# Descendants of More than One President **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 3, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396 "2013-05-03T07:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/1 "2013-05-03T07:56:24Z")
This sounds like one of those ‘has a factual if trivial answer’ questions made to order for Dopers: Who are descended from more than one President? Answers must be either in direct descent or close-collateral (ancestor was first cousin or closer to a President). The easy ones out of the way: 1. John Quincy Adams’s descendants, some of whom were mildly famous in their own right, link to him and his father John Adams. 2. Benjamin Harrison’s descendants were also descendants of his grandfather William Henry Harrison. 3. FDR’s daughter and four sons also had TR as their great-uncle, through Eleanor. 4. Any children of David and Tricia (Nixon) Eisenhower would count both Dwight Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. (Were there any?) 5. GWB’s two daughters, and any children they may have, can count both GWB and GHWB. Are there any people descended from more than two presidents? I found a half-baked reference to one of Harrison’s grandchildren having married one of Garfield’s, but can’t get any details on this. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/2 "2013-05-03T09:30:52Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Any children of David and Tricia (Nixon) Eisenhower would count both Dwight Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. (Were there any?) [Jennie Eisenhower](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennie_Eisenhower). ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/3 "2013-05-03T10:32:41Z")
According to my aunt who has done the genealogy research, I am a direct descendant of Zachary Taylor. Zachary Taylor was apparently related by marriage and descent to Samuel Washington, a brother of George Washington. And George Washington was also related via marriage and descent to James Madison. The details are convoluted, but spoilered here for anyone who is interested. **George Washington to James Madison** One of George’s brothers was Samuel Washington. Samuel married Anne Allerton (Steptoe) and had a son by her, George Steptoe Washington. That means George Steptoe Washington was the nephew of President George Washington. George Steptoe Washington married Lucy Payne. Lucy Payne was the sister of Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison. **George Washington to Zachary Taylor** Go back to George Washington’s brother Samuel Washington and to Samuel’s wife Anne Allerton (Steptoe). Before marriage to Samuel, Anne was previously married to Willoughby Allerton. Willoughby’s sister Sarah Lee was the mother of Elizabeth Taylor (didn’t make the names up!). Elizabeth was the mother of Richard Taylor who was the father of President Zachary Taylor. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/4 "2013-05-03T12:38:57Z")
I think it was Julie Nixon that married David Eisenhower. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/5 "2013-05-03T13:33:44Z")
Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, shares a common ancestor with former president Franklin Pierce (she’s his fourth cousin or somesuch, descended from Pierce’s brother). So, really, even GWB could claim an oblique connection there. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/6 "2013-05-03T16:16:12Z")
Carter Henry Harrison (uncle of Pres. William H. Harrison) married Susannah Randolph (aunt of Thomas Jefferson). Descendants of this marriage would meet your criterion. Many such descendants appear in Internet genealogies, including one alleged gt-gt-gt granddaughter of Carter and Susannah, Susan Ruffin, who married Lyon Gardiner Tyler, son of President Tyler! Another way to get double “collateral” descendants is Joseph Ball (Pres. Washington’s grandfather) m. Elizabeth J. Romney Anne Ball m. Edwin Conway Mary Conway m. Thomas Gascoigne Elizabeth Gascoigne m. Richard Hull John Hull m. Ann Strachan Elizabeth Hull m. Dabney Herndon William L. Herndon m. Frances E. Hansbrough Ellen L. Herndon m. Pres. Chester A. Arthur, with issue. There are some near-misses: Edith Wilson (nee Bolling) descends from Thomas Jefferson’s sister … but she had no children by Pres. Woodrow Wilson. Also, Jefferson Davis (if Presidents of the Confederacy count) married the daughter of Zachary Taylor, but she died of malaria soon after the wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/7 "2013-05-03T16:52:41Z")
Sure, why not? Hell, I’m related to (not descended from) thirteen US presidents, from George Washington to George Bush. I would have to look up the degrees of separation, however. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/descendants-of-more-than-one-president/657396/8 "2013-05-05T13:47:32Z")
In case you missed it Bush 43’s daughter had a baby a few weeks ago.