Power of the Bloodline? Can you show some examples like these?

Question

George bush related to the Royals.
John Kerry related to the Royals.
Chenny related to Obama.
Obama Related to Brad Pitt.

I read about this stuff and there is this silent hint of success within a particular bloodline. It makes for fun reading but how do you feel about it. Also do you know of other examples?

Answer 1

Well, it is said that 85% of people with European ancestry of ANY area is related to Royalty. Just depends on how far back you want to go. So much for success of bloodlines.

But as with any genealogical tracing, once you get back in the 1700s and before, there is an awful lot of "assuming" taking place. Records were often written and rewritten to suit the writer....usually the "victor" at the time.

But the biggest assumption is paternity. Especially knowing that nobility does have it's privileges, especially in access to women. Stealing a theme I first saw with Ted Pack (a top contributor) consider this....

You are a woman in a noble's court and the noble has seen fit to "honor" you with let's say, his close company. But, you are also regularly "seeing" the pooper scooper in the castle stables. You become pregnant. Well, you can either claim the child was that of the noble, with all rights and privileges that would bring --- or --- you could claim the child was that of the pooper scooper. Hummmm, what would you do? Noble, pooperscooper, noble, pooperscooper? I think the answer might be obvious.

But what about Cheney and Obama? Well, there was lineage (documentary) tracing that shows this, not DNA. In fact, it was found (by very, very, very experienced genealogists with substantial financial and resource backing) that they have a common "Duval" ancestor, a 17th century immigrant from France. They are 9th cousins once removed which means there are 11 generations involved from the common ancestor.

Given that the united states is an "out-bred population", where people marry others that are not related to them in any known way, means that both Obama and Cheney have inherited 1 divided by 2 to the 11th or 0.000488th of the common matriarchal genes. This amounts to less than one gene (which is why ancestral DNA testing is, well, let's say, full of disclaimers). Genealogically it is meaningless.

But the paper trail led to this discovery, not DNA. So it is entirely possible (in fact, much more likely than not), that DNA comparison of Cheney and Obama would yield no match whatsoever. So much for success within a particular bloodline.

Answer 2

An awful lot of young men went into the trenches in 1914 under the impression their officers were wise, noble and caring, simply because they came from good families. It didn't work out that way.

85% of the people in the world with English, French, German or BeNeLux lines - and many with N. Italian and Swiss - can trace back to Charlemagne if they work at it long enough and have faith. (More faith than I have in ancient record keeping, but that doesn't take much.) Not all of them are above average, let alone charismatic leaders.

Genealogy is as much fun as stamp collecting or fly fishing, but don't let it go to your head. It's just a hobby.

Answer 3

My husband is 8th cousins once removed to George Bush. My husband and Dick Cheney both descend from the same Chenney line also (my husband's mother was a Chaney. Different spelling, but traced back far enough, they came from the same person). I am a descendant of European royalty (King Edward III and on back) as well as Chief Powhatan (considered by many to be the "King" of Native Americans, most noted so because of the number of tribes he ruled, and he was the Chief at the time Europeans were beginning to really immigrate to America). But none of this makes me or my husband privy to any secret line of success. A person's success in this world is what they make it to be. You are not born successful. You become successful.

Answer 4

Is this a question dealing with the Illuminati conspiracy?

Without Ancestry.com, or its equivalent, most of us short of those listed in Burke's Peerage would have a hard time deciding who we are related to past our great-great grandparents and their descendants, or at least that is as far as family bibles and 1850 US Census records took me back.

However, Ancestry.com does offer some interesting relationships in my own family tree: George W. Bush is a 9th cousin (through Barbara Pierce Bush), Bill Clinton is a 9th cousin twice removed, and John F. Kennedy is a 9th cousin, two times removed, and way back when Andrew Johnson is a 3rd cousin, 9 times removed. Ancestry.com also traces relationships to Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Lady Bird Johnson, Laura Bush, Bess Truman, and Jackie Kennedy--not to mention William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison--in addition to a rather nebulous one to Queen Elizabeth II through the Queen Mum through a paternal grandmother and to Elvis through a maternal grandmother. How's that for "royalty"? Closer to home (Texas), I'm Davy Crockett's 4th cousin, thrice removed. Davy would probably add that all of this is the 19th-century equivalent of "bunk".