How Obama, Bush and Palin Are Related
Unlikely Political Associates Have Same Ancestors
Jun 13, 2009
The common ancestors are so distant that the current president, former presidents and hopeful Sarah Palin aren’t likely to meet at a family reunion. They all descend from Samuel Hinckley and Sarah Soole/Soule, who were married in England in 1617 and were among the first wave of New England settlers.
President Obama and Sarah Palin both descend from the couple’s daughter, Susannah, who married John Smith. Obama’s descent is from the Smith son, Samuel, who married Elizabeth Peirce. Palin’s is from the son Shubael Smith, who married Abigail Skiffe. The two Bush presidents descend from Samuel and Sarah’s son, Thomas Hinckley (1619-1706), who was a Plymouth Colony governor and held numerous other leadership posts.
The Obama Genealogy
President Obama’s line of descent is:
- Samuel Hinckley m. Sarah Soole/Soule, 1617, Hawkhurst, Kent, England
- Susannah Hinckley m. John Smith, 1643, Barnstable, MA
- Samuel Smith m. Elizabeth Peirce, 1692, Woodbridge, NJ
- Shubael Smith m. Prudence FitzRandolph, 1716, Woodbridge, NJ
- Mary Smith m. Jonathan Dunham of Woodbridge, NJ
- Samuel Dunham of Woodbridge, NJ m. Hannah (Ruble?) in 1775
- Jacob Dunham m. Catherine Goodnight, 1819, Berkeley Co., VA (now WV)
- Jacob Mackey Dunham m. Louise Eliza Stroup, 1853, Tipton Co., IN
- Jacob William Dunham of Kempton, IN and Wichita, KS, m. Mary Ann Kearney, 1887
- Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham m. Ruth Lucille Armour, 1915, Wichita, KS
- Stanley Armour Dunham m. Madelyn Lee Payne, 1940, Eldorado, KS
- Ann Dunham m. Dr. Barack Hussein Obama, 1961, Maui, Hawaii; divorced, 1964
- President Barack Hussein Obama (b. 1961) m. Michelle L. Robinson, 1992, Chicago, IL
The Bush Lineage
The descent of the two Bush presidents is:
- Samuel Hinckley m. Sarah Soole
- Gov. Thomas Hinckley (1619-1706) m. Mary Richards
- Samuel Hinckley m. Sarah Pope
- Mary Hinckley m. Samuel Bangs
- Joseph Bangs m. Thankful Hamlin
- Lemuel Bangs m. Rebecca Keeler
- Elijah Keeler Bangs m. Esther Stackhouse
- Mary Ann Bangs m. Joseph Ambrose Beaky
- Martha Adela Beaky m. David Davis Walker
- George Herbert Walker m. Lucretia Wear
- Dorothy Walker m. Prescott Sheldon Bush
- George Herbert Walker Bush (born 1924), U. S. President
- George Walker Bush (born 1946), U. S. President
The Palin Pedigree
Sarah Palin’s line of descent is:
- Samuel Hinckley m. Sarah Soole
- Susannah Hinckley m. John Smith
- Shubael Smith m. Abigail Skiffe
- Abigail Smith m. Barnabas Gibbs
- Susannah Gibbs m. Thomas Claghorn
- Lydia Claghorn m. Cornelius Norton
- Susannah Norton m. James Gower
- Cornelius Norton Gower m. Abigail Collins Hawes
- Arthur Collins Gower m. Mary Schmolz
- (James) Carl Gower m. Cora Strong
- Helen Louise Gower m. Clement J. Sheeran
- Sarah Sheeran m. Charles R. Heath
- Sarah Louise Heath m. Todd Palin; she is the Governor of Alaska
Several other well known people descend from Samuel and Sarah (Soole) Hinckley. They include the famous banker, John Pierpont Morgan Jr. (1867-1943), sociologist Franklin Henry Giddings (1855-1931), Congressman Galusha Aaron Grow (1822-1907), Gordon Bitner Hinckley (1910-2008), a former president of the Mormon Church, John W. Hinckley Jr., who plotted to assassinate President Jimmy Carter and made a failed attempt to kill President Ronald Reagan, and, Mary Leiter, daughter of Chicago’s co-founder of Marshall Field Department store and wife of British Lord Curzon, foreign secretary and viceroy of India.
(A companion article shows how Obama is related to 7 presidents and 2 kings.)
Sources:
An amalgam of contributions from several professional genealogists that was put in final form by William Addams Reitwiesner, a Library of Congress staff member and avid genealogist.
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