Three generations ago, the family story was that we were related to President John Adams and President Lincoln.
We knew the connection to Adams. My grandfather's name is in the genealogy "Henry Adams of Braintree.". We were cousins through another son of Henry. But my gf's grandfather was named John Quincy Adams. I have already explained to two generations of school children in my Adams family that we are not descended from John Quincy Adams, the president. Ours was a farmer in Vermont.
The one I wanted to improve today was the Lincoln line. My grandfather's first wife was a Lincoln. Her children, my uncles and aunt, were told in their youth that they were related to, but not descended from Abraham Lincoln. Interestingly, that generation was close enough to the end of the Civil War that they actually knew Robert Todd Lincoln, and some of my dad's half brothers caddied for him at the golf club in Manchester VT. He didn't tip well.
They just thought since their mother's name was Lincoln, they must be related. They knew the Lincolns weren't originally from Vermont.
I have connected the line from their mother, http://[[Lincoln-3192|Flora (Lincoln) Adams (1876-1920)]] to Thomas Lincoln, "the miller", the immigrant to Taunton. Too bad, the one Lincoln's father descended from was the other one, Thomas Lincoln, the weaver.
So that dispels that myth. But I am of the opinion that Lincoln's father was actually Abraham Enloe, and Thomas Lincoln was his stepfather. Not that any of this matters anymore. There are no descendants of Abraham Lincoln left to test the dna.