempt to get hold of Obama's birth certificate). The tree is here: http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html , with dates and places, where possible - and other things like lines down to other well-known people (everyone from JonBenet Ramsey to Winston Churchill).

[goclark]

26. Thanks so much ~ guess what I found?

The Browning family of Culpeper and Rappahannock VA owned my g g grandmother's family.

Small world.

221 Annie Browning, b. Culpeper Co., Va., ... 1780, d. ...

[2KS2KHonda]

30. Have no idea...nor do I care. I've found geneaology to be one of life's greatest wastes of time...

for me anyway. I have absolutely zero - no interest at all in what my great-great-whatever may have been or done. :-)

[Zomby Woof]

31. No

But I do share common ancestors with JFK *and* LBJ.

[goclark]

33. Nice

: )

[Zomby Woof]

34. Very distant cousins

But very cool nonetheless. I suppose we're all distant cousins as a matter of biological reality, but when you find Democratic presidents in the family tree, it makes them more immediate or something. :-)

[Muttocracy]

35. yes - but how many cousins-removed are you considering? ;-) nt

[goclark]

36. It could be 20 cousins removed for Barack

:woohoo:

[Muttocracy]

37. I've got U.S. ancestors back to 1600s but they were poor so few records :)

[goclark]

38. I understand ~

My great grandfather was born into slavery so there are no records for any of them until the 1870 census. :cry:

[Muttocracy]

40. I'm sorry - you likely have roots much deeper than that.

No slavery or slave owning that I know of in my background (poor Appalachia) but probably some bad treatment of Native Americans.

One of the oldest my mom's cousin found on record was a (presumably white) indentured servant.

[goclark]

43. I have been able to obtain the names of their parents

from their Marriage Bonds.

Everyday more and more records have gone on line.

[LWolf]

39. Not on that list.

I'm sure we all share ancestors with each other, if you go back far enough.

[goclark]

42. I agree nt

[MonkeyFunk]

46. Yes

we all do.

[Buns_of_Fire]

47. After I found out Larry Craig was a cousin of mine, I was afraid to search any further.

I was afraid I might find more republicans.:scared: