# How many generations separate the two most famous people (not royalty) who are direct descendents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237 "2012-12-06T21:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/1 "2012-12-06T21:39:48Z")
Is anyone famous the five times great-grandchild of another famous person? Just wondering ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/2 "2012-12-06T22:26:54Z")
Supposedly, Pat Boone is a descendant of Daniel. Five generations. ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/3 "2012-12-06T22:43:15Z")
Not direct, but the musician [Moby](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby) is supposedly related to Herman Melville. Thus his nickname and middle name. According to him, Melville is supposedly his great-great-great-grand-uncle, which looks like five generations to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/4 "2012-12-06T23:31:13Z")
Do you want genealogies (and if so, how reliable should they be?), or genetic evidence? And how broadly are you considering “not royalty”? Because there are certain to be many famous people alive right now who are not only descendants, but direct male-line descendants, of Genghis Khan. For that matter, statistically, you could take almost any famous person from millennia ago, and almost any famous person alive now, and there’s a very good chance of a link, though good luck mapping it out exactly. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/5 "2012-12-07T00:35:41Z")
I guess it depends on how you want to define “famous”, but I will offer two examples: Geo. Hearst- US Sen (Calif) Wm. R. Hearst–publishing tycoon Randolph Apperson Hearst–SF examiner management Anne Randolph Hearst–philanthropist & socialite Amanda Hearst–model & philanthropist Samuel P. Bush–business tycoon & was on several federal govt. boards Prescott S. Bush–US Sen (Conn) Geo. HW Bush–41st USA president Geo. W. Bush–43rd USA president Barbara Bush–pres. Global Health Corp/Jenna Bush–tv presenter & author ---
**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:** [December 7, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/6 "2012-12-07T00:59:18Z")
Your question may not produce the sort of answers you’re looking for. For example, Charles Martel is extremely important and famous, not royalty, and ancestral to essentially every living European (provably so, with documentation, in many millions of cases). Confucius is even more famous than Charles Martel, and apparently ancestral to every living Chinese. You might have better success by requiring _few_ generations rather than _many_. Or perhaps by “direct” descendant, you’re looking for purely patrilineal lines. In the latter case, one that _doesn’t_ work is that Winston `We will never surrender’ Churchill was the 6-gt grandson of [the Duke of Marlborough](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Churchill,_1st_Duke_of_Marlborough), one of the most important men of his era. Marlborough’s surname was Churchill but, lacking male heirs, his Duchy _and surname_ passed through his _daughter_. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/7 "2012-12-07T02:20:37Z")
Lord Byron has an [unbroken](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_lovelace) [string](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Blunt,_15th_Baroness_Wentworth) [of](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Blunt-Lytton,_16th_Baroness_Wentworth) [Wikipedia-worthy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noel_Lytton,_4th_Earl_of_Lytton) [descendants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lytton,_5th_Earl_of_Lytton), up to the present day, although his daughter Ada is the only one who’s really famous, and in any case they’re definitely nobility though not royalty. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/8 "2012-12-07T02:52:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Is anyone famous the five times great-grandchild of another famous person? > > Just wondering Although not as famous as her direct ancestor, my first thought was of the heiress [Margaret Mather](http://facesofthehindenburg.blogspot.com/2008/10/margaret-mather.html), direct descendant of Cotton Mather and who wrote a first-hand account of surviving the Hindenburg disaster. EDIT: (It does not mention her relation to Cotton in that link, but I know her from other sources that do detail it.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/9 "2012-12-07T04:48:47Z")
Charles Francis Adams IV (1910-1999) was the great-great-great grandson of John Adams (six generations). He might not be a household name but he was a corporate executive and he was well enough known to have his own Wikipedia entry. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/10 "2012-12-07T04:54:27Z")
n.m. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/11 "2012-12-07T04:55:06Z")
Bertrand Russell was the direct decendant of a British Prime Minister, Lord John Russell and also of several Dukes Of Bedford including one of Henry VIII advisors. David Cameron is a direct decendent of William IV from an illegitimate line and thus from George III. I believe that Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII minister and Oliver Cromwell were also from the same family. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/12 "2012-12-07T05:48:10Z")
Kyra Sedgwick is the X-great grand daughter of [Judge Theodore Sedgwick](Theodore Sedgwick) (not sure what “X” is, but probably at least 5), famous for being the defense attorney in one of the earliest freedom lawsuits of a slave in the US. It should also be noted that about 10% of the US population can trace their ancestry back to the Plymouth Colony. Surely there are many very famous people in that 10%, and we’re talking more like 10 generations rather than 5. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/13 "2012-12-07T08:39:53Z")
Define famous… the current double-Admiral Cristóbal Colón is five-and-change centuries (and I can’t google how many generations) separated from the ancestor who got the inheritable admiralship. The other one, he’s won by his own merits. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/14 "2012-12-07T15:37:51Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Charles Francis Adams IV (1910-1999) was the great-great-great grandson of John Adams (six generations). He might not be a household name but he was a corporate executive and he was well enough known to have his own Wikipedia entry. President and CEO of Raytheon Corp.; I had him as one of my contributions here before seeing you’d already ‘gotten’ him. Sir John Churchill was Captain-General of the Anglo-Dutch-HRE Alliance against the wars of conquest of Louis XIV; he was made Duke of Marlborough in 1702 as a reward for his services. The seventh Duke’s younger son, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a significant political figure in later Victorian times in his own right, before being eclipsed by his son Sir Winston Churcxhill. I believe that’s 9 generations. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/15 "2012-12-07T20:30:51Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It should also be noted that about 10% of the US population can trace their ancestry back to the Plymouth Colony. Surely there are many very famous people in that 10%, and we’re talking more like 10 generations rather than 5. Both Bush presidents are descended from John Howland, and thus distant cousins of mine, but I’m not famous. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/16 "2012-12-07T20:46:01Z")
The [Taft](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft_family) politicos go back to early Massachusetts. You think I would remember that, being a member of the Howard family. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/17 "2012-12-07T22:39:34Z")
As long as we’re looking at the Mayflower… John Alden and Priscilla Mullins were the ancestors of both John and John QUincy Adams. JQ was from the 6th generation after John and Priscilla. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/18 "2012-12-07T22:57:59Z")
I have no idea if he was telling the truth, and haven’t tried to trace his ancestry,but… Country singer Ray (The Streak/Everything Is Beautiful) Stevens long claimed to be a descendant of Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/19 "2012-12-07T23:30:50Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Both Bush presidents are descended from John Howland, and thus distant cousins of mine, but I’m not famous. We don’t know his exact identity, but it looks like there’s a wanted murderer who, based on y-chromosome DNA evidence, appears to be a direct male-line descendant of [Robert Fuller](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084692/Sarah-Yarborough-murder-Could-DNA-linked-17th-century-Mayflower-family-solve-1991-case.html), an early Massachusetts colonist. [Steve Young](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Young), the football player, is a direct male-line descendant of [Brigham Young](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigham_Young). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237/20 "2012-12-07T23:41:40Z")
There are five generations of Hamilton Fish in the public eye: Hamilton Fish – Governor of NY Hamilton Fish II – Republican Congressman Hamilton Fish III – Republican Congressman Hamilton Fish IV – Republican Congressman Hamilton Fish V – Ran for Congress, but lost. Publisher of \*The Nation \*magazine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-separate-the-two-most-famous-people-not-royalty-who-are-direct-descendents/643237.md?page=2)