Meeting the ancestors through geneaology

9:29am Friday 10th October 2008

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If Sarah Palin really is related to Princess Diana, anything is possible. STEPHEN LEWIS reports.

WELL, who’d have believed it? Apparently Sarah Palin, the folksy hockey mom who hopes to be America’s next vice president, is distantly related to Princess Diana. She is, supposedly, Diana’s 10th cousin, according to genealogists at website ancestry.com It’s not as far-fetched as it seems. Both are said to be descended from one John Strong and his wife, Abigail Ford. Strong was born in England in around 1605 and emigrated to the country which was to become the United States.

Palin is also, the claim goes, related to former Democratic president Franklin D Roosevelt – a revelation that will no doubt have the great man turning in his grave.

That is the great thing about genealogy – it throws up some wonderful surprises. Boris Johnson, the shambling Tory mayor of London, was revealed in a recent series of the BBC’s Who Do You Think You Are? to be descended from King George II, for example.

Olympic rower Matthew Pinsent, meanwhile, discovered he had an even more impressive lineage. Somewhat tenuously, his family tree goes back to King Edward 1, William The Conqueror and, through a lot of rather mystical Divine Right to Rule stuff, ultimately Jesus, King David, Adam and Eve and even God himself.

So finding that Palin and Princess Diana are related isn’t really all that much of a surprise, admits genealogist Pam Elliott, of the York Family History Society.

If they are 10th cousins, that means they shared a common ancestor ten generations ago, Pam says. “Ten generations is a long way to go back. Somebody has done some work to put that together. But it is possible.”

Of course, if you go back far enough we’re all related to one another. One in every 200 men in the world is supposed to be directly descended from Genghis Khan. And using DNA evidence, scientists have shown that if you go back still further every human being alive today is descended from one woman who lived in what is now Ethiopia, Tanzania or Kenya 140,000 years ago.

In the course of her genealogical research, Pam herself has discovered more than a few interesting facts about her own family. For a start, she is descended from the family that once owned Clifford’s Tower.

Her great-grandfather was a Sowray. By tracing the family tree back, she discovered that in 1699 the Sowrays, who were then wealthy merchant tailors, bought Clifford’s Tower for the princely sum of 15 shillings. “They used it as a summer house,” she says. “They had a house built, and planted trees and shrubs. Some workmen were killed because of the height – they fell off.”

Sadly, the fact her family once owned the historic building doesn’t mean she can get in there for free, she says. “I keep trying!” But there was an odd little coincidence when her daughter, Susanne, got married in 2005. The wedding photographer asked the family to pose for photos beside Clifford’s Tower. “He didn’t know the connection!” she says. “But I was standing there with a big grin on my face.”

The main reason people like to try to trace their ancestors isn’t because they want to find they have royal blood, Pam says. Usually it is simple curiosity. “It is the detective side of people.” But it is surprising how often you can find connections.

Quite a few of the people who have come to her at the Family History Society for help in tracing their own roots have turned out to be distantly related to her, Pam says. “It has happened a few times that people have come in here and brought out the family tree, and I’ve said ‘hello, cousin!’”

Most memorably, there was a man named Howard Helliwell, who emailed her from Australia. He was adopted and knew nothing about his family: but he did have a birth certificate, with the name Dixon on it.

Pam did some research, and found he was related to a York family who lived just around the corner from her. She dug a bit more, and found he was related to her as well.

“He came over this year and we had a big reunion!” she says. “He thought he was the only one of his family left, and he was overwhelmed to find he had family!”

How to get started on family tree research

The first step is to ask relatives for all the information they have on parents, grandparents etc.

That includes full names, and as much detail as possible of where and when they lived. Then the hard detective work really begins. The General Register Office indexes of births, marriages and deaths are available online dating right back to 1837. These give basic information such as name and district where a birth, death or marriage occurred and can help unlock your past. Wills, census records, parish records and even old newspapers are also good sources of information.

If you aren’t sure what you are doing, the York Family History Society is always willing to help. The society’s study centre at the Raylor Centre in James Street is open every Tuesday and Thursday from 10am-4pm. Drop in or call for advice on 01904 412204. “We can get you kick-started,” Pam says.

Some celebrity family trees

Dame Judi Dench: Pam Elliott did the York-born actress’s family tree a few years ago. Dame Judi’s father, Reginald, was a doctor, her grandfather George a printer who lived for a while in Belfast. Her great-grandfather, also George, was a customs officer, while her great-great grandfather, William, was a coal porter who lived in Melcombe Regis in Dorset.

Boris Johnson: The London mayor’s great-grandfather was a Turkish journalist and politician named Ali Kemal, who was lynched and murdered by supporters of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Through his grandmother, Johnson is also descended from King George II.

Matthew Pinsent: The rowing star had three great uncles who died in the First World War. On his mother’s side, he also had a great-great grandfather who ran one of the biggest trading firms in the international settlement in Shanghai – though much of his wealth seems to have come from opium dens. Through one of Wellington’s generals during the Napoleonic wars, Pinsent is also distantly related to the Howard family – and through them to King Edward I and William The Conqueror. And through them, according to a medieval document which claimed to demonstrate the British monarchy’s divine right to rule, to Jesus, King David, Adam and Eve and ultimately God.