- Royal Descents of famous people - Unproved and Disproved Royal Descents

Unproved and Disproved Royal Descents

Daniel Boone

The claimed descent of Daniel Boone, born 1734, pioneer explorer of the American West, through Morgan from Lady Frances Somerset and hence from Edward III is disproved in:

"The Family of Edward Morgan of Pennsylvania: Daniel Boone’s Maternal Kin" [part 1], Stewart Baldwin, The Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Spring 2001): 104–28.
"The Family of Edward Morgan of Pennsylvania: Daniel Boone’s Maternal Kin" [part 2], Stewart Baldwin, The Genealogist, Vol. 15, No. 2 (Fall 2001): 172–95.

Bill Clinton

The unreliable Harold Brooks-Baker claimed that Bill Clinton, born 1946, US President, had a descent from King John.

Bob Dole

The unreliable Harold Brooks-Baker claimed that Bob Dole, born 1923, US Presidential candidate, had a descent from Henry III.

Ulysses S. Grant

The descent of Ulysses S. Grant, born 1822, US President, through Booth from Henry II shown here and here and here and in [Burkes Presidential] and [Roberts, 1995] was disproven by Donald Lines Jacobus in [The American Genealogist 37:77-9].

There is another claimed descent through Clement Miner (born 1585), who was claimed to be the grandson of John de la Pole (died 1491) and Elizabeth Plantagenet, descendant of Edward III. See summary of claimed descent. But you can see by the dates that is impossible. This line was proven false in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register around 1990. See here.

Abraham Lincoln

The descent of Abraham Lincoln (also here), born 1809, US President, from Edward I shown in [Burkes Presidential] is not accepted.
The parentage of Nancy Hanks (also here) is disputed.

Sir Laurence Olivier

References:

Leo van de Pas
OLIVIER in [Burkes Peerage, 1938]
Laurence Olivier, Donald Spoto, 1991.

The descent of the actor Sir Laurence Olivier from Charles II
as shown at the Thomas Arundell Society site (see here and here)
is wrong because Emma Eden is not a blood relation of his. She is his grand-uncle's wife, NOT his grandmother.

Colin Powell

Colin Powell, born 1937, US Secretary of State.
- William Addams Reitwiesner summarises the claim. Colin Powell claims his mother Maud Arial McKoy, born 1901, is descended from Sir Eyre Coote, born 1760, who descends from Edward III. No proof is given.

W.B. Yeats and Jack Yeats

The Yeats family believed they had a descent from the Earls of Ormonde, and used the name Butler Yeats as a result, but they neglected to actually write down the descent. They believed they descended from Edmund Butler, ancestor of Butler of Newchome, Co.Kilkenny, and descendant of Edward I.

W.B. Yeats himself worked on this link but never managed to prove it. See notes on this link at the Butler Society.

References:

YEATS in [Burkes Irish, 1976]
William M.Murphy, Family Secrets: William Butler Yeats and his Relatives, 1995
William M.Murphy, The Ancestry of W.B.Yeats, Yeats Studies, no.1, spring 1971, [CUL] Q718.c.21
Sources yet to be consulted:
- William M.Murphy, The Yeats Family and the Pollexfens of Sligo, 1970
  [William M.Murphy, Dept English, Union College, NY state]
- Joseph Hone, William Butler Yeats, 1962
- A.Norman Jeffares, William Butler Yeats: Man and Poet, 1962

John Butler          Mary Goddard
of Dublin            dau of Charles Goddard
1st Clerk in          |
British War Office,   |
Dublin Castle         |
 |                    |
 +---+----------------+
     |
    Mary Butler                        Benjamin Yeats
    born 1751                          of Dublin
    inherited Thomastown, Co.Kildare   born 1750
     from John Humphrey of Dublin,      |
     whose will was registered 1775     |
     (relative of her father)           |
     |                                  |
     +--------+-------------------------+
              |
             Rev. John Yeats
             born 1774
             Rector of Drumcliffe, Co.Sligo (where Yeats now buried)
              |
             Rev. William Butler Yeats
             born 1806
              |
             John Butler Yeats
             born 1839
              |
 +------------+---------------------+
 |                                  |
William Butler Yeats               Jack Butler Yeats
poet                               painter
born 1865                          born 1871
Nobel Prize for Literature 1923

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