Is Boris Johnson related to US presidents through Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter?

Question

Hi,

I am just interested in family relations in general. I have read that former British PM Boris Johnson is related to ten US presidents.

https://www.family-tree.co.uk/how-to-guides/boris-johnson-is-related-to-ten-us-presidents/

I have not been able to find how these relations were formed. Is Boris Johnson's maternal great grandmother Helen Tracy Lowe-Porter an important link to the presidents?

Thank you

Carl Eddy

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Porter-17452

Answer 1

Here's one connection: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Connection&action=connect&person1Name=Johnson-66533&person2Name=Grant-468&relation=2&ignoreIds=

It does indeed go through Helen.

With the connection finder you can check the other presidents as well.

Comments

Previously I have only had a general interest in family relations and I am now deeply impressed by your software and forum. I will slowly try to learn how to use the software and come back with further questions in due course.

I found George H. W. Bush by websearching his birthdate and inputting into the software.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Connection&action=connect&person1Name=Johnson-66533&person2Name=Bush-7&relation=2&ignoreIds=

Would that be the easiest way for me to find Boris Johnson's relations to US presidents? Just Internetsearch for their birthdates and input their names and dates into your excellent software? (I am European and unfortunately not so knowlegeable in US history.)

Thank you so much.

---

Luckily (i don't know if the list is complete) the presidents have been categorized into a category.

This makes it easy to search their connections in bulk.

Here are all presidents connections to Johnson :

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special%3AMyConnections&c=US_Presidents&w=Johnson-66533 

Make sure to connect yourself to the tree, that makes it even more fun! 

---

If we subtract 3 generations between Helen and Boris, she would be 13 generations from president Hayes. But if every generation would mean an offfspring of 2, 13 generations would mean 2^13 = 8192. 18 generations from G Bush would mean 262.000.

Hayes is from Pennsylvania and Helen from neighboring Ohio. PA population 1880: 4M, OH: 3M. So from a total of 7 million, one of Helen's 8000 relatives was president Hayes. Many people at the time probably lived in the countryside which Helen and the president probably did not. (And maybe even fewer people going back in time? Children more numerous than 2. But also considering marriage within the tree etc)

Well, I am just speculating wildly here in a field I do not know. I am among experts so I just make my statement and hope it will be corrected:

Helen's family tree, that connects Johnson to US presidents, maybe shows that she was born into "higher levels of society" in the area, likely to marry a maybe wealthy Russian immigrant. (But this is purely improvising on my part. Please help me straighten this out.)

I look forward to connecting myself to this excellent system in the future. I am not sure how it works outside the US, though.

Answer 2

I wouldn't doubt it. The late George Carlin had a routine where he explained how politics work and why he doesn't play. I used to think he was just trying to sell tickets to his show. Now I see why he didn't play.

Comments

Except that part of the mission of Wikitree is showing how we all have these kinds of connections. This is my list, it would look impressive to some people too:

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special%3AMyConnections&c=US_Presidents&w=Grozev-1

---

Yes. After trying to read a little about this in your excellent forum, maybe one must be careful in drawing too many conclusions on the statement that "Johnson is related to ten US presidents". I am not sure Helen shows any more genealogical connections to US presidents than any "average" person from that area at that time. But I am sure the members here can make a better judgement on that. I am sure you have methods for telling if a genealogical connection is stronger than what could be expected by chance.

As I remember off hand, Helen and her Russian husband moved to Oxford, UK. I haven't studied details but I believe they could have made an impression there. Johnson's godfather Colin Lucas was head of the university in Oxford where also Johnson graduated. As a young reporter Johnson was sacked from The Times for falsifying a quote by his godfather. The quote was about gay relations of King Edward II.

Johnson seems to come from a well connected family. His paternal great grandfather, Ali Kemal, was a minister of the Ottoman Empire (and also journalist, was assassinated). Johnson's father Stanley was a civil servant of the European Commission and also Member of the European Parliament, in addition to being a writer. (In 2015 republishing his 1982 novel "The Virus", about a pandemic. I.e. republishing the novel four years before the onset of Covid.) Johnson's brother Josef has been a UK minister.

Thank you for receiving my question so kindly even though I am a novice in genealogy.

---

Hey Carl, welcome to Wikitree. At first, I was very surprised with every revelation I found on Wikitree. Within the first couple of weeks I learned I was related to 7 or eight signers of the Declaration of Independence, Some as close as 2nd and 3rd cousins 3&4 X's removed. Same with Presidents, with 32 total. The further back you go, the more people you are related to. Every cousin I add is a new discovery.  Sometime it connects my family of families closer together, sometimes I find a High School buddies family connected to mine. Nothing surprises me too much anymore. Start building your tree and see how we are connected Enjoy-