Political Family

[J. J.]

Are you part of a "political family." 

Political Graveyard has an interesting family grouping of politicians that are distantly related to each other:  http://politicalgraveyard.com/families/index.html

I'm actually considered to be part of one of these families. 

[Old Europe]

LOL

George Walker Bush (b. 1946) — also known as George W. Bush; "Dubya"; "Shrub"; "The Smirking Chimp"; "The Decider" — of Midland, Midland County, Tex.; Crawford, McLennan County, Tex. Born in New Haven, New Haven County, Conn., July 6, 1946. Son of Barbara (Pierce) Bush and George Herbert Walker Bush. Republican. Candidate for U.S. Representative from Texas 19th District, 1978; delegate to Republican National Convention from Texas, 1988; Governor of Texas, 1995-2000; President of the United States, 2001-. Methodist. Member, Delta Kappa Epsilon; Skull and Bones. Still living as of 2009.

Willard Mitt Romney (b. 1947) — also known as Mitt Romney; "Mittens"; "The Mittster" — of Belmont, Middlesex County, Mass. Born in Detroit, Wayne County, Mich., March 12, 1947. Son of George Wilcken Romney and Lenore Romney. Republican. Candidate for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, 1994; Governor of Massachusetts, 2003-07; candidate for Republican nomination for President, 2008; delegate to Republican National Convention from Massachusetts, 2008 (delegation chair). Mormon. Still living as of 2012.

Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (b. 1948) — also known as Al Gore; "Ozone Man"; "Sundance" — of Carthage, Smith County, Tenn. Born in Washington, D.C., March 31, 1948. Son of Albert Arnold Gore and Pauline (LaFon) Gore (1912-2004). Democrat. Served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam war; U.S. Representative from Tennessee, 1977-85 (4th District 1977-83, 6th District 1983-85); U.S. Senator from Tennessee, 1985-93; candidate for Democratic nomination for President, 1988; Vice President of the United States, 1993-2001; delegate to Democratic National Convention from Tennessee, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008; candidate for President of the United States, 2000. Baptist. Member, Jaycees; American Legion; Veterans of Foreign Wars; Farm Bureau. Received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on global warming. Still living as of 2009.

[Rooney]

I have recently accepted a new teaching job in Burlington, Iowa. The new house I am living in was built by Henry Dodge, the patriarch of the Dodge political family. Henry Dodge is celebrated as the "conqueror of Chief Blackhawk" due to his victory over the starving British Band of Sauk Indians at the Battle of Bad Axe in 1832. He had a strange career which involved serving as a delegate to the Missouri Constitutional Convention in 1820, sitting in the Michigan territorial legislature, serving as the governor of Wisconsin Territory (of which Burlington was the capital for many years) as well as territoral delegate to the U.S. Congress and one of the first U.S. Senators from Wisconsin in 1848.

Dodge is buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery which is where I go running now that I am in Burlington. He and his son-in-law James Clarke, who served as Mayor of Burlington and Governor of Iowa Territory, have a joint monument which outlines their achievements.  Below is a picture:

[CathKhan]

That sounds like a pretty awesome career, jumping all around the Mid-West, from Missouri to Michigan to Wisconsin and also being from Iowa.

[Redalgo]

My adoptive family is not tied into any of those listed. I cannot be sure about my biological family on account of not knowing its surname.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

No, although I believe I had a great uncle who was mayor of Onaway, Michigan.  My mother worked for the Dukakis campaign in 1988 and when she was paralyzed in a serious car accident during the campaign, Gov. Dukakis visited her in the hospital.  I also have an aunt who worked on some political campaigns and was student body president at the college she went to, so she worked with quite a few politicians in her time.  In fact, she was the first one to serve multiple terms.  There's a chance that I'm distatntly related to Mike Pence, too.  Most of the people in my family were never particularly interested in politics, though, and they aren't generally politically engaged.