In last week's newsletter I mentioned an online site that contains a brief report on a few of Ronald Reagan's ancestors. This week I had a chance to look at a much more complete work. In fact, this book contains detailed information on 2,000 individuals, all related to the 40th U.S. President.
The Family of Ronald W. Reagan by Dr. Curt J. Gronner is a detailed genealogy of the family of Ronald Reagan, including ancestors and many distant cousins. The book first documents Reagan's descent from Michael Reagan, born 1822 in Tipperary, Ireland, and his wife, Catherine Mulcahy, born in 1829 in an unknown location in Ireland. This couple emigrated to the United States, settling in Fulton, Illinois. The couple's descendants stayed in the area; Michael Reagan's great-great-grandson Ronald Reagan was born in nearby Tampico, Illinois, in 1911.
The book goes on to trace all known ancestry of twelve more families that are closely related to Ronald Reagan. The book documents descendants John Baker, Benjamin R. Bechtel, Johnnie Blue, George Bristle, Henry E. Gerdes, Eilt Habben, Samuel Luckett, William McFarlane, Nathaniel Pierce, Jacob Smith, Andrew Wilson, and Claudio Wilson (whose connection is still unproven).
Each of the thirteen lines of descent is published in Register format, followed by a kinship report that states the relationship of every person in the allied family to its head. Source citations are given for many of the facts published. Many of the individuals mentioned in this book have their relationship to Ronald Reagan listed, such as "second cousin twice removed." The book also has a complete name index at the back, making it easy to find any person mentioned within the 282 pages.
Dr. Curt J. Gronner has provided an extensive compilation of the 40th president's extended family tree. This is a serious work that will appeal to many who might be related to Reagan. I suspect that many genealogy libraries will also want to add this book to their shelves.
The Family of Ronald W. Reagan by Dr. Curt J. Gronner is published by Clearfield Company. The book sells for $31.95 (US funds). It can be ordered at most any book store if you specify ISBN 0-8063-5224-8. It is also available directly from the publisher's Web site at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.asp?afid=&ID=9755.
