Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the USA - Were you once connected to Donald J. Trump and now you're not?

It has affected my connection to the president.

There is not a direct lineage connection from me to Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the USA. According to geni.com, he is my third cousin 7 times removed's wife's 6th great niece's ex-husband.

There were some changes made in parentage between Donald MacLeod (there are two) and John MacLeod. I can't verify whether the changes were accurate.

TOTALLY WRONG! I connect thru his mother Mary Ann and not it’s taking me thru Marla Maples family NOT COOL!

TOTALLY WRONG! I connect thru his mother Mary Ann and now it’s taking me another route thru Marla Maples family NOT COOL!

Dear M.FOSS N.: I am your 22 cousin once removed according to "Geni.com".............Originally, I was supposed to be DIRECTLY related to DONALD TRUMP through McLeods, Mackay and McDonalds etc.(My Great-Grand Father(Captain Fergguson) also. claimed descent from Sir Alexander McKay too).......then someone "disconnected" all that claiming addiitional info
make up your minds ! TRUMP is part of the D.C. swamp just like all the other 44 preceeding him. You're all "right" for the WRONG REASONS !

I'm still connected:

"Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the USA is your husband's fifth great uncle's wife's niece's husband's fourth great granddaughter's ex-husband."

... but, it seems like I am connected to everyone via Newberry & Gallaher families.

Yes, I noticed recently I was disconnected from President Trump. I was connected through his mother. I hope this line is corrected and I am once again connected to the President.

Hello, everyone,

Yes, Tamás Flinn Caldwell-Gilbert has been doing great work with keeping Trump's ancestry up to current research standards. He also started a discussion in advance of making changes so that everyone would be aware.

To be clear, British genealogical associations, all Trump biographers, and the NEHGS are in agreement that *Mary MacLeod's ancestry is not traceable* beyond a few generations. The line that previously existed on Geni was not proven, and indeed there are reasons to believe it's not possible. So the changes Tamás made -- which no one objected to in advance -- have helped make sure that the info we have is correct.

I will add a curator note to the Trump MP to make this clear to future users.

Please read this thread from March 2017:

https://www.geni.com/discussions/166466

And this one from 2016:

https://www.geni.com/discussions/162521

The disconnection is consistent with the current state of genealogical evidence and the research of some of the top experts on ancestry of POTUS. It is completely unbiased and the same standards of evidence were applied to trim Clinton's tree. It is the same standard of evidence that all of us should be using for each connection to our own ancestors.

I recommend picking up a copy of "Evidence Explained."

I'll put in a plug once again for the umpteenth time - GENI has got to get an inline citation code so the reasons for what were do here are transparent, supported by clear item by item documentation and logical. Otherwise things just devolve into brawl of wild speculation and theater of GENI-tainment and not genealogy. Take a look at werelate.org as an example. I hate to bring up a competing site here because I love GENI but I've been asking for this for years and have not seen any credible argument against such a trivial upgrade. It is a fundamental element of genealogical software.

So many messages... I'm still investigating what happened. I just want geni.com to reflect the most accurate and from my understanding most of the presidents are related to each other. I had checked before and Obama was related to Trump, now he is not.

Incidentally, Barack H. Obama, 44th President of the USA is still my 17th cousin five times removed.

Discussion is here:
https://www.geni.com/discussions/181491?msg=1306486

Still connected, and still very proud to be.

I'm not sure what needs to be investigated, since Tamás explained -- in the very thread you just linked -- exactly what he did and his reasons for doing it.

Tamás did exactly what a good genealogist does: he researched, he reviewed the evidence, he consulted others, he considered all the arguments, and after careful deliberation, he made a decision, one that was supported by those who weighed in.

If anyone can find actual primary-source evidence of Mary MacLeod's deep ancestry, I encourage you to 1) post it here, so we can go through the same process Tamás followed, and 2) inform the professional genealogists, archivists, historians, journalists, and librarians who have been unable to find such evidence themselves.

(Tagging Mary Anne Trump so that this conversation shows up on her profile as well.)

For the last three years Donald Trump was my direct cousin

Now its some sort of distantly related relative

I've been finding this on Geni quite a few times
I have been a granddaughter and then after a few years its changed
to a distant related or cousin
I get the feeling that people who might be related in a different line change my lineage

Let's please stick to genealogy, not politics.

>>>> "I get the feeling that people who might be related in a different line change my lineage"

Yes, that's how Geni works. Sometimes people make bad connections in the tree which cause you to have "ancestors" or "cousins" that are inaccurate. Thanks to Geni's shared tree, corrections can be made -- unlike on other sites, where the bad info persists.

So although it can be disappointing to "lose" a relative, it's better to have an accurate tree.

Ashley, what is the primary source that Tamás Caldwell-Gilbert uses? Did I miss that?

Did you know there were two named Donald Macleod who had similar lifespans?

* "Donald Macleod of Bernera" (born in 1693-1783) apparently was spoken of as "The Old Trojan" and this is mentioned on pages 250 and 251 of the book referenced by Tamás Caldwell-Gilbert. The book is a secondary source.
This Donald had three wives, one named Anne, who had a son John Mcleod. This Donald's 2nd and 3rd wives were both named Isabel. There is no wife named Janet in the book, but #6 of children was named Janet and she married Rev. John Macpherson.
>>> Unfortunately, I can't find a geni.com profile for Donald Macleod of Bernera" born in 1693-1783; however, the book can be found here: https://deriv.nls.uk/dcn23/9686/96868949.23.pdf

* Donald "Old Trojan" Macleod 1692-1783" apparently had one wife named Janet MacLeod (McDonald), according to Geni.com, but this information is not in the book. Again there is a sixth child named Janet, just not a wife mentioned of the same name.
>>> Donald 'Old Trojan' Macleod

Thank you so much for the heads up!
I will check straight away. Is there anyway to prevent Tamàs from “helping” with any mode profiles?

private The primary source is that “there isn’t any.”

I trust everyone is familiar with Gary Boyd Roberts?

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

He is leading the research team for the ancestry of President Trump, as he has for many other US Presidents. His team works with the Scottish government and their genealogical efforts - this is described in the article posted by Roland Baker.

Here is their current page:

https://www.scottishroots.com/people/donald.php

Do you see where they have identified roots beyond a certain point? They *have not.*

Thanks Erica, I'll check out scottishroots, but I REFUSE to look at Wikipedia.

Worked on his tree some....did get to a Donald Macleod...trying to get back further...

Donald MacLeod

He MAY also be the father of Catherine MacAulay

Erica,

According to the Icelandic genealogist Oddur F. Helgason, Trump is a descendant of the Norwegian King Håkon V Magnusson, cf. Iceland Monitor 24 Janyar 2017.
https://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/culture_and_living/2017/01/24/do...

Unfortunately, since the young lad from the UK made changes, now there is "No path found" according to Geni.com from Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the USA to Håkon V Magnusson, king of Norway.

Håkon V Magnusson, king of Norway is still my 19th great grandfather.
Trump however is no longer listed as my 15th cousin twice removed.

I continue to question the young lad from the UK. Perhaps he is a Trump hater? He has not responded but he is busy on geni.com in the last hour.

I was disonnected as well. He originally showed as a 17th cousin for me, now it claims he is an in-law. My ancestory goes back to John of Gault, as well as kings of Scotland and Norway. Previously Marla Maples was listed as my cousin (I am a Mayflower descentdant and before it was showing that we had common ancestors from there) . Now it shows that she is an in-law of some sort as well. Magnusson is my 20th great- grrandfather.

Then I will copy / paste some of the credentials of Gary Boyd Roberts for you, and recommend membership in AmericanAncestors.org to read his articles; or of course, one can buy his books.

From

https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/gbroberts/

About Gary Boyd Roberts
Gary Boyd Roberts is the Senior Research Scholar Emeritus of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. A native of Houston, he is a graduate of Yale and the University of Chicago; he also studied at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include immigrant origins and royal descents; royal and noble genealogy; the ancestry of notable figures, especially American presidents; and colonial New England, the mid-Atlantic states, and the South. He is the author, co-author, or editor of numerous works, including Ancestors of American Presidents (1989, 1995, and 2009), and The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies or the United States (2004); his life’s work is “The Mowbray Connection: An Analysis of the Genealogical Evolution of British, American and Continental Nobilities, Gentries, and Upper Classes Since the End of the Middle Ages” in 23 vols.

A second update to Ancestors of American Presidents
February 8, 2016Genealogical Writing, NewsInternational genealogical research, Spotlight, The Well-Stocked Genealogical LibraryGary Boyd Roberts
Editor’s Note: NEHGS Senior Research Scholar Emeritus Gary Boyd Roberts continues his series of articles updating entries to his Ancestors of American Presidents, 2009 Edition, and its 2012 reprint; the previous entry appears here.

https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/12/update-ancestors-a...

The Donald Trump article by the genealogist for US presidents is here, hopefully you can find it in the PDF file. It’s in copyright.

https://www.americanancestors.org/uploadedfiles/media/american_ance...

Look for pages 50 - 52. There is nothing about Royalty descent; there is a comment:

“ Inhabitants of the Isle of Lewis were long of largely Celtic and/or Viking descent and many still speak Gaelic. Kinships to mainland Scottish families with the above and following surnames may date from common ancestors only of the seven- teenth century or earlier. MacLeod and MacAulay are among the most com- mon surnames on the island.”

So - we don’t know “which” MacLeod.