Well, I suppose Randy Seaver has found a timely topic for this week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, but my list will have some asterisks.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission: Impossible! music) is:
1)
Which U.S. presidents have held the office in your lifetime? Your parents' lifetimes? Your grandparents' lifetimes? How many generations do you need to cover all of them?
2) A list of the U.S. presidents is at http://www.presidentsusa.net/presvplist.html to help you out.
3) Put the answers in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook or Google+ post.
Here are my lists.
My life, 1962–present: 11 presidents
#35 John F. Kennedy
#36 Lyndon B. Johnson
#37 Richard M. Nixon
#38 Gerald R. Ford
#39 James E. Carter
#40 Ronald Reagan
#41 George H. W. Bush
#42 William J. Clinton
#43 George W. Bush*
#44 Barack H. Obama
#45 Donald J. Trump*
*lost the popular vote; not my president
My father, Bertram Lynn Sellers' life, 1935–present: 14 presidents
#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt
#33 Harry Truman
#34 Dwight D. Eisenhower
#35 John F. Kennedy
#36 Lyndon B. Johnson
#37 Richard M. Nixon
#38 Gerald R. Ford
#39 James E. Carter
#40 Ronald Reagan
#41 George H. W. Bush
#42 William J. Clinton
#43 George W. Bush
#44 Barack H. Obama
#45 Donald J. Trump
My mother, Myra Roslyn (Meckler) Sellers Preuss' life, 1940–1995: 11 presidents
#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt
#33 Harry Truman
#34 Dwight D. Eisenhower
#35 John F. Kennedy
#36 Lyndon B. Johnson
#37 Richard M. Nixon
#38 Gerald R. Ford
#39 James E. Carter
#40 Ronald Reagan
#41 George H. W. Bush
#42 William J. Clinton
My mother did not have to suffer through either asterisk.
My paternal grandmother Anna (Gauntt) Stradling's life, 1893–1986: 18 presidents
#23 Benjamin Harrison
#24 Grover Cleveland
#25 William McKinley
#26 Theodore Roosevelt
#27 William H. Taft
#28 Woodrow W. Wilson
#29 Warren G. Harding
#30 Calvin Coolidge
#31 Herbert Hoover
#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt
#33 Harry Truman
#34 Dwight D. Eisenhower
#35 John F. Kennedy
#36 Lyndon B. Johnson
#37 Richard M. Nixon
#38 Gerald R. Ford
#39 James E. Carter
#40 Ronald Reagan
My paternal great-grandfather Thomas Kirkland Gauntt's life, 1870–1951: 15 presidents
#18 Ulysses S. Grant
#19 Rutherford B. Hayes
#20 James A. Garfield
#21 Chester Arthur
#22 Grover Cleveland
#23 Benjamin Harrison
#24 Grover Cleveland
#25 William McKinley
#26 Theodore Roosevelt
#27 William H. Taft
#28 Woodrow W. Wilson
#29 Warren G. Harding
#30 Calvin Coolidge
#31 Herbert Hoover
#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt
#33 Harry Truman
(16 presidencies, but only 15 presidents, because Grover Cleveland was the same person in his nonconsecutive terms)
I had to follow my father's lines, as none of my mother's ancestors was in this country prior to 1903. In going back four generations to my oldest known great-grandparent, I can cover 28 presidencies.
I can just barely cover all 45 presidencies by going back to my 3x-great-grandfather Hananiah Selah Gaunt, who lived from 1795 to 1852. I didn't realize until today that this 3x-great-grandfather was born three years before my 4x-great-grandfather Joel Armstrong.
My grandmother lived through the most presidencies, but then again, she was 93 when she died.
Genealogy is like a jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box top, so you don't know what the picture is supposed to look like. As you start putting the puzzle together, you realize some pieces are missing, and eventually you figure out that some of the pieces you started with don't actually belong to this puzzle. I'll help you discover the right pieces for your puzzle and assemble them into a picture of your family.
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Love what you said on "not my president". This is a blog meme that I would love to get on top of as I am a younger genealogist and I would love to see how it differs.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed my editorial comment. I wanted to participate in the meme but I just can't claim either one. So I figured out a way to disavow them. :)
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