Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the USA - Family Tree Research and Cleanup

Tamás Flinn Caldwell-Gilbert,

Those with Jewish ancestry will more than likely if connected via Elizabeth, get it via Hunter's current wife Melissa Cohen. I do get it that way.

Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the USA is my first cousin thrice removed's husband's niece's husband's aunt's husband's first cousin's husband's first cousin twice removed's husband's father.

Kevin

Yes, me too! My connection also goes through the Jewish path: Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the USA is my second cousin twice removed's husband's first cousin once removed's ex-wife's third cousin's husband's father.

I think I should have been more clear in my opening comment. I was referring to direct blood relationships. If a Geni user was previously shown to be a cousin of Joe Biden, they will probably no longer be so after these corrections take place.

Tamas

Thank you so much for all your hard work and transparency! I know you've been diligently working at this for a while, so it's great to see a more accurate tree come out of it, even if we lose our connections. Accuracy is more important than clean relationship paths.

I'll see what can be done with the Irish lines, but I doubt much. His family's records, like those for virtually all Irish families, peter out in the 1800s. But I'll see what I can do!

Joe Biden,
No in-law relationship was found.
No blood relationship was found.

I guess it's possible that of the todays 213 followers most will likely have a blue line to his current wife Dr. Jill Biden, 43rd First Lady of the United States instead than to him, if not there is an intention to cut her lines in the tree just aswell!

Good point, Ulf -- no matter what happens with Biden's ancestry, he'd still be my 13th cousin's husband. :)

I wholeheartedly agree Private User!
"Accuracy is more important than clean relationship paths."

Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the USA is your fifth cousin twice removed's wife's nephew.
You
→ Roger Sheldon Scott
your father → Viora Bell Davis
his mother → Cornelia R "Nellie" Carpenter
her mother → Mary Elizabeth Carpenter
her mother → Eliza Mary Klumph
her mother → Joseph Eby
her father → George M. Eby
his father → Bishop Christian Mayer Eby, II
his brother → Maria Bricker Brubacher
his daughter → Jacob Eby Brubaker
her son → Benjamin Hershey Brubaker
his son → Clara Virginia Eshbach
his daughter → Parke Brubaker Eshbach
her son → Mary Alice Eshbach
his wife → Joseph Robinette Biden, Sr.
her brother → Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the USA
his son

https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&pz=mary+randolph&n...

https://fabpedigree.com/s090/f147164.htm

https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/richard-thomas-24-2c0r6r...

???

Elizabeth Chew

Private User,

Tamas has not said anything about cutting any of the connections in Dr. Biden's family at this time.

Kevin

Kevin Lawrence Hanitactually, it was exactly what he wrote, he will cut off the line, but he will wait a few days before doing that...

Private User,

That I know and it's going to happen in Joe's tree and not in her tree.

Kevin

Diana, none of those three family tree entries contain sources. (The Ancestry page says "record" in the URL, but it's generated from a family tree.) If you can find actual records, they'd be appreciated!

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123717023/elizabeth-g-johnson lists Elizabeth's father's name as Richard Thomas, not Phillip Thomas

"Evan Thomas of Swansea" how many other Thomas in Maryland was proven not an decendant from this guy in that area between 1650-1750?

Diana Collins and Private User Thank you for sharing those links, although I would like to reiterate Ashley Odell's previous comment that we need to work from primary sources.

The findagrave references Family Data Collection - Individual Records and U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Both of these are simply compilations of private family trees, including the poorly named International Marriage Records collection (I have not idea what Ancestry.com was thinking when they gave it that name, it is incredibly misleading). Since these collection are largely anonymized, they should be avoided like the plague in genealogy research. This is because they can result in a circular type of feedback in which bad family trees are used as "sources" to propagate their own inaccurate claims.

But, they do give us a direction to research. Both the links posted by Diana and Abba point to a father named Richard Thomas and Diana's links go so far as to give him dates. He died in 1806 in Montgomery County, MD. There was a Richard Thomas Sr. who died in Montgomery County, MD in 1806 and he did have a daughter named Elizabeth Johnson. See his will here: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTBG-SWJ5?i=200&am...
"... and to my daughter Elizabeth Johnson and to her heirs one other twentieth part thereof..."

The important question is if this is the same Elizabeth who married Griffith Johnson? This is where the connection falls apart. If you look at the FindAGrave profile that Abba linked: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/123717023/elizabeth-g-johnson we see a birth date estimated in the 1730's, which is in line with what we would expect given the births of children in the 1760s and 1770s. This is a problem, because unlike in the links which Diana shared which give a birth date for Richard around 1810, the Richard Thomas in question was actually born around 1728. See https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001200/... Therefor he cannot be the father of Elizabeth, wife of Griffith Johnson. The dates simply do not work. He was a small child when she was born. It seems his daughter Elizabeth actually married Roger Johnson (1748-1831).

See here https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30622431/elizabeth-johnson
and also https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=7846&a... for an index of their 1781 marriage.

Correction: I meant to write around 1710 instead of 1810 for the estimated birth of Richard Thomas.

“ Griffith Johnson, who was born Mar 7, 1734 in Virginia, which was later to become Allegheny County, MD. He married Elizabeth Thomas, a Quaker of Montgomery County, MD., in 1759. She was born in 1732“

Should be in Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia.

Not in Hinshaw ....

https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3753/?name=Elizabeth_Th...

Perhaps the Richard, born around 1728, was a brother to Elizabeth, born 1732. Maybe their father was also named Richard...which could cause some confusion. I KNOW it is just a guess...just putting things out there as possibilities. Can we find out anything else on the Richard, born1728?

Any other Richards in Maryland? Born early 1700s? Forget the 1806 for an elder one?

This may be the Richard, born around 1728. He had a sister Elizabeth...but appears to be a different Elizabeth.

Richard Thomas

Diana Collins He did have a sister named Elizabeth (it is a common name), but she married a Mr. Richardson. His father was not named Richard. https://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/001200/... and https://www.colonial-settlers-md-va.us/getperson.php?personID=I0172...

Lets try to avoid too many perhapses and maybes :-) First of all, how do we know that Elizabeth's maiden name was Thomas? Can we track down a primary source for that? I was looking around for some research on Griffith Johnson and his family and it seems like Ben S. Johnson's "Progeny of Capt. Griffith Johnson (1734-1805) of Allegany County, Maryland" (1988) may be helpful here. Looks like it is not a very common book, but I'll try contacting some of the few libraries that have it too see if they can help: https://www.worldcat.org/title/progeny-of-capt-griffith-johnson-173...

And who is this Thomas Johnson? .....

Liber 27, folio 418
9 April 1748
JOHNSON, THOS., Prince George's Co
To Thos. Snowden, Peter Point, 100a on the N side of a br. of the Eastern Br. of Potomac, 3 servants Thomas, Benja., & Susanah livestock, & hhold furn.
To Henry Snowden, , s. o. Thos. Snowden, a 2-yr.-old horse colt.
Witn: Richd. Snowden, Jr., Benja. Welsh, Richard Donoson.
17 Nov. 1750, affirmed by Snowden (Quaker ?) & sworn to by Welsh.

It isn't this one...is it? ...

Thomas Johnson

This is my relationship to Griffith Johnson thus far...

Griffith Johnson, Sr. is Diana Collins' fourth great aunt's great uncle!
Diana Collins
You → Shirley Ann Collins
your mother → Nellie Marie Hunter
her mother → Phoebe Jeanette Goosman
her mother → Jake Hendershot
her father → John Hendershot
his father → George Washington Hendershot
his brother → Elizabeth Hendershot (Johnson)
his wife → Thomas J. Johnson
her father → Thomas Johnson, Governor, Assoc. Justice, US Sup. Ct.
his father → Griffith Johnson, Sr.
his brother

Elizabeth Snowden Is not the same as Elizabeth Johnson

(Heartbreak close ... )

I think Griffith Johnson is attached to wrong parents.

http://www.thehistorytree.com/johnjohnson/

John Johnson, the fourth son of Griffith Johnson (I), was born September 15, 1765 in Allegany County, Maryland. His father, Griffith Johnson (I), served in the American Revolution as a captain in the 3rd Western Battalion of the Washington County, Maryland Militia. Griffith was born on March 5, 1734 in Virginia (a region which was to later become Allegheny County, Maryland. He married John’s mother Elizabeth Thomas (b. 1732), a Quaker of Montgomery County (Maryland) in 1759. Griffith’s father, Thomas Johnson, was a member of Captain Stewart’s Light Horse Body Guards during the time of the French and Indian War. Thomas’s father, Valentine Johnson, was born around 1670 in England and emigrated to America, specifically Orange County, Virginia, eventually settling in the province of Maryland.

It gets worse.

https://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/johnson/11729/

Thomas was not the father of Griffith, accordng to "Progeny of Capt. Griffith JOHNSON (1734/34--1805) of Allegany Co., MD."
Especially Through His Eldest Son, Benjamin JOHNSON (1760-1842)of Harrison Co., OH.

Compiled by Ben S. Johnson, Jr., July, 1988, Second printing, Nov. 1988, Third Printing, Jan. 1989.

Ben Johnson stated that Griffith died 1805 age 71 making him born about 1734/1735. The date of 1739 came from DAR records. Someone made an error and never corrected it.

I find the following Baptismal Record:
Old Tennent Scotch Presbyterian Church records in Tennent, Monmouth Co., NJ.

John JOHNSON, Bapt. 5 May 1734,
son of Joseph JOHNSON
Griffith JOHNSON, Bapt. 27 July 1735,
son of Joseph JOHNSON

It is unknown if the years 1734 & 1735 are OS or NS. Thesebaptisms were by Rev. William TENNENT, Jr., who was a circuit riding Presbyterian minister. All these records were gathered and recorded at a later date by an unknown person. Joseph JOHNSON and sons were quite possibly residing in another place other then Tennent, Monmouth Co., NJ.,as there was nothing else recorded for Joseph JOHNSON in the Church Records.

——

Here’s the more-correct Thomas Johnson - if he was Griffith’s father ...

Thomas Johnson

Catherine Johnson

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LRJ1-V5L

Catherine Lester

????

Valentine Johnson

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVMC-611

Cap. Evan Thomas, Sr
His second great granddaughter or third great granddaughter,
Elizabeth Thomas (b. 1732), a Quaker of Montgomery County (Maryland) Married in 1759.

See only these two named Richard if that really was the name of the father to Elisabeth.

Richard Thomas
Richard Thomas

Philip Richard Thomas
Philip Thomas

Unfortunately, people make too many unsourced profiles on Geni, why not just put up 4 N.N. Thomas in a row from "Evan Thomas of Swansea" to
Elizabeth Johnson ???