27 Jul 07 Hugh and the Family Tree

Did you know I’m related to conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt? We have a common ancestor, James Hewitt, Sr.

James had a son, Hugh Hewitt (not quite yet, this guy was born in 1898), whose grandson is the conservative pundit. But his daughter Anna Belle married Albert Harris, and I’m Albert and Anna Belle’s great-grandson. The technical term for the relationship is that he’s my second cousin, once removed.

I should say that although Mr. Hewitt and I are related, we are on opposing ends of the ideological pole …

Let me tell you a brief story of two other related political opposites …

Edward Reade and Elizabeth Cook around in the second half of the 16th century. Ed and Liz had a daughter, Margaret, and another daughter, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth had Waite, and Waite had John, and John had his son John. And John had Thomas, and Thomas had Robert, and Robert had Robert Jr. And Robert Jr. had Margaret, and Margaret had Rosemary. And Rosemary had a boy who grew up to be Senator John Kerry.

Margaret had Hanna, and Hanna had Elizabeth, and Elizabeth had Henry, and Henry had a son, also named Henry. Henry had Lucy, who had Sanford, who had Harriet. Harriet had James, and James had Samuel, and Samuel had Prescott. And Prescott had George, and George had Dubya. That Dubya.

Yup, Dubya and Kerry are ninth cousins, two times removed. Or, to put it another way, Edward Reade was Dubya’s great¹⁰-grandfather and Kerry’s great⁸-grandfather.

But then again, stretch a family tree far apart enough, you might find yourself related to Lincoln.