In Search of Presidential Cousins: Part 1 - Washington

 

My past blogs have all looked at ancestors and relatives along the Pannell/Langley branch. This is my first entry exploring the Peter/Arrington branch.

The tumultuous election earlier in November has inspired me to introduce the multiple Presidents of the United States that also happen to be our cousins. To start, let me state at the outset, that we are not, to the best of my knowledge, related in any way to either Donald J. Trump or Joseph R. Biden!

Less than four years ago today, the then-occupant of the White House was our cousin.

Growing up, we were always told that we were first cousins of George Washington (President #1). In 2008 we discovered through research that we were distant cousins, as well, of President Harry S. Truman (#33) and then-candidate, Barack H. Obama, who would be elected in 2008 and assume office in January 2009 as president #44. At the same time, it also turned out that we were second, not first, cousins of George Washington.

All three of our presidential cousins are traced on our tree via Sarah Eleanor Duvall (Arrington) (about 1800?-after 1850) [2nd great grandmother; NextGen: 3rd great grandmother]. One president (Washington) is related to Sarah's mother, Ann "Nancy" Ramsey (Duvall) (about 1765?-after 1818) [3rd great grandmother; NextGen: 4th great grandmother] , while the other two presidents (Truman and Obama) are related to Sarah's father, Lieut. William Duvall (1754?-1815) [3rd great grandfather; NextGen: 4th great grandfather].

George Washington

Our known family tree prior to 2008 ended with William Duvall and his wife, who was listed as Ann Nancy Johnson Ball (Duvall) and was supposed to be the sister of George Washington's mother, Mary Ball (Washington). If this were true, George would be our first cousin, five times removed (or NextGen: six times removed). This was how it was detailed in the obituary of Sarah Eleanor Duvall (Arrington)'s son, Andrew Jackson Arrington (1840?-1827) [great grandfather; NextGen: 2nd great grandfather] in the Washington DC Evening Star on Sept 18, 1927:

In trying to pin this down, there were attempts to get verification from researchers of this important family link. One researcher stated flatly that "there is no record of any of Mary Ball's sisters having married a Duvall." I myself determined that it was indeed impossible that Sarah's mother was a sister of Mary Ball (1708-1789), as any sister of Mary Ball would have been at least 89 years old when her supposed daughter Sarah Duvall was born. This is because Joseph Ball, Mary Ball's father died in 1711, and Sarah was born about 1800.

It wasn't just our family who had been told we were related to George Washington. Other cousins, descendants of Sarah Duvall Arrington had been told the same story. It seemed unlikely that it was untrue, but there had to be more generations separating George and his mother from our Sarah. I wanted to try and discover how we might actually be related.

It turns out our relative, the wife of William Duvall, was not Mary Ball's sister, but actually was descended from her uncle, William Ball II (1641-1694) [7th great grandfather; NextGen: 8th great grandfather]. It turns out we are second cousins, not first cousins. To be specific, my siblings and I are second cousins 7 times removed (NextGen: 2nd cousins 8x removed).

Here is my relationship list per Ancestry.com:

Ann Nancy Ramsey was the second wife of William Duvall. His first wife was a Miss Johnson, first name unknown. "Nancy," it should be noted, was a nickname for "Ann." She should really be listed as Ann "Nancy" Ramsey. "Ann" sometimes appears as "Anne," and "Ramsey" also appears sometimes as "Ramsay."

Ann's parents were distinguished: William Ramsay (1716-1785) [4th great grandfather; NextGen: 5th great grandfather] and Ann McCarty (1730-1785) [4th great grandmother; NextGen: 5th great grandmother]. Ann McCarty was was the 2nd great granddaughter of William Ball I (1615-1680) [8th great grandfather; NextGen: 9th great grandfather], who was the great grandfather of George Washington (1733-1799). William Ramsay was the founder and mayor of Alexandria, Virginia, on the Potomac River opposite Washington DC. Below was his residence, now called "The Ramsay House":

Don, Mom, and I visited this house, now a museum, in 2008.

George Washington was lifelong friends with William Ramsay and walked in his funeral procession. Here is what he wrote in his diary:

George Washington writes in his diary on February 12, 1785:
"Received an invitation to the Funeral of Willm. Ramsay, Esqr. of Alexandria, the oldest inhabitant of the town; and went up. Walked in procession as a free mason, Mr. Ramsay in his life being one, and now buried with the ceremonies and honors due to one. He was buried by the side of his wife in old Christ Church yard, not far from the eastern wall,
but in an unmarked grave. A Scotch pine has been planted by his descendants as a memorial. ("The Lodge of Washington” by Franklin L. Brockett, page 109).

I think it is quite remarkable that the First President of our nation walked in the funeral of our 4th (5th) great grandfather! (Of course, in 1785, he was still four years away from his first inauguration.) I doubt any future presidents will so honor any of our family members....

With this note, I will conclude this first article on presidential cousins. I will have more to say about William Ramsay, Anne Ball McCarty Ramsay, William Duvall (and his ancestors that link us to the two other presidents as well as other noted individuals through the line of the famous Mareen Duvall (1640-1694) [7th great grandfather; NextGen: 8th great grandfather], Sarah Eleanor Duvall Arrington, Andrew Jackson Arrington, and others.

Wishing you all in the meantime a healthy and happy holiday!