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Barack Obama Is Related to Sarah Palin

Ancestry.com also links the president to Rush Limbaugh

(Newser) - Ancestry.com has dug up an ironic distant relationship between President Obama and one of his foes. Two of them, actually. It turns out both Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh are both 10th cousins of the president (in Limbaugh's case, once removed). Ancestry.com traced both Obama's mother and Palin's... More »

First Lady's Roots Linked to Slave Girl

Genealogist fills in gaps of her lineage

(Newser) - Michelle Obama can trace her lineage to a female slave sold as a young girl from a South Carolina plantation and sent to Georgia. As a teenager, Melvinia Shields became impregnated by a white man, possibly her master, and those two are the great-great-great grandparents of Michelle. A genealogist working... More »

Gates, Crowley Share Irish Ancestor

Better make that White House beer a Guinness

(Newser) - The beer James Crowley and Henry Louis Gates have with the president should be a Guinness if genetics are anything to go by, Irish Central reports. The Harvard professor and the Cambridge cop—along with about 3 million other people—are distant cousins with shared Irish heritage, both descended from... More »

Obama: 'Blood of Africa' in Me

(Newser) - President Obama today warned Africans that corruption and strong-arm tactics must be overcome if the continent is to see prosperity, and he promised US support to nations on the right path, Politico reports. “America will be with you,” Obama said in Ghana. “As a partner. As a... More »

Genealogists Trace Obama's Roots to Germany

(Newser) - President Obama’s trip to Germany is a bit of a homecoming for him, according to a Utah-based genealogy group. Ancestry.com’s researchers traced his family tree back to his eighth great-grandfather on his mother’s side and found a German ancestor, after tracing , the Salt Lake Tribune reports.... More »

Irish Home of Prez's Ancestor Has O'Bama Fever

(Newser) - Moneygall, Ireland, has two pubs, 298 people, and happens to be the birthplace of Barack Obama’s great-great-great-grandfather, the Los Angeles Times reports. The fact is not lost on the quaint hamlet, where one pub flies an American flag and the plumbing supply company uses the president’s face in... More »

Americans Use DNA Tests to Trace African Roots

Obama's rise could accelerate trend

(Newser) - As a kid, Isaiah Washington only knew Africans as the “natives running around with bones in their noses” on TV, “trying to put Tarzan in a pot.” Now, the former Grey’s Anatomy actor is chieftain of a village in Sierra Leone, thanks to a DNA test... More »

Who's Your Daddy? DNA Tests May Shock You

DNA tests can lead to unpleasant discoveries

(Newser) - A simple DNA test is enough to rend a family apart, the Los Angeles Times reports. As more people take genetic tests to uncover medical data or trace family roots, more are discovering that their biological father is someone else. It's an old issue in medicine—blood types, after all,... More »

Aussie PM Gains Cachet From Thieving Ancestors

Preteen convict adorns Rudd's family tree

(Newser) - Australia’s history as a penal colony is no laughing matter, but some Aussies have come to appreciate, and even relish, their hardscrabble beginnings. Case in point: PM Kevin Rudd, whose family tree includes ancestors convicted of stealing sugar (in 1801) and underwear (in 1788). The release of some details... More »

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