The President's Family Tree -- Geneology bites back

[Dave (imported)]

>>NOt a joke, just amusing and kind off fun to read.

>>

President Obama, Scott Brown Related, Genealogists Say

GLEN JOHNSON | 01/29/10 11:56 AM | AP

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/2 ... 41754.html

BOSTON — It was bad enough that President Barack Obama lost his filibuster-proof margin in the U.S. Senate to a Republican. Now it turns out he also lost it to a relative.

Genealogists said Friday that the Democratic president and the newly elected senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, are 10th cousins.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society said Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown's mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Mass.

He died in 1687 at the unheard-of, for the time, age of 102.

"I think it's a really interesting thing, where you have the separation between a Democrat and a Republican, but you have one link," said David Allen Lambert, the society genealogist who co-discovered the connection with colleague Chris Child.

Lambert said the work was aided by prior research about Obama, as well as Brown's cooperation with the society when researchers first contacted him in December.

"I'm glad to be in such distinguished company," Brown said of the findings.

In 2008, the society discovered that Obama is related to seven prior presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. They also learned he was related to actor Brad Pitt.

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Brown, once a little-known state senator, jolted the national political landscape by capturing the Senate seat held for nearly a half-century by the late Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy.

The genealogical chart shows that Obama descends from Richard's eldest son, Jonathan Singletary. He later changed his surname to Dunham. Brown, meanwhile, descends from Jonathan's brother, Nathaniel Singletary.

Also Friday, George Stephanopoulos, co-anchor of ABC News' "Good Morning America," learned he was likely related to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Stephanopoulos underwent DNA testing to promote "Faces of America With Henry Louis Gates Jr.," a four-part series on family histories making its premiere Feb. 10 on PBS.

Gates told him during Friday's "GMA" show that he's "very likely a maternal cousin with Hillary Clinton."

"Sorry, Secretary Clinton," Stephanopoulos said. "I did not set this up."

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On the Net:

A PDF file of the Obama-Brown family tree: http://bit.ly/bQM9DN

[Riverwind (imported)]

Yes, DNA testing were we find that were all related at some point, I understand it started in Africa about 4 million years ago.

River

[Mac (imported)]

Yes, DNA testing were we find that were all related at some point, I understand it started in Africa about 4 million years ago.

River

My family is like Heinz 57 but none from Africa.

[Mac (imported)]

Yes, DNA testing were we find that were all related at some point, I understand it started in Africa about 4 million years ago.

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If you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.

He who would trade liberty for some temporary security, deserves neither liberty nor security.

Feed a dog, your a master for life, feed a cat and you have job security.

River

How many cats do you have?

[Riverwind (imported)]

Just Rupert, One is more then enough and one dog, Nelly who is a rescue. Rupert I have had sense he was about 6 weeks old, he is 7 1/2, Nelly sense last Aug, she was 7 in November. Rupert is 11.2 lbs, Nelly is 9.4lbs. Rupert is the boss, its a lot like Garfield and Odie.

River

[Arab Nights (imported)]

I have thought of having one of those tests done for our family. One of those that relates to geography and human development. I bet my kids would test as the sum of human history. Attacking the North American continent from Africa via northern Europe and via the putative Siberian "land bridge." Whatever.

They would start as black and end as white joining brown. Sorry. Black. Brown. And White.

In summary, human.

[gareth19 (imported)]

Yes, DNA testing were we find that were all related at some point, I understand it started in Africa about 4 million years ago.

River

The line of Homo may have branched off from Pan (chimps) ca. 4 MYA (some would put it as long ago as 7MYA with Homo branching from Australopithecus at 4 MYA), but the exodus of Homo sapiens sapiens from Africa is only about 100 KYA. The common nature of mankind is part of pre-scientific knowledge. Even the Bible recognizes that all humans share a common descent.