Related to anybody famous?

[sparkey]

Some from my family:

I'm a 3rd cousin, 4 times removed of Wyatt Earp. His great-grandfather Phillip Earp and my ancestor Josiah Earp were brothers who both served in the American Revolution. I've traced the relationship genealogically, and there is an Earp Project at FTDNA, although I'm not certain if any of those tested are descended from Phillip. But presuming that the genealogy is correct, it makes no difference, and you can see Wyatt Earp's haplotype there, which is R1b of some flavor.

Another interesting relationship is with Thomas Sumter, an American Revolutionary War general who gave his name to Fort Sumter, and gave his nickname "the fighting gamecock" to the University of South Carolina, etc. The precise relationship can't be established genealogically, which makes this case particularly interesting. A DNA project established that a descendant of my most distant Sumpter ancestor (Sumpter being the more correct spelling of the surname--Thomas used the less usual spelling) matched Y-DNA with a descendant of Thomas Sumter's brother, William. In fact, William is the best candidate for my proven ancestor's father, as he is known through census records to have had more children than appear by name in surviving documents, and they lived in the same county of North Carolina. Unfortunately, the Sumpter/Sumter DNA project disappeared, since it was associated with Ancestry.com, but I did mark down that the Sumpter/Sumter haplotype was an R1b one, probably R1b-U106.

Some other genealogical relationships that I've traced include Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, Mississippi Governor James K. Vardaman (not a very nice man though), eugenicist Joseph DeJarnette (yeah, not a very nice man either), the Opdycke/Updike family that includes John Updike and Emerson Opdycke, and fellow descendants of an old Virginia family name Davis, including Vice President John C. Breckinridge and others. Most of these are pretty distant, other than Kempthorne, who is my grandmother's second cousin.

I discovered most of these through my own research. When growing up, the only one I was told about was a supposed relationship to Andrew Jackson. But DNA testing at the Jackson DNA Project at FTDNA has proven the Jacksons I descend from to be different than the Jackson family that included Andrew. I've similarly disproven a suspected relationship to Sergeant Alvin C. York by DNA testing.

[Scarlet Ibis]

Distantly to Joseph Biden. We are supposedly descended from the same Robinettes.

In a practical sense, it means absolutely nothing. It interested me, though, when I saw his full name was Joseph Robinette Biden, and I decided to look his family tree up online.

[Gary Corbett]

6th cousin twice removed,if memory serves,with Douglas MacArthur.
7th cousin once and twice removed with Peggy Fleming.
About an 8th cousin with Pappy Boyington.
6th great grandson of Welsh poet the Rev. Goronwy Owen.
Something like a 10th cousin with Don Mattingly.
2nd cousins and some level removed with Henry Clay.
About 4 different lines back to Edward I.

All contingent on paper trail genealogy being correct with no surprise parents etc.
The easiest and most sure way to see if you came from the Plantagenets in England is to get Douglas Richardson's massive book,Plantagenet Ancestry.
It tells about 5 to 6 hundred Colonial immigrants with documented lines back to them.
If you can find one of these folks in your background and are sure of it,then I guess you win.
Be advised it won't get you anything,though-outside of genealogy freaks,nobody really cares.

[rms2]

One of my paternal second great grandmothers was a Washburn (Olive Augusta Washburn, b. 1839). Her family was an old New England Puritan line. Through her, we are descended from Miles Standish and a number of other Mayflower folks. That is how a number of the old ladies in my family got into the Mayflower Society. I could get into it, too, if I wanted, but it's not my thing, not at this point, anyway.

The Washburns also allegedly connect us to some folks of royal descent, but that seems so remote to me as to be pretty much uninspiring. I figure most people of European ancestry have that as an element of their pedigrees when one goes back far enough. It isn't all that exciting.

I have corresponded with some of my distant Washburn cousins, however. I found out they belong to y haplogroup I-M253, for one thing. That part is interesting.

[warwick]

I personally don't find 6th cousin or more distant family connections very interesting at this point. The most interesting stuff I've found recently was via requests of military service records from the past 60 years in the family.

[dp]

LOL
Never said I was, but where exactly does one draw the line for "brag-worthy?

Ever met someone who found a genealogical connection to Edward the Confessor, Charlemagne, or the like? They'd like you to think it should mean something to you.
If I remember right, after 7 generations (maybe 10?) the auDNA is so admixed it's hard to prove genetic relationships --IBD << IBS. I'd say genealogy to that level is more of trivia.
Mind you I'm still trying to find the identity of my immigrant ancestors....
dp :-)

[warwick]

Ever met someone who found a genealogical connection to Edward the Confessor, Charlemagne, or the like? They'd like you to think it should mean something to you.
If I remember right, after 7 generations (maybe 10?) the auDNA is so admixed it's hard to prove genetic relationships --IBD << IBS. I'd say genealogy to that level is more of trivia.
Mind you I'm still trying to find the identity of my immigrant ancestors....
dp :-)

From a genetics standpoint, 4th cousin and beyond is essentially unrelated.

[dp]

From a genetics standpoint, 4th cousin and beyond is essentially unrelated.

ummm.... In the edit reason of #16 I wrote "right on warwick"
:-)
dp

[warwick]

ummm.... In the edit reason of #16 I wrote "right on warwick"
:-)
dp

The good news, for example, is that in Virginia, everyone is directly descended from George Washington (despite the fact he had no children).

[CelticGerman]

this may help:
http://en.geneastar.org/