Hillary Clinton Has Few American Born Ancestors
Secretary of State Nominee is English Welsh Scottish French & Dutch
Dec 1, 2008
Secretary of State nominee Clinton’s ancestral profile is Welsh, English, Scottish and French, with a pinch of Dutch.
Hillary grew up in a comfortable, privileged middle class family rooted in hard-working ancestors who struggled so their children might have better lives.
Hillary’s Welsh ancestors were coal miners, her English ancestors were coal miners and shipwrights and little is known of her Scottish ancestors from Canada.
The Rodham Family
Clinton’s father, Hugh E. Rodham, was the son of a Hugh Rodham who was born in England, came to the United States and settled at Scranton, PA. (Vice President elect Joe Biden’s family was living in Scranton at the same time.)
The Rodham line goes back to Joseph Roddam (ca. 1742-1822) of County Durham, England, who married Dorothy Bell (1750-1835) there in 1774. British records show the Roddams at Tanfield and other Durham villages.
Geoff Nicholson speculates in an article on his website that the Rodham/Roddams of northwestern Durham all came from the same family that lived there for centuries. He admits, however, that it is difficult to tie several generations of Roddam coal miners to Robert Roddam, last lord of the manor and highest-ranking Royal Navy Admiral, who died in 1808. He had three wives, but no children.
Another Rodham Clinton Connection
It is coincidental that Admiral Roddam’s first wife was Lucy Mary Clinton. A cousin of the Earl of Lincoln, she died within two years of her marriage in New York, where her father was Governor.
Some of Hillary’s English ancestors in Illinois married descendants of her Canadian ancestors whose families had lived in the present Detroit, MI area when it was part of the Northwest Territory and earlier when it belonged to New France.
Census records between the mid 1800s and early 1900s list these occupations for family members: lace mill laborer, chauffeur, colliery foreman, policeman, florist, teamster, dray boy, machinist, polisher, harness maker, watchman, ship carpenter, cigar packer, shoe binder, floor cloth painter, draper, merchant and carpet weaver.
Hillary Writes of Black-Haired Welsh Coal Miners
In her autobiography, Living History, Clinton refers to her "formidable" paternal grandmother, Hannah Jones Rodham, and describes Hannah's family of "black-haired Welsh coal miners". Despite this, several genealogists incorrectly claim this grandmother was Mary Bynum Jarnagin, born in Tennessee with distinguished Colonial ancestry.
Some of Clinton’s English ancestors ended up in Illinois, marrying descendants of Canadian ancestors.
Ancestor John H. Monk, a Civil War soldier, was born in New York to parents who came from Coventry, England. John’s daughter, Emma, was born in Canada before her family settled in Detroit.
Hillary’s French Lineage
The entry to Hillary’s intriguing French ancestry is by the 1841 marriage of Mary Anne Frances McDougall to Antoine Martin in Ontario. One would think this was a Scottish lass marrying a French Canadian with both English and French ancestry. Not so. Both of Antoine’s parents were born in France. His wife’s McDougall father and grandfather were both in the Northwest Territory. Her mother’s ancestry was pure French.
To date, genealogists have been able to trace only Hillary’s French lineages back through the 1700s and 1600s to families living in France in the 1500s. Her other lines have been left hanging. Overall, available material on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s pedigree includes some inconsistencies and a few undocumented assumptions.
A related article details her shared ancestry with Madonna, Celine Dion, Angelina Jolie and Camilla Shand, wife of England’s Prince Charles.
Sources:
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, Living History (2003: Simon & Schuster, New York);
U. S. Census Records
Research by William Addams Reitwiesner and Geoff Nicholson.
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