Obama shares ancestral ties with Brown, George Bush?

The New England Historical Geological Society (NEHGS), which has since 1845 traced the ancestry of Americans of English descent, says Obama is a long-lost cousin of  Scott Brown.

A Republican, Brown created ripples in US politics Jan 19 by winning the Massachusetts senate seat long held by the late Edward Kennedy of the Democratic Party. His win has upset the President's health reform agenda as Obama's Democratic Party has lost the 60-mark filibuster majority in the 100-member Senate.

In a statement, the Boston-based New England Historic Genealogical Society says it has "uncovered family lines that link President Barack Obama with Scott Brown, the newly elected Republican senator from Massachusetts.''

The society says Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown's mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both are descendants of Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Massachusetts, who died in 1687 at the age of 102.

"President Obama descends from Richard's eldest son, Jonathan Singletary, who later changed his surname to Dunham. Scott Brown descends from Jonathan's brother, Nathaniel Singletary. This kinship makes Obama and Brown 10th cousins,'' the society statement says.

Like his illustrious descendants (Obama and Brown), Singletary too held public office during his time, serving as town selectman in both Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the 1650s, the statement says.

In 2008, the society made the startling discovery that Obama is related to seven former presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman, and James Madison, as well as actor Brad Pitt.
Reacting to his family links to Obama, Brown has been quoted in the media as saying that he is happy about his family ties "such distinguished company.''

The society has also discovered that Brown too is related to six other presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Rutherford Hayes.

With their common ancestry, will Brown make common cause with cousin Obama on health reforms? Unlikely, say political experts.