This video is sponsored in part by Brilliant Hey, I am Mr. Beat here
Which American Presidents are related? Well, all of them. Buh bye!
(The end)
Well let me get more specific. But before we dive in, let me explain
that I am only going to look at the Presidents who are closely related.
Squirrel: How the heck would you define “closely related?”
Mr. Beat: Great question squirrel. For the purposes
of this video, “closely related” means they at least had to be 8th cousins.
(Direct descendants)
First we got American Presidents who are direct descendants. A direct descendant is
a person born into or legally adopted into the direct line of an individual’s descent.
They can trace their lineage back, from child to parent, to a specific ancestor.
So in that category, we’ve got two father son presidential combos. John Adams,
the second president, is the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president.
George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, is the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd president.
And check THIS out. We also got a grandfather and grandson combo. William Henry Harrison,
the 9th president is the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, the 23rd president.
(Indirect relatives)
Now get your cousin charts out because here’s where it begins to get complicated…
James Madison, the 4th president, and Zachary Taylor, the 12th president, are second cousins.
And Madison and Taylor are both second cousins, once removed with James Polk,
the 11th President. The term "removed" is just a reference to the number of generations separating
the cousins themselves. So Polk is 2nd cousins with Madison and Taylor, minus one generation.
Now HERE’S one you probably didn’t see coming. Martin Van Buren, the 8th president,
is third cousins with two other Presidents. He’s third cousins, three times removed with
Theodore Roosevelt, and third cousins, FOUR times removed with Franklin Roosevelt. Speaking of the
two Roosevelt Presidents, they are both fifth cousins, so maybe not as close as you’d think.
John Adams and Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president,
are also third cousins, but five times removed. Also, James Madison and…wait for
it…Barack Obama are third cousins, but nine times removed.
Here is a list of all Presidents who are
fourth cousins, and here is a list of all Presidents who are fifth cousins.
After that, it gets much less impressive because…and I do mean to brag… I am 5th cousins,
4 times removed with my second favorite President of all time, Dwight Eisenhower.
Here’s all who are sixth cousins, seventh cousins, and eighth cousins.
Also, Madison is my 6th cousin, 9 times removed. James Garfield, the 20th President,
is my 7th cousin, five times removed and Coolidge is my 10th cousin once removed.
And chances are that you watching this right now are also related to some presidents.
So which President was most closely related to the most other Presidents? Well, if we limit things to
8th cousins or less, that’d be Franklin Roosevelt. FDR is closely related to seventeen other
presidents! Yep, he’s related to almost 38% of all other Presidents. I already mentioned the
connection to Theodore Roosevelt and Van Buren, but FDR and Ulysses Grant, the 18th President,
are fourth cousins, once removed. FDR and John Quincy Adams are fourth cousins, three times
removed. He and John Adams are fourth cousins, four times removed. He and Zachary Taylor are
fourth half-cousins, three times removed. He and Rutherford Hayes, the 19th President, are sixth
cousins, once removed. He and Franklin Pierce, the 14th president are also sixth cousins but twice
removed. FDR is also sixth cousins twice removed with William Taft, the 27th president, Calvin
Coolidge, and Gerald Ford, the 38th president. He and George H.W. Bush are sixth cousins,
three times removed, and he and Bush Jr. are sixth cousins, four times removed. He and Millard
Fillmore, the 13th president, are seventh cousins once removed. He and Grover Cleveland, the 22nd
and 24th president, are eighth half-cousins. He and Richard Nixon, the 37th president, are eighth
cousins once removed. And finally he and George Washington are eighth cousins, 4 times removed.
Whew. The bottom line is that yeah, most of the Presidents are fairly closely related.
Not only that, if you make a big enough family tree, which I will not do, all of the Presidents
except for Martin Van Buren can trace their ancestors back to King John of England.
However, to see a better breakdown about how all the Presidents I mentioned in this video
are closely connected, check out this new video by Matt from Usefulcharts,
who just so happens to be my distant cousin. (he’s not as close to me as Eisenhower is, though, just
saying) But anyway
it's a great video, that, ya know has a very USEFUL chart breaking it all down.
This is actually a collaboration between Usefulcharts, me and Geneavlogger.
So complete the trio, the trilogy baby!
Geneavlogger has a video he just posted
pretty much explaining how every President is technically related to each other.
And he explains why of course, so check out both of those videos!
In conclusion, we’re all related. So from now on I shall call YOU my cousin.
This video is once again sponsored by Brilliant. Brilliant is a problem solving based website
and app with a hands-on approach, with over 60 interactive courses in math,
science, and computer science. All of Brilliant’s courses have storytelling,
code-writing, interactive challenges, and problems to solve. Brilliant puzzles you, surprises you,
and expands your understanding of the modern world. Brilliant is the best education site I’ve
seen for developing critical reasoning skills. I’m typically not a math or science guy, and
many of you watching maybe aren't too. However, maybe if this was around when I was in school I
would have enjoyed math and science so much more. As I tried it out, I was amazed with how I didn’t
even realize my brain was being exercised. To get started for free and try out everything Brilliant
has to offer, visit brilliant.org/mrbeat or click the link in the description. Also,
the first 200 people that go to that link will get 20% off Brilliant’s annual premium subscription.
So which Presidents are YOU closely related to, meaning you’re at least 8th
cousins? What’s that? You don’t know? Well check out this app that Geneavlogger’s friend made an
app so that anyone on the website Geni can calculate how closely related they
are to every President. Try it out. After you watch these videos,
of course. You’re free to go. Class is dismissed. Go on.