Dang, I’m a 2nd cousin to President Zachary Taylor and my 12th Great-Grandfather is the Thomas Wyatt who pals around with Henry VIII in BBC’s “The Tudors” (could he really have been bonkin’ Anne Boleyn?). That should make me not only pres. material, but kinda royal-like. Where’s my steenkin’ castle, anyhow?
Yeah, and I’m descended from Charlamagne and I’m also one of George Washington’s cousins. At least some of my ancestors claimed this. And last year I went as Ulrike Meinhof for Halloween and I didn’t have to dress up to look like her, so obviously we’re related. Ulrike means ruler of all so why am I not running the world?
In other news, water is wet.
(Seriously, I didn’t know the details until I opened the thread, and learned a bunch o’ stuff. Thanks, Straight Dope!)
I remember at a family reunion once they had a family tree going back to Erik the Red and Leif Erikson (who I always mention I’m descended from now). My sister pointed out that everyone with Norwegian heritage (such as us, both the parents of our maternal grandmother were born in Norway) can claim such ancestry, as Leif essentially raped all the women and killed all the men in Norway at the time, but even if that wasn’t the case, chances are great. (But then, I suppose that chances would be great that we could all trace back to Sven the Nobody as well)