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Bush to Kerry: What’s up, Cuz?
The Hill ^ | 9/9/04 | Albert Eisele and Jeff Dufour

Posted on 09/08/2004 7:21:12 PM PDT by notforhire

George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry have similar backgrounds: New England families, prep school, Yale, Skull & Bones, etc. But going back even further, they get even more similar. In fact, they are related.

Bush and Kerry are 10th cousins, meaning they share the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents, Henry Herrick and Edith Laskin of Salem, Mass. The Herricks, however, are not their only common ancestors. Bush and Kerry can be traced back to eight different sets of shared relatives, making them alternately 11th cousins once removed, ninth cousins twice removed or 14th cousins.

William Addams Reitwiesner, a genealogist and author who dug up the relations with help from Gary Boyd Roberts at the New England Historic-Genealogical Society (do all genealogists go by three names?), said that such connections are not uncommon for Bay State bluebloods. “Relationships such as these … are typical for any two random living persons with significant New England Colonial ancestry.

Other, more distant, relationships between these two are easy to trace.”


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bush43; genealogy; kerry
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Damnit, boy!
1 posted on 09/08/2004 7:21:12 PM PDT by notforhire
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To: notforhire

God I hate blue-blood genealogy. It's so un-american.


2 posted on 09/08/2004 7:24:38 PM PDT by sinanju
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To: sinanju

I just hate Kerry.


3 posted on 09/08/2004 7:26:18 PM PDT by notforhire (It riles them to believe that we perceive the web they weave.)
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To: notforhire

Reminds me of Cain and Abel!


4 posted on 09/08/2004 7:26:29 PM PDT by bear11 ("The thought of John Kerry as Commander in Chief is blood curdling" G. Gordon Liddy)
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To: notforhire

Wonder if first cousins of the same sex can get "married" in Massachusetts?


5 posted on 09/08/2004 7:27:45 PM PDT by Loyalist (This tagline has been put on hiatus for retooling.)
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To: notforhire

I think it's Burke's Peerage in the UK who predict Kerry will win because the presidential candidate with the most blue blood wins (in their scenario).

Interesting how the Bush family are very close to the Queen and the Royal family, and are related to them by blood ties through Barbara Bush's side. There were even rumors at one time about Prince William and Lauren Bush becoming close. Now that would have been a good trans-atlantic alliance if it had worked out.


6 posted on 09/08/2004 7:29:11 PM PDT by plushaye (President Bush - Four more years! Thanks Swifties.)
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To: notforhire

I am also related to George Bush through a common ancestor in the Mass. Bay Colony. So what? I think something like 1/3 of Americans can find a common ancestor with the Bush family. But since we are cousins, I will vote for W.


7 posted on 09/08/2004 7:29:33 PM PDT by w1andsodidwe (Jimmy Carter allowed radical Islam to get a foothold in Iran.)
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To: notforhire

My husband just gagged.......he's related to President Bush many generations back and the thought of being, even possibly, related to that asswipe kerry just made him cringe........... poor guy


8 posted on 09/08/2004 7:29:44 PM PDT by WhyisaTexasgirlinPA (Guess what? Your 72 virgins look like Michael Moore!)
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To: Loyalist
"Wonder if first cousins of the same sex can get "married" in Massachusetts?"

Only if they are running mates.

9 posted on 09/08/2004 7:30:57 PM PDT by hometoroost
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To: notforhire

If it's true, this is beyond funny. "Calling all Comedians"!


10 posted on 09/08/2004 7:32:25 PM PDT by Just Lori (Do you ever wonder if Dubya is a lurker?)
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To: Spanaway Lori

If you go far enough back, we are all cousins and had the same grandfather. :')


11 posted on 09/08/2004 7:37:55 PM PDT by CindyDawg
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To: notforhire

If that's true....I don't President Bush will claim him as kin...just a thought....I WOULDN'T!


12 posted on 09/08/2004 7:40:07 PM PDT by LisaMalia (In Memory of Sgt. James W."Billy" Lunsford..KIA 11-29-69 Binh Dinh S. Vietnam)
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To: notforhire
Not all that impressive really. I believe that the minimum number of people currently living who are related to that distant ancestor either directly or through marriage is somewhat over 4,000,000. And this is just the minimum. In actual fact, the odds that they are related are much better than that.

Going back that far, the odds are very good that most families living in the U.S. since the 19th century are related.
13 posted on 09/08/2004 7:45:59 PM PDT by Frumious Bandersnatch
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To: notforhire

what about Ghengis Khan-- where does he fit in all of this?


14 posted on 09/08/2004 7:48:35 PM PDT by ElRushbo (Harley Riders against Elton John)
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To: Frumious Bandersnatch

Going back that far, the odds are very good that most families living in the U.S. since the 19th century are related.



Not me! My folks (both sides) arrived here from different parts of Europe in the late 1800's. So I aint responsible for slavery, neither!


15 posted on 09/08/2004 7:48:51 PM PDT by Just Lori (Do you ever wonder if Dubya is a lurker?)
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To: ElRushbo

Don't you mean "Jenghis" Kahn? ;)


16 posted on 09/08/2004 7:51:55 PM PDT by demnomo
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To: Frumious Bandersnatch

Well, I don't know about your math (not questioning it, just don't know), but I'm related to both Bush and Kerry. Having a significant number of relatives from the beginning of this country (first relative landed in 1623), I'm related to several presidents, various politicians and such. I sure am impressed with myself. LOL


17 posted on 09/08/2004 7:52:17 PM PDT by SuzanneC
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To: notforhire

2 parents, 4 grand parents 8 ggp 16 gggp.....pretty soon, more grandparants then the number of humans that ever lived. How the heck does that work?


18 posted on 09/08/2004 7:52:31 PM PDT by DManA
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To: notforhire

Well....there's always one BAD APPLE in the family.....LOL.


19 posted on 09/08/2004 7:52:55 PM PDT by goodnesswins (VICTORY...........brings peace.)
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To: demnomo

Ha yes Jenjis Khan .. related to Johngis Kerry?


20 posted on 09/08/2004 7:53:23 PM PDT by ElRushbo (Harley Riders against Elton John)
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