How many Commanders-in-Chief can you get in one family tree? When it’s former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s family tree, the answer is six.
According to Ancestry, the world’s largest online family history resource, Romney’s family tree connects him to Franklin D. Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Pierce, Herbert Hoover, and both George H.W. and George W. Bush.
Romney is connected to Presidents George W. Bush (10th cousins, twice removed), George H. W. Bush (10th cousins, once removed) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (8th cousins, twice removed) through Ann Marbury Hutchinson, a key figure in the development of religious freedom in America and early settler of Rhode Island and New York.
Romney is related to Presidents Calvin Coolidge (10th cousins), Herbert Hoover (10thcousins) and Franklin Pierce (6th cousins, 4 times removed) through Thomas Richardson, a landowner in the late 1500s in Hertfordshire, England.
Romney isn’t the first presidential candidate with burnished political roots. “We find in these politicians’ family trees links to the foundations of the country—early settlers seeking freedom and opportunities, Revolutionary War patriots, and even American legends,” said Anastasia Harman, Lead Family Historian for Ancestry, of the discovery. “Time and again American politicians have family ties to our country’s founders and past leaders.”
Discovery your family history – and potential presidential ties – with Ancestry today!