Charlemagne - George Washington's 28-31st Great Grandfather

Charlemagne is credited with uniting Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire and inventing the medieval form of government. He also is credited with defeating the various Barbarian tribes from the east such as the Tartars that were threatening to overrun Europe and with re-discovering the classics of Greece and Rome and with founding the first university in Europe, which was to lead to the Carolingian Renaissance. Supporting the Pope of Rome, Charlemagne is also credited with the spread of Christianity throughout Europe. About a half of the U.S. Presidents can trace their ancestry back to Charlemagne with some, such as George Washington, able to trace their ancestry through several lines back to Charlemagne. According to the oral and written traditions of the Franks, they were descended from the Trojans and had migrated westward into the area east of the Danube and eventually further west to the areas that now include Belgium, France and Germany. One of the cities they founded was Paris, named after the famed Paris of the Trojan War.

YOU ARE RELATED TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Genealogists have mathematically demonstrated how all Americans of European descent must be related to Charlemagne. In this regard, genealogists have established the exact lines of descent from Charlemagne for 14 U.S. Presidents. Two of these are President George W. Bush and his father President George H.W. Bush. Other Presidents whose descent from Charlemagne have been traced include: George Washington, Ulysses Grant, Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt, and Gerald Ford. To demonstrate how we are all related, the New England Historical Society has researched the genealogy of Barack Obama and determined that on his mother's side he is related to six other previous presidents: George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, and James Madison. Presumably, if Barack Obama's ancestry on his mother's side could be traced far enough back, he also would be shown to be descended from Charlemagne. Meanwhile, on his father's side, we are all related to President Barack Obama since anthropologists have determined that all modern humans are descended from a common African ancestor.