Presidents In The Family

Submitted by: HOST GFS Susi@aol.com

 

How many presidents' sons have become president themselves?

President George W. Bush is only the second son of a US president to follow his father's footsteps into the White House. But he's hardly alone in having a former president in his family tree. According to Family Tree Magazine, 100 million Americans boast some sort of presidential roots. The publication says almost anyone with New England ancestry is probably connected to dozens of US presidents. Those with Quaker or Southern roots also have a good chance. Bush follows John Quincy Adams, son of John Adams, as a presidential offspring also elected to the White House. Benjamin Harrison is the only grandson of a president (William Henry Harrison) ever elected president. Other presidential pedigrees:

-- George Washington, the father of our country, had no direct descendants: smallpox in his youth may have left him sterile.

-- Franklin Roosevelt was a distant cousin of Theodore's, and his wife Eleanor was TR's niece. So she was the only first lady who didn't change her last name at marriage, since she was already a Roosevelt.

-- John Adams, Ulysses S. Grant and FDR all had ancestors who sailed on the Mayflower.

-- You may have the best odds of being descended from little-known President John Tyler, who fathered 15 children, the most of any chief executive.

-- Don't try claiming to be a direct ancestor of James Buchanan; he was the only bachelor president.

© 2002 GFNEWS, a monthly publication of the Golden Gate Genealogy Forum, Inc. of Franklin, MA.
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