# Related Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645 "2004-10-22T18:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/1 "2004-10-22T18:51:16Z")
GW’s daddy was President. Were there other Presidents that were related? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/2 "2004-10-22T18:55:12Z")
John Adams and John Quincy Adams (father and son) ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/3 "2004-10-22T18:56:23Z")
Also, Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were related, although it was a much more distant relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/4 "2004-10-22T18:57:56Z")
William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison, grandfather and grandson. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/5 "2004-10-22T18:58:25Z")
Almost forgot: Benjamin Harrison, grandson of William Henry Harrison. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/6 "2004-10-22T18:58:42Z")
William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison were grandfather and grandson. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/7 "2004-10-22T18:59:38Z")
Beaten to the punch by **Ruby**! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/8 "2004-10-22T19:00:45Z")
Third by a nose! ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/9 "2004-10-22T19:05:37Z")
OK, you guys have just listed all the ones I know off the top of my head, which happens to be the list of all presidential pairs with the same surname, except for Lyndon and Andrew Johnson, unrelated AFAIK. Is there any identifiable degree of relation between any presidential pairs who do not share a surname? ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/10 "2004-10-22T19:14:34Z")
There was a minor news story last week stating that Bush and Kerry are something like 9th cousins; I vaguely remember similar stories in previous elections. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/11 "2004-10-22T19:19:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Genealogists have determined that FDR was distantly related to a total of 11 U.S. presidents, 5 by blood and 6 by marriage: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, and George Washington. [http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0878156.html](http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0878156.html) Although given any pool of so many people across American history, there’d probably be a similar number of relationships. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/12 "2004-10-22T19:25:18Z")
Yeah, lots, apparently. Here is a list of presidents who were distant cousins to William Howard Taft: [http://users.legacyfamilytree.com/USPresidents/coustaft.htm](http://users.legacyfamilytree.com/USPresidents/coustaft.htm) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/13 "2004-10-22T19:27:45Z")
George W. Bush is also related on his mother’s side to Franklin Pierce. The Nixon and Eisenhower families are related by marriage. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/14 "2004-10-22T19:28:56Z")
And here’s that site’s page for cousin relationships among all the presidents: [http://users.legacyfamilytree.com/USPresidents/cousins.htm](http://users.legacyfamilytree.com/USPresidents/cousins.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/15 "2004-10-22T21:04:31Z")
Very few people know that Bill Clinton is really the love child of John F. Kennedy and Ma Kettle. [sub]That would explain the sexual appetite and the Arkansas upbringing.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/16 "2004-10-22T21:14:19Z")
Just what do you mean by “related.” Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana because they had a common ancestor back in the 1600s or something. While that technically fills the bill as “related,” I personally wouldn’t consider someone more than, oh, maybe three generations removed as a “relative.” With those kinds of guidelines, the list of presidential relationships shrinks dramatically. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/17 "2004-10-22T21:55:56Z")
Genealogists have determined that FDR was distantly related to a total of 11 U.S. presidents, 5 by blood and 6 by marriage: Genealogoists have also determined that FDR was related to Mrs. FDR by both blood and marriage. That both simplified and complicated the family tree. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/18 "2004-10-23T02:26:52Z")
The 22nd and 24th Presidents were like twins! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/19 "2004-10-23T05:06:40Z")
Winston Churchill, who had both Mayflower and Knickerbocker ancestry through his American mother, was a cousin of both TR & FDR on both sides of his family and was related to other U.S. presidents as well. Jimmy Carter is the illegitimate father of both Bill Clinton and the Olsen twins. (I can’t back that up, but my Ouija board spirit guide Shoopy says it’s so and he rarely lies.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645/20 "2004-10-23T05:10:18Z")
True story: When Jimmy Carter was newly elected, the _National Enquirer_ printed a story on his genealogy (they paid professional genealogists to compile it) that mentioned his family’s (distant) connections to Woodrow Wilson, Thomas Jefferson and other presidents. He says it was the most informative and best researched piece on his family history he’s ever read, he still has his original copy and he’s probably the only president (or celebrity) ever to write a thank you letter to the _Enquirer_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/related-presidents/270645.md?page=2)