Berry Gordy Jr. - Music & Presidents

I'm actually the 4th cousin once removed of Howie Mandel.

I'm also related. but indirectly to Steven Page, formally of the Barenaked Ladies. He is my 2nd cousin 3x removed's wife's brother's 3rd great grandson or my 2nd cousin 3x removed's 3rd great nephew.

I'm also the first cousin-in-law to a member of the Israeli Olympic team from Rio 2016.

Awesome James David, that's quite a list! I never thought of the first ladies (other than President Taft's lovely wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Hillary Rodham Clinton). I'm related to HRC, not Taft's wife and not Eleanor.)

Happy for you Jacqueli that you're related to Speaker Pelosi.

I'm related to another Californian:
Gavin Newsom, 40th Governor of California

Authors...
William Shakespeare, Bard of Avon
George Orwell
Henry David Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Jack London

All that and no Berry Gordy.
LOL :P

My profile shows the same loooong list of famous relatives. It is nice to know these relationships.....but.....I have to keep reminding myself....it is basically for my own amusement. Is being direct blood to these people going to get me anywhere? Would any of them CARE about being blood to ME? I think not. If I decided that I wanted to go apply for a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken, do you think if I told them this.... https://www.geni.com/path/Diana+is+related+to+Harland-David-Colonel... .....they would hire me? They would look at me like I was some kind of "you-know-what-in'" NUT!

Do you think those celebrities would have anything to do with you if you weren't paying to see them perform? If you saw them on the street, would you walk up to them to tell them how you are related to them and expect them to want to get to know the family?

No....they do not even know that we exist. WE know more than the most of them about THEIR ancestors.

When the PAST becomes more important than the PRESENT.... we need to stand back and look things over. Do not forget the past....but do not try to live your life thru it.

I’m descended from a few Colonial Governors and share many great grandparents to US Presidents. I’m also descended from a very famous Lutheran reformer and Scottish Kings ect.

My favorite relative is a 4th Great Grandfather whom I resemble most. My family was extremely wealthy in the 1700s- Hitler took everything!!

The stories and values pasted down to me are more precious than gold and silver.

Susan, I had to buy my own Castle in California. LOL. What Scottish Kings? I'm from a long line of the Forbes clan that goes up to Aberdeenshire Here's the present day Forbes castle (built 1815): https://www.castle-forbes.com/

It's important to remember that EVERY human being that has ever lived is a "blood" relation, or cousin, to EVERY other human being via EVERY single branch of their ancestry.

It's simply a case of determining the MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) between any two given individuals (if possible given the evidence that exists).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_recent_common_ancestor

So, the question isn't "IF" someone is related to somebody else, but "HOW" exactly are they related.

An interesting upshot of this is that not only may your parents, grandparents, etc. be related by marriage but they may also unknowingly be 15th cousins twice removed, for example.

Many genealogists have discovered, not only who the common ancestor is between their parents or grandparents, but also between themselves and their partners.

Of course, this also means that we are all our own cousins many times over!

The following also makes for interesting reading:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-chromosomal_Adam

I have found many, many times that I am related to profiles thru both of my parents. An example is I have the same set of great grandparents (I think one way thru my dad 8th and the other way thru my mom 7th) my Pittman lines. Same thing with my Rush lines. So here you have 2 people that descend from the same 2 people from like two hundred some years ago, .....met, fell in love, ..... and here I am!

I like figuring out which lines produce the most musicians, athletes, actors etc.

Here's a nice story some of you might appreciate.

A few years ago I found a coffee table book for sale in a consignment shop which featured old black & white photos of silver screen stars of the golden age of cinema. My favorite photo was of Lauren Bacall (9th cousin) holding a black kitten. I was able to find her address in New York, so I took a huge chance and sent her the book with an introduction of myself and asked if she would be willing to autograph her picture in the book. Literally a week later I received the book back, signed "Best Wishes, Lauren Bacall". I wish I could post a picture of it here for you to see. You can imagine I was extremely thrilled. Less than a year later, she left us to take her rightful place among the stars.

Great story! Now you have a real treasure.

Diana, I'm also twice related to my gggreat gggrands! It was quite common to keep in the same social circles, so I guess it means we're twice related to some of the famous peeps. Interesting to ponder.

David, I agree with Tammy that you have a treasure! Did she sign it "Betty Joan Perske Robards" for her cousin? Darn! I'm not related to her or her famous hubby. Lauren Bacall is my second great aunt's first cousin's husband's wife's sister's husband's first cousin once removed's husband's nephew's wife's ex-husband's 4th wife. LOL. I love it how Geni.com can target it so closely.

P Małysz ~ interesting points. My brother doesn't believe any of it. He's a real rocket scientist and can't fathom that he's related to both Obama and Trump, for example. He doesn't buy it.

Foss... no, she just signed it "Best Wishes, Lauren Bacall". :)

This is what I say to people who don't believe me when I say I'm related to a famous person:
"Well, they've got to be related to SOMBODY, why not me? And why do you think so little of me that I couldn't possibly be related to someone famous?"

Good one James David! I like how you think.

Dear P Małysz,

I don't have any Neanderthal in me. We're not all related. More accurately, we are "closely related." Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago, while Homo sapiens did not.

Humans and pigs do share portions of DNA!

There you go!

Dr. Jim Cunningham,

I'm related to every U.S. president and Vice President excluding only Woodrow Wilson (and two obscure Vice Presidents. I understand, but I'm not related to Lauren Bacall. She is my "second great aunt's first cousin's husband's wife's sister's husband's first cousin once removed's husband's nephew's wife's ex-husband's 4th wife." Which is no relation at all.

Have a super day!

Kevin,

Alas, I have no path to Howie Mandel. Jealous!
Howie Mandel

M.Foss N. If you dont have any neanderthal in you, you cannot be descendant of any Norwegians nor vikings :) Nor anyone, from Europe, just from Africa? The first complete mapping of a Neanderthal genome took place about six years ago - supporting the human-Neanderthal hook-up and also showing that Neanderthal DNA in humans is a thing.

Study of Svante Pääbo and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany showed that all non-African people have approximately 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA. And two more studies show that collectively, the Neanderthal DNA percentage in modern humans today is about 20%. Those genes have an influence on a range of areas: hair, skin, and disease.

Just as Pääbo was finishing sequencing the Neanderthal genome, a parcel landed on his desk. It contained a tiny fragment of a finger bone from the Altai mountains in Siberia. The piece was 30,000 to 50,000 years old and was thought to be from another Neanderthal. His team was in for a big surprise. The DNA analysis revealed an entirely new group of archaic humans, now dubbed the Denisovans, which split from a common ancestor with Neanderthals some 500,000 years ago.

So there are lots of things to investigate from DNA.

private,

If you have a path to J.F.K., then you should have a path to me as I'm directly related to the husband of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's daughter Maeve. Kathleen is R.F.K.'s daughter and J.F.K.'s niece.

This will then give you a path to Howie Mandel.

Kevin, yes, John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the USA is my 17th cousin twice removed. This line is Scottish! I have a long line in the Forbes family. I will look for "husband of Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's daughter Maeve."

Kevin you and I are apparently not related because I have no relation to David Townsend.

* Kathleen Hartington Townsend (Kennedy) is my 17th cousin thrice removed.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
* David Townsend is my 17th cousin thrice removed's husband. (I'm not related.)
David Lee Townsend
* Maeve McKean is my 17th cousin four times removed.
Maeve Kennedy McKean

Saga,

Apparently, I'm not a "non-African." Apparently, Qirwerne, Princess of Ethiopia, circa 1099, is my 23rd Grandmother.
Qirwerne, Princess of Ethiopia

M. Foss N.

P.S. Here's an interesting fact: Both Humans and Neanderthals share a common ancestor with chimpanzees.

private,

I already knew that we are not directly related, but this does give you a path to Howie Mandel.

Maeve is the wife of Howie's 4th cousin once removed and the wife of my 4th cousin.

Howie is my 4th cousin once removed.

Kevin