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All U.S. Presidents Are Related -12 Year Old Girl Discovers That All But One US President Are Directly Related To Each Other

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All US Presidents Are Related

Why Are All US Presidents Related?

BridgeAnne d’Avignon, aged 12, was doing genealogy research on her lineage when she decided to change the course and try to decipher the genealogy of the presidents of the United States. She discovers all presidents are related!

In her thorough research which involved over 500,000 names through history, her aim was to find the ancestry of all US presidents and see if there was a ‘presidential Adam’ that connected all of them. To everybody’s surprise, she discovered that 42 of 43 US presidents trace back to a single person: John Lackland Plantagenet, King of England (r. 1199-1216).

If you are familiar with the theories about the Illuminati, or the ruling elite families that govern the world, it may not come to a big surprise to find that ALL United States presidents (with the exception of one), including the Bushes, Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and even Barack Obama, happen to be cousins and that all of them are descendants of King John of England. (1)

The only president BridgeAnne couldn’t connect in the lineage was Martin Van Buren, the 8th president of the United States. As for the others, this means that they are not only descendants of King John of England, but also distant cousins of Elizabeth, the Queen of England, and the British Royal family.

Who Was King John Plantaganet?

King John Plantaganet was king of England from 1199 to 1216. He was most famous for signing the Magna Carta in 1215, and for losing the Duchy of Normandy to King Philip II of France, thus receiving his nickname Lackland. He was also depicted as the villain in the Robin Hood tales. He was also responsible for the collapse of the Angevin Empire which resulted in the power growth of the French Capetian dynasty during the 13th century. (2)

He was the youngest of the four surviving sons of King Henry II of England and he became his favorite, which resulted in a revolt against his father, the king, led by his brothers Geoffrey, Richard, and Henry the Young Kind in 1173-1174. John became the Lord of Ireland in 1177 and he had lands in England under his command. However, he attempted to raise a rebellion against the royal administrators of his brother, King Richard who was in the Third Crusade at the time. Even though the rebellion was unsuccessful, he was proclaimed king after Richard’s death in 1199.

King John managed to achieve early victories in the war with France in 1202, however, his empire in northern France collapsed due to a lack of military resources and his treatment of Anjoy, Breton, and Norman nobles. He then spent more than a decade trying to regain these lost lands by rebuilding alliances and reforming his army which resulted in him impacting the English common law system with his judicial reforms.

After John’s attempt to defeat Philip in 1214 failed at the Battle of Bouvines, when he returned to England, he faced a rebellion by his barons because they were angry with his fiscal policies and his treatment of many of England’s nobles. And even though king John together with the nobles signed the Magna Carta peace treaty in 1215, neither side complied with the conditions of it, resulting in the Civil war which broke shortly afterwards. The barons were led by King Louis VIII of France. King John died of dysentery in late 1216.

Many chroniclers have criticized king John’s reign since the 16th century. On the other hand, historian Jim Bradbury, has pointed out his good qualities, saying that he was a hard-working king and an able general. However, modern historians point out his faults as a king saying that he had many distasteful and even dangerous characteristics, such as spitefulness, pettiness, and cruelty. That’s why he was portrayed as the villain in the Robin Hood legends.

Is Trump Related To King John?

Do you remember the news story (you can read above about it) about BridgeAnne d’Avignon, the girl who discovered that all but one president are descendants of the same English king, John Lackland Plantaganet? Well, Donald Trump is ALSO in this group together with Hillary Clinton! In fact, the Dailymail has uncovered that both Trump and Clinton claim lineage to John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and son of King Edward III of England.

As the Dailymail reports, Clinton claims the lineage to her 18th great-grandparents through the Rodham family of her father’s side while Trump is related to her through his mother Mary Anne Macleod, who was born in Scotland.

According to MyHeritage.com, both Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s lineages trace back to John of Gaunt, the 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his third wife Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was one of the sons of King Edward III.

King Edward III of England is in the Plantagenet family tree and is a descendant of King John Lackland Plantagenet, which means that even the newest president of the United States is not different news from the others when it comes to the lineage and their ancestry. This adds Donald Trump to the group of US presidents that share the same ancestor, a discovery made by BridgeAnne d’Avignon.

Obama Related To King John

During the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, there was news that he and Dick Cheney (the 46th vice president of the US) are distant cousins. However, a 12-year-old girl revealed all the family ties of America’s presidents.

This girl is BridgeAnne d’Avignon and she was determined to find the roots of the most prominent politicians of America and therefore, she found that all but one American president have the same ancestor.

The 12-year-old girl found that all US presidents with the exception of Martin Van Buren are related to King John of England. Martin Van Buren’s descendants are Dutch. Moreover, she thinks Obama is her 18th cousin.

BridgeAnne took a trip to the White House and created a poster of the presidential family tree.

U.S. Presidents Who Were Related To Each Other

  • George W. Bush (the 43rd president) is the son of George Bush (the 41st president).
  • John Quincy Adams (the 6th president) was the son of John Adams (the 2nd president).
  • Benjamin Harrison (the 23rd president) was the grandson of William Henry Harrison (the 9th president).
  • James Madison (the 4th president) and Zachary Taylor (the 12th president) were second cousins.
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the 32nd president) was a fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt (the 26th president). Genealogists have determined that FDR was distantly related to a total of 11 U.S. presidents, 5 by blood and 6 by marriage: Theodore Roosevelt, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Ulysses Grant, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison, James Madison, William Taft, Zachary Taylor, Martin Van Buren, and George Washington.

U.S. Presidents Who Are Related To British Royalty

  • George Washington (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • Thomas Jefferson (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • James Madison (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • James Monroe (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • John Quincy Adams (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • William Henry Harrison and his grandson, Benjamin Harrison (descendants of Edward I of England)
  • Zachary Taylor (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Franklin Pierce (descendant of Henry I of England)
  • Rutherford Hayes (descendant of William I of Scotland)
  • Grover Cleveland (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Theodore Roosevelt (descendant of James I of Scotland and Edward III of England)
  • William Howard Taft (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • Warren G. Harding (descendant of Henry II of England)
  • Calvin Coolidge (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Herbert Hoover (descendant of Edward III of England)
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt (descendant of James II of Scotland)
  • Harry S. Truman (descendant of Robert III of Scotland)
  • Richard Nixon (descendant of Henry II of England)
  • Gerald Ford (descendant of Edward I of England)
  • Jimmy Carter (descendant of Henry II of England)
  • George H.W. Bush and his son, George W. Bush (descendants of Edward I of England and Robert II of Scotland)
  • Barack Obama (descendant of Edward I of England and William the Lion of Scotland)
  • Donald Trump (descendant of Edward III of England)

As you can see, all of the people on the list are direct descendants of Alfred the Great. With the exception of Rutherford Hayes, all are descendants of William the Conqueror as well. And Queen Elizabeth II is considered to be among the closest living relatives of George Washington through their descent from Augustus Warner. (3, 4, 5 )

All U.S. Presidents Are Related -12 Year Old Girl Discovers That All But One US President Are Directly Related To Each Other