Is there anybody who isn't distantly related to somebody else?
By adamg - 1/29/10 - 9:18 am
Via the Herald, which I think yesterday had a front-page story subtitled "Scott Brown's shadow to blot out sun," comes the drop-everything news that Barack Obama, Scott Brown related.
Comments
It's distant-relatives day at the Herald!
Also just in: Stephanopoulos learns of genetic link to a Clinton.
relatedness - yes
For those of us for whom most of their ancestors had arrived in the American colonies before separation from Britain, where-ever from, however we got here, why yes, we are likely related. Those original immigrants with surviving descendants today tend to have lots of such. There aren't enough original immigrants for there to be very many non-overlapping sets.
If someone of largely New England colonial heritage can't prove they are my 12th cousin or closer, they probably can't prove they aren't either, and thus have more research to do. If someone CAN prove they are NOT my 12th cousin, yet have had majority of ancestors on these shores for 300+ years, they're likely pure-bred southern gentry who kept well clear of us Yankee rabble.
Those who can date first arrival on these shores to within living memory are far more likely to have a surprising relation in someone from the Old Country than someone random across town here, but if there were early settlers from there too, it could happen.