Obama's not his only distant cousin . . .

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has let it be known that our illustrious commander-in-chief is a distant cousin of the recently elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts.

That "kinnection" was made thru a fellow named Richard Singletary, who died at Haverhill, Massachusetts, back in 1687. The way the genealogists figure it, this common ancestor makes the current occupant of the White House and the latest Republican sensation no less than tenth cousins.

Well, ye socks, after doing some sleuthing of my own, I have discovered a slightly more recent "kinnection" to Brown. Like yours truly, he is descended from a woman named Sarah Starbuck--albeit his line springs from her second marriage whilst my own comes from her first marriage to a fellow named Joseph Austin of Dover, New Hampshire.

My descent from Sarah and Joseph's daughter Deborah Austin is spelled-out in detail on my oft-cited ahnentafel page:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~oldpinecastle/ahnentafel.html

Senator Brown's descent goes like this:

1. Sarah Starbuck married secondly 2 March 1664 to Humphrey Varney; and died at Dover on 6 June 1719. Their son:

2. Ebenezer Varney (1670-1753) married Mary Otis, and had

3. Samuel Varney (born 2 April 1712), who had by his wife Mary

4. Timothy Varney (1 Sept 1742 - 30 Sept 1808) married 4 January 1764 at Dover to Abigail Hussey, and had

5. Mercy Varney (8 March 1771 - 31 Oct 1840) married 30 Dec 1790 to Amos Hill of Berwick, Maine, and had

6. Timothy Varney Hill (28 Dec 1808 - 22 Jan 1883) of Wells, Maine, who married Rosamond Blaisdell and had

7. Mercy O. Hill of Wells, married Frelinghuysen Moody of Lynn, Massachusetts, and had

8. Charlotte W. Moody (23 Aug 1881 - 2 May 1964) married Charles W. Coleman, and had

9. Bertha Louise Coleman (2 July 1905 - 26 June 2001) married Phillip Newton Rugg, and had

10. Judith Ann Rugg (born 9 May 1938) married 23 November 1937 at Pease Air Force Base to Claude Bruce Brown, and had

11. Scott Philip Brown (born 12 Sept 1959 at Kittery, Maine), the senator-elect in question.

This common descent makes us ninth cousins, one generation removed.

Anyone else out there got a closer "kinnection?"

Who saw this one coming?!

In Massachusetts, the bluest of blue states, the same Senate seat has been held by a member of the Kennedy family or their surrogate for half a century.

That's going to change as the poll results roll in from the Bay State tonight.

It looks like former Democrat "shoo-in" Martha Coakley is going down in flames.

Behaving as arrogantly as her would-be peers on Capitol Hill, she discounted the political acumen of her Republican rival Scott Brown and the dismay of her would-be constituents . . . so much so that she took time off the very short period of time leading up to this special election to take a Caribbean vacation.

May this give Harry Reid and his ilk pause in their on-going effort to ram Stealth Scare down our throats.

The people have spoken.