Monday, September 1, 2008

Sarah Louise Heath Palin's genealogy

I thought I could focus my attentions elsewhere, and then Tom Kemp on his GenealogyBank blog says he's a cousin to Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, and that she is descended from a Rev John Lathrop. I remembered Lathrops interconnecting with the descendants of Rev. Thomas and Katherine Stoughton, of which I am one as well. Kemp provided no links to any sources, so I had to go looking myself, and I didn't find anything I could trust.

I found her in the Dowling Family Genealogy at WorldConnect. Dowling doesn't have her descended from the Stoughtons. And I found Dowling's pedigree for my ancestor Samuel Swayze, and our lines as he has them don't seem to intersect.

Why don't I trust Tim Dowling's research? I have no idea who he is beyond his heady claim to be related to every single president of the United States. His pedigree for my ancestor Samuel Swayze says that Robert Chamberlain, who married Elizabeth Stoughton, is descended from the first three Kings Henry. Which is all well and good. But William Addams Reitweisner doesn't make the claim that John Kerry is. He provides no known parents for Robert Chamberlain. even though he carries Kerry's other lines a couple more generations. Surely if Reitweisner could find some reliable sources for Chamberlain's parents, he would have.

Further, I lack confidence in Dowling's attention to sources, as he often doesn't provide sources, especially with earlier generations. Since I don't trust his claim of Heath's ancestry, and I can't find her genealogy anywhere else, until I do find a source with a little more credibility, I am happy to accept that I might not be related to the Alaskan Governor.

Note: I missed a post at GeneaMusings on Friday. Randy linked to Robert Battle's Ahnentafel for Sarah Palin. Battle provides sources, and notably doesn't go any further back than 1600.

2 comments:

Randy Seaver said...

Hi John,

I posted about my cousinhood with Palin on Genea-Musings also, and linked to Robert Battle's web page with a decent family tree. I don't know if it matches Dowling's work or not. Robert Battle is a well known and respected genealogy researcher.

My post is at http://www.geneamusings.com/2008/08/sarah-palin-is-my-cousin-too.html

Cheers -- Randy

John said...

Thanks - I must have missed your post on Friday. Battle does provide sources, and his ahnentafel ends in the 1600s, which is certainly more believable.