Carol Beggy & Mark Shanahan wrote a column in today's Boston Globe that starts with:
FAMILY TIES For all their differences on the issues, George W. Bush and John Kerry have one thing in common -- blue blood.
Gary Boyd Roberts at the New England Historic Genealogical Society has found that the candidates are related through no fewer than eight kinships. (He'd earlier reported it was five.) For the genealogically challenged, that'd make the rivals anywhere from ninth to 13th cousins twice removed. "If they sent a Christmas card to all of their known relatives, both of them would go broke," Roberts said. (And, considering their wealth, that's saying something.) What about John Edwards and Dick Cheney? They're not related, but what is interesting is their kin: Edwards is related to the late novelist Walker Percy, and Cheney's got ties to Salem's Susannah Martin, who was executed for being a witch.
