Presidents Day 2016 - Monday, February 15, 2016

Coming up soon, and therefore, past time to clean their trees on Geni, freshen the project.

Please post any tree errors / corrections needed in this discussion.

To start, Randy Seaver checked his Geni relationships to the US Presidents, and posted results:

http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/01/my-relationships-to-us-presiden...

Most recently he notes:

1)  James Monroe (5th President of the United States) is my 11th cousin 6 times removed, according to Geni.com:

- My line back goes through John Pers (1588-1661) of Watertown, Massachusetts according to Geni.com.  I don't know if the parentage of John Pers is correct in Geni.com or not.  I have not found any authoritative work that says his father is Richard Percy.  However, I do have a line back to John of Gaunt, but through Thomas Dudley (1576-1653) of Massachusetts.  John of Gaunt is my 18th great-grandfather.  I can't comment about the line from John of Gaunt to President James Monroe.  My judgment is that I may be related to James Monroe, but not through the Pers/Percy line.

2)  James Madison (4th President of the United States) is my 5th cousin 6 times removed according to Geni.com:

-  The common ancestor according to Geni.com is William Horton, of Gumley, whose son was Thomas Horton (1596-1649), one of the signers of the warrant to execute King Charles I.  I have found no authoritative record that defines my Thomas Horton (1638-1715) of Rehoboth, Massachusetts as the son of this Thomas Horton, "the Regicide."  My judgment is that my relationship to James Madison is doubtful, at least through the Horton line.

3)  Thomas Jefferson (3rd President of the United States) is my 7th cousin 6 times removed, according to Geni.com:

 The common ancestor is Thomas Roberts (1494-1562) of Cranbrook, Kent.  My line is through his daughter, Mary Roberts which leads to my ancestor Abigail (Thurston) White (1700-????), whose mother's surname I do not know.  Geni says it is Sarah Guile (1657-1724).  It may be, and it may not be.  I consider this relationship for me to Thomas Jefferson to be doubtful at best.

4)  John Adams (2nd President of the United States is my 5th cousin 7 times removed:

 The common ancestor, according to Geni.com, is the father of William White (1590-1621), a Mayflower passenger (my line) and Richard White (????-????), husband of Rebecca Bushwell, and farther of John White (1620-1691) of Brookline, Mass., noted on Geni.com as "John White of the 2nd Mayflower".  I sincerely doubt that John and William were brothers, and that John came on the "second Mayflower" with his wife and settled in Watertown, Mass.  It is evident to me that John Adams is descended from this John White, however.

5)  George Washington (1st President of the United States) is my 7th cousin 8 times removed:

The common ancestor, according to Geni.com, is John C. Cooke (1473-1516) of London, England.  My line from him goes through 4 Cooke names, then Robert Williams (1607-1693) of Roxbury, Mass., whose daughter Elizabeth Williams (1620-1663) may have married Richard Cutter (1621-1693), my 8th great-grandfather.  However, the birth years don't add up for the Williams father and daughter.  Therefore, I doubt that I am related to George Washington through this line.