# Presidential Progeny **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663 "2004-09-23T13:11:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/41 "2004-09-27T16:58:54Z")
> [@rocking chair](#): > > quite a while ago life magazine did a photo article on decendants of the major players of the civil war. it was done before the death of the last lincoln. > > they had decendants of: > > davis vs lincoln > lee vs grant > sherman and i forget who > > the southern side did a lot better than the union side as far as being fruitful and multiplying. Jefferson Davis’s sons died young and w/o issue, but because of his stature his daughter convinced her husband to let their children use the surname Davis (or in some cases Hayes-Davis) in order to perpetuate the line. Grant’s many descendants include the actor Grant Goodeve (Eight is Enough) and an aristocratic Italian family. None of Lee’s daughters married, according to legend because they never thought they’d find a man as good as their father, but the sons made up for them in the procreation department; Lee & his children are interred in a basement mausoleum of the chapel at Washington & Lee university directly beneath [this statue](http://home.earthlink.net/~poetry61-65/graphics/valentine.gif) of the recumbent Lee that many understandably mistake for a sarcophagus. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/42 "2004-09-27T17:20:37Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > None of Lee’s daughters married, according to legend because they never thought they’d find a man as good as their father, but the sons made up for them in the procreation department; Lee & his children are interred in a basement mausoleum of the chapel at Washington & Lee university directly beneath [this statue](http://home.earthlink.net/~poetry61-65/graphics/valentine.gif) of the recumbent Lee that many understandably mistake for a sarcophagus. I thought a statue on top of a tomb _was_ a sarcophagus? 😕😕 ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/43 "2004-09-27T17:46:16Z")
> [@raleighruffian](#): > > \*\*28. President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921) > > 1 son / 2 daughters\*\* > > Margaret Woodrow Wilson > _Jessie Woodrow Wilson Sayre_ > Eleanor “Nellie” Randolph Wilson McAdoo Jessie was actually a daughter. Wilson had no sons. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/44 "2004-09-28T15:27:40Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > I thought a statue on top of a tomb _was_ a sarcophagus? 😕😕 A [sarcophagus](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sarcophagus) is a sculpted coffin. In case anybody’s curious, Truman is the earliest president with a child who is still alive (with the possible exception of Harding; nothing is known of Nan Britton’s daughter Elizabeth Ann, who would be 85 but is possible still living [her mother lived until 1991, which must be some sort of record for oldest surviving presidential mistress] though it is not conclusively proven she was Harding’s daughter [though he definitely paid child support for her]). ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/45 "2004-09-28T19:45:03Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > A [sarcophagus](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sarcophagus) is a sculpted coffin. > > In case anybody’s curious, Truman is the earliest president with a child who is still alive (with the possible exception of Harding; nothing is known of Nan Britton’s daughter Elizabeth Ann, who would be 85 but is possible still living [her mother lived until 1991, which must be some sort of record for oldest surviving presidential mistress] though it is not conclusively proven she was Harding’s daughter [though he definitely paid child support for her]). I’m reading a book on Presidential children now, and as of the publishing date (last year), Harding’s daughter is still alive and lives in Oregon. She shuns publicity and is quoted as saying “We’ve lead very normal, boring lives.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/46 "2004-09-28T22:20:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I should amend this statement: Elenora Roosevelt was the daughter of Theodore’s cousin and the wife of FDR. So their descendants can claim this. Daughter of Theodore’s **brother**. Since he died while she was quite young, the answer to my trivia question earlier in the thread is Franklin and Eleanor. While Franklin was TR’s fifth cousin, Eleanor (whose maiden name was Roosevelt) was his niece, and with his brother being dead, he hosted the wedding at the White House and gave her away. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663/47 "2004-09-28T22:33:15Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Semi-hijack. > > As far as I know, there are no decendents of any assassin who has killed a US President. > > None of them seem to have been able to get dates. Lee Harvey Oswald’s daughters are still around, I think. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/presidential-progeny/265663.md?page=2)