I have been researching my family history for quite some years now. Something that has always fascinated me is how very many people it has taken for each of us to end up here. Some people find it impressive that I am related to King Henry I and to William the Conqueror. However a great number of us are.
Charlemagne is the cause of most of this. He begat a large percentage of European royal families by having lots of lots of children and grandchildren who were all poweful and influential figures and who’s lineage is traced by the account of many European households over many centuries. If you are not of Celtic origin and your parents are from western Europe, there’s a good bet that you’re related to Charlemagne too.
I also enjoy what I call ‘inbreeding numbers’. Three generations up from you (at the level of your great-grandparents) there are 2×2x2 people, i.e. you have 8 great-grandparents. Any the nth level of your ancestry you have 2n direct genetic ancestors. So go back 20 generations and you’ll find over 1 million ancestors. 30 generations and you’ll have more than a billion!
At 40 generations you have more than a trillion ancestors. That’s more people than have ever lived in all of human history. How long ago is 40 generations? Well it takes you to about the year 800 A.D.
This only means one thing, which you probably knew anyway, that cousins eventually marry cousins either directly or at some distance. However it also means we are all related at some level. Again, you kind of knew that already if you think about it.
Here are some notable people to whom I can trace a familial connection.
Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
Isaac Newton is regarded as one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians in history. Principally, he described 3 laws of motion that also govern the motions of the earth and the celestial bodies surrounding it.
Relationship: 1st Cousin 16 times removed
Robert Boyle (1627-1691)
Robert Boyle is regarded today as the first modern chemist. He was also an alchemist and a physicist.
Relationship: 11th Great Grand Uncle
Jane Seymour (1509 – 1537)
Jane Seymour was the third wife of Henry VIII. She died of post-natal complications following the birth of her only child, Edward VI. She was also King Henry VIII’s fifth cousin three times removed.
Relationship: 15th Great Grand Aunt
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
Florence Nightingale, sometimes called “The Lady with the Lamp”, was born in Italy in a wealthy British family. She instigated new ways of caring for soldiers during her work in the Crimean war and throughout her career.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 6 times removed
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Jane Austin was well educated and began writing at a young age. Though she wrote with a man’s alias, many of her novels, which include Pride and Prejudice and Emma, have become widely popular.
Relationship: 7th Cousin 7 times removed
Elizabeth II (1926-)
Elizabeth II, Queen of the Commonwealth Realm, took the throne upon the death of her father, George VI, in 1952. She is married to the Duke of Edinburgh and currently resides in Buckingham Palace in London.
Relationship: 8th Cousin 2 times removed
Emily Dickenson (1830-1886)
Emily Dickenson is considered one of the most influential poets in American history. During her lifetime she published only a few poems, though her writing career produced over 1700 poems (all published posthumously).
Relationship: 8th Cousin 4 times removed
Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
Edward Jenner was the first doctor to introduce and study the smallpox vaccine. He also contributed to the study of the heart and valvular disease.
Relationship: 9th Cousin 7 times removed
George Orwell (1903-1950)
Eric Arthur Blair is most commonly recognized by his pen name, George Orwell. His political commentary is a major theme in his most famous works: “1984″, “Animal Farm”, and “Down and Out in Paris and London”.
Relationship: 10th Cousin 5 times removed
Laura Welch Bush (1946-)
Present First lady Laura Bush has taken an interest in the effects of the September 11 attacks on children. She revived the more traditional role of First Lady back to the White House.
Relationship: 11th Cousin 1 times removed
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
Virginia Woolf was one of the forerunners of the literary “Modernist” movement and is considered one of the greatest novelists of the twentieth century. Besides her experimental writing style, Woolf is also remembered for her contributions to the feminist movement.
Relationship: 11th Cousin 3 times removed
Laurence Olivier (1907-1989)
Laurence Kerr Olivier was an Academy Award-winning actor, director, and producer. He acted in such films as Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Spartacus. Olivier also appeared in many plays throughout his career.
Relationship: 12th Cousin 1 times removed
Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993)
Audrey Kathleen Ruston (Audrey Hepburn), born in Belgium, continues to be a figure of iconic beauty and classic film. Her award-winning role in “Roman Holiday” marked the beginning of her long and successful movie career. Hepburn is also well-known for her humanitarian work with UNICEF.
Relationship: 12th Cousin 4 times removed
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)
English author Aldous Huxley emigrated to England with his scientifically genius family. He was known for his novels, such as “Brave New World” and “Time Must Have a Stop”.
Relationship: 13th Cousin 2 times removed
Many of the people on this list were found via Ancestry.com’s ‘Find Famous Relatives’ feature. You’ll need to know an extensive family tree to have any success with it, but if you’re interested its great fun.
How did you find this out?
I have been told through my family that i am a direct relative to isaac newton and we have been trying to prove it for a long time, any info is helpful.
how can i find out if im related to sir isaac newton can any one help me
i was told that my great grandmother is isaac newton’s great great grand daughter or something like that… && her maiden name is newton… but thats all i know about that how do you figure this stuff out?
my great nan did our family tree a few years ago before she died and found that i could of been related to sir isac newton my mums last name is newton and my nan and grandad and my last name is newton-langi (langi from my dads side) any info would be nice abot prooving it plz
Remember that Great Uncle Isaac had no descendants himself, so any of us can only be related via his half siblings and cousins.
I’ve not found any decent family trees on the internet yet. Post URls here if anyone does find any, pls!
the Wright Brothers are my 8th cousins 7 times removed
Well hello family. We are obviously either related through blood or our ancesters’ delusions of grandeur.
Please do say if you have any info as we are meant to be related to Uncle Isaac through a woman with the wonderful name Essex Newton Pratt.
Perhaps we should a family reunion!!
Interestingly do any of you excel at mathematics or physics?
I’m related to Sir Isaac Newton twice both on my dad’s side.
he is my 2nd Cousin 11 times removed
through our great grandmother Isabel Newton
and my 3rd Cousin 12 times removed
through our great grandmother Margaret Wydeville
I am apparently a descendant of Isaac Newton. My mother is Patricia Mary Newton. Her father was David William Newton. His father was Caleb William Newton – an engineer – designer of bread ovens.
Any help would be great.
My neighbour also tells me that she is a descendant of Isaac Newton. Her mothers maiden name is Newton
hi.
I’m kirsty, i’m 13 and have been told that i am related to Isacc Newton on my dads side. My great nan’s name was Fewkes and before that there was Newton-fewkes, so yer i have been trying to prove ot to my friends, someone help. Isn’t it weird how we are all related to him therefore all related distantly, well i find it interesting.
thanks, help would be nice, websites etc.
Kirsty L Woods.
The only way to know is to hit your head with and apple. if nothing extraordinary comes out of your mind then you’re not by any chance from the same Newtons. However, don’t give up, try with different kind apples of apples. dropping them from different heights also help.
Hey I’m also a Newton.
However did you know that Newton’s mother 2nd marriage gave birth to only a child who never married nor had kids of his own?
But still I think the thing we have in common is that we all are related to Newton, in the way we have the same last name!!!! yeah!!!
I almost convince my teacher about me being blood related to Newton.. but even so, he’s making me re take basic algebra 1…. the same with physics and phylosophy!!! what an irony…..
I need to know i am isaac newtons great great great great great great grandaughter.
Hi there, Dave R S R C Newton – that’s not correct. You’re right to say of course that Isaac Newton had no children and there are no full blood siblings.
Isaac Newton did however have three half-siblings by his mother’s second marriage. Two girls and a boy. The boy was called Robert, and he had children. My own children are related to that line – we have a fab family tree which their Great Grandfather prepared years ago which traces back all the way to great great great etc Uncle Isaac. Should get it scanned. I do tease my husband when he gets all posh about it that Robert Newton is only a half brother to Isaac so doesn’t share the same genetic heritage, isn’t known for much and was a farmer not the father of modern science! For interest, John Newton who wrote “Amazing Grace” and was the anti-slave-trader is also on the same family line.
I am pretty sure that Isaac Newton had no children and died unmarried with no record of children. So you may be a distant relative, but perhaps not a descendant. Check the bottom of this website for more information. I could be wrong. I have heard this before as well. Sorry to burst any bubbles
Mine was burst too
http://website.lineone.net/~stephen-north/oldindex.htm
Isaac’s relatives are documented very well and are available. We were given a copy of the family tree in the 1970’s and its been updated in the 1990’s. My name is the final one on the list in that edition.
Im 14 and all my life i have been told that im a descendant of Isaac Newton. My dad, uncle and cousin have the middle name newton. Im not sure how though i am though.