Former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush Have More in Common Than We Thought
Interestingly enough, Obama is actually even more closely related to Bush’s former Vice President, Dick Cheney — they're eighth cousins.
Published July 25 2024, 10:03 a.m. ET
It's not uncommon to see multiple people from the same family join the same profession, and this is obviously true of U.S. politics. America has its fair share of political "royal" families, including the Kennedys, the Bushes, and the Clintons.
What might surprise some people, however, is that George W. Bush and Barack Obama actually have some familial ties as well. So, what's the connection there?
Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush are related — they're 11th cousins!
According to a New York Times article that cites a now-archived FactCheck.org piece, Obama and Bush are 11th cousins. “[They] are descended from Samuel Hinckley, who lived in Massachusetts in the 17th century,” the article states.
According to FamousKin.com, Bush and Obama’s shared ancestor can be traced back through 11 generations, making them 11th cousins. Samuel Hinckley’s children, Thomas and Susanna, are Bush's and Obama’s ancestors, respectively.
Thomas’s granddaughter, Mary Hinckley, married Samuel Bangs. The Bangs family went through three generations before Mary Anne Bangs married Joseph Ambrose Beaky. Their daughter, Martha, married David Davis Walker, whose granddaughter, Dorothy Wear Walker, married Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Sheldon Bush.
On the other side of the family tree, Susanna Hinckley married Rev. John Smith, and their great-granddaughter, Mary Smith, married Jonathan Dunham. The Dunham family line went all the way down to Obama’s mom, Stanley Ann Dunham.
While it’s not uncommon for political candidates to be related to one another if you go back far enough — most Americans are related in this way — it is kind of wild that Obama and Bush happen to be in the exact same generation. Interestingly enough, Obama is actually even more closely related to Bush’s former Vice President, Dick Cheney — they're eighth cousins.
When Lynne Cheney looked back at the Cheney family tree for her book, Blue Skies, No Fences, she revealed to MSNBC that the two politicians share an ancestor in Mareen Duvall. Mareen was a French Huguenot based in Maryland after settling there in the mid-1600s.
It’s also been confirmed that Obama shares ancestors with Harry S. Truman, his fourth cousin four times removed, and Brad Pitt, Obama’s ninth cousin. So here’s to hoping the next time Brad is nominated for an Oscar, the emcee announces him as former President Obama’s (ninth) cousin.
