List of United States Presidents by genealogical relationship

This is a list of United States Presidents who are related to each other by direct descent.

  • John Adams and John Quincy Adams (father and son)
  • William Harrison and Benjamin Harrison (grandfather and grandson)
  • George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush (father and son)

Indirect relatives

This is a list of some of the closer blood relations, other than direct descent, between US Presidents. (See Cousin chart to understand the terms used here.)

  • Zachary Taylor: second cousin of James Madison
  • Millard Fillmore: fourth cousin three times removed of John Adams, fifth cousin twice removed of John Quincy Adams
  • Ulysses Grant: seventh cousin of Millard Fillmore
  • Grover Cleveland: fifth cousin once removed of Millard Fillmore, sixth cousin once removed of Ulysses Grant, fifth cousin once removed of Rutherford Hayes
  • Benjamin Harrison: fifth cousin once removed of John Tyler (his grandfather, President William Harrison, was a fourth cousin once removed of Tyler)
  • Theodore Roosevelt: third cousin three times removed of Martin Van Buren
  • William Taft: fourth cousin five times removed of John Adams, fifth cousin four times removed of John Quincy Adams, sixth cousin once removed of Millard Fillmore, eighth cousin once removed of Rutherford Hayes, fifth cousin once removed of James Garfield, sixth cousin once removed of Grover Cleveland, seventh cousin of Benjamin Harrison
  • Warren Harding: fifth cousin twice removed of Millard Fillmore, eighth cousin twice removed of William Taft
  • Calvin Coolidge: third cousin six times removed of John Adams, fourth cousin five times removed of John Quincy Adams, sixth cousin four times removed of Millard Fillmore, sixth cousin four times removed of Franklin Pierce, seventh cousin twice removed of Ulysses Grant, sixth cousin twice removed of James Garfield, ninth cousin once removed of Benjamin Harrison, seventh cousin once removed of William Taft
  • Herbert Hoover: fifth cousin four times removed of Millard Fillmore, fourth cousin five times removed of Franklin Pierce, seventh cousin three times removed of James Garfield
  • Franklin Roosevelt: fourth cousin three times removed of John Quincy Adams, third cousin four times removed of Martin Van Buren, half fourth cousin three times removed of Zachary Taylor, seventh cousin once removed of Millard Fillmore, sixth cousin twice removed of Franklin Pierce, fourth cousin once removed of Ulysses Grant, sixth cousin once removed of Rutherford Hayes, half eighth cousin of Grover Cleveland, fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt (although his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was a niece of Theodore), sixth cousin twice removed of William Taft, seventh cousin once removed of Calvin Coolidge
  • Richard Nixon: eighth cousin three times removed of Rutherford Hayes, seventh cousin twice removed of William Taft, ninth cousin of Warren Harding, eighth cousin once removed of Calvin Coolidge, eighth cousin once removed of Franklin Roosevelt
  • Gerald Ford: fifth cousin five times removed of Millard Fillmore, seventh cousin four times removed of Abraham Lincoln, sixth cousin three times removed of Ulysses Grant, sixth cousin three times removed of Rutherford Hayes, seventh cousin three times removed of James Garfield, fifth cousin four times removed of Grover Cleveland, seventh cousin twice removed of William Taft, ninth cousin once removed of Warren Harding, eighth cousin once removed of Calvin Coolidge, eighth cousin once removed of Herbert Hoover, sixth cousin twice removed of Franklin Roosevelt, eighth cousin twice removed of Richard Nixon
  • Jimmy Carter: ninth cousin of Warren Harding, sixth cousin of Richard Nixon
  • George H. W. Bush: fourth cousin five times removed of Millard Fillmore, fifth cousin four times removed of Franklin Pierce, seventh cousin four times removed of Abraham Lincoln, sixth cousin five times removed of Ulysses Grant, sixth cousin three times removed of Rutherford Hayes, fourth cousin three times removed of James Garfield, seventh cousin twice removed of Grover Cleveland, seventh cousin three times removed of Theodore Roosevelt (also eighth cousin twice removed of Eleanor Roosevelt, a niece of Theodore), sixth cousin three times removed of William Taft, sixth cousin twice removed of Calvin Coolidge, tenth cousin of Herbert Hoover, sixth cousin three times removed of Franklin Roosevelt, ninth cousin four times removed of Richard Nixon, seventh cousin of Gerald Ford. Note that these relationships then also apply to George W. Bush, each an additional generation removed.

The list above includes the closer, more significant relationships. Family trees, particularly those in a limited geographic area, tend to converge relatively rapidly and many family trees going back ten generations or more will connect to more than one dozen U.S. Presidents, if all female ancestors and their descendants are traced. This is why, for example, it is not mentioned that through Robert Wyngate of Sharpenhoe, Bedfordshire, J.Q. Adams and W.H. Harrison are eighth cousins.

There are also numerous relationships by marriage which are not presented in this article. For example, Richard Nixon was the father-in-law of Dwight Eisenhower's grandson. George Washington's half aunt married James Madison's half first cousin once removed. Woodrow Wilson married (as his second wife) the great-great-great-niece of Thomas Jefferson.

This is a list of presidents of royal descent. Note that since all of these Presidents are related to English or Scottish monarchs, they are also all related to each other, though very distantly.

  • George Washington (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • Thomas Jefferson (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • James Madison (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • John Quincy Adams (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • William Henry Harrison and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison (descendants of Edward I of England)
  • Zachary Taylor (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Franklin Pierce (descendant of Henry I of England)
  • Rutherford Hayes (descendant of David I of Scotland)
  • Grover Cleveland (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Theodore Roosevelt (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • William Taft (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Warren Harding (descendant of Ethelred II of England)
  • Calvin Coolidge (descendant of Henry II of England)
  • Herbert Hoover (descendant of John of England)
  • Franklin Roosevelt (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • Gerald Ford (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush (descendants of Edward I of England and Alphonso I of Portugal)

References

  • Ancestors of American Presidents: First Definitive EDition by Gary Boyd Roberts and Julie Helen Otto. 1995. ISBN 978-0936124193 (This book has charts showing all the relationships between presidents and their royal descents.)

See also

  • List of United States political families - families with more than one nationally notable member
  • Gary Boyd Roberts - a recognized scholar of presidential ancestries. He often publishes articles covering the ancestry of current candidates for each new election cycle.

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