By Mark Silva Washington Bureau
December 15, 2009
Maybe now we know why President Barack Obama, leader of the free world, and Warren Buffett, "oracle of Omaha," get along so well.They're related.
So says the research of Ancestry.com, the online genealogical enterprise that has gained a name for making long-lost connections.
Obama and Buffett are even closer than Obama and actor Brad Pitt, whom Ancestry.com pegged for ninth cousins a couple of years ago.
Obama and Buffett, Ancestry.com reports today, are seventh cousins three times removed. The missing-until-now-link is a 17th century Frenchman named Mareen Duvall, who immigrated to Maryland from France in the 1650s.
The researchers say Duvall is the American president's ninth great-grandfather and the billionaire's sixth great-grandfather.
For Obama, the relationship comes from his mother's side, Ancestry reports: Her second great-grandmother was a Duvall. For Buffett, the relationship comes from his father's side: His mother was a Duvall.
The first Duvall, the explanation goes, arrived in the new world as an indentured servant, but by 1659 had purchased land in Anne Arundel County, Md., which he later called Middle Plantation. He was a Jacobite, planter and merchant and also was a conservative in politics. His descendants have struck up a good relationship -- Buffett endorsed Obama during his campaign for president, and Obama has taken some of Buffett's economic advice to heart.
Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist at Ancestry.com, says: "Like most family members, the president and Buffett may not always agree on everything, but this latest discovery confirming they are related may shed light on why the two seem to see eye-to-eye on many issues."
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