MyHeritage Reveals: Boris Johnson Is Related to the New EU President

Olivier

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Dec 3, 2019, 6:15:10 PM12/3/19

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Can we trust this kindhip between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ?

https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/12/myheritage-reveals-boris-johnson-is-related-to-the-next-eu-president/

Andrew Lancaster

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Dec 4, 2019, 6:23:39 AM12/4/19

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On Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 12:15:10 AM UTC+1, Olivier wrote:
> Can we trust this kindhip between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ?
>
> https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/12/myheritage-reveals-boris-johnson-is-related-to-the-next-eu-president/

You'd think they could find something more recent with Johnson's German connections?

Technically by the way, you'd think medieval genealogists would be careful about titles. There is no single president of the EU :) There are several institutions with presidents.

By chance I have looked at part of the family tree of the new president of the European Council. It is quite difficult to untangle all the Michels (often spelled Michij in the register) in 18th century Zétrud Lumay, which is right on the language frontier in Brabant.

wjhonson

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Dec 4, 2019, 1:14:32 PM12/4/19

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It is a pet peeve of mine when people make headlines like "Ancestry shows that..." or "Gedmatch proves that..."

The actual work is being done by a human, and that person should be named.

wjhonson

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Dec 4, 2019, 1:16:49 PM12/4/19

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On Wednesday, December 4, 2019 at 10:14:32 AM UTC-8, wjhonson wrote:
> It is a pet peeve of mine when people make headlines like "Ancestry shows that..." or "Gedmatch proves that..."
>
> The actual work is being done by a human, and that person should be named.

By hiding who the humans are that did this work of connecting them, it lends a certain air of authority which the underlying work *does* *not* *have*.

Any amateur can "use Geni" to prove that Santa Claus is a cousin of Horton the elephant. That does not make it true in any reality that we should be enjoying.

lmahler

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Dec 4, 2019, 3:03:56 PM12/4/19

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On Tuesday, December 3, 2019 at 3:15:10 PM UTC-8, Olivier wrote:
> Can we trust this kindhip between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ?
>
> https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/12/myheritage-reveals-boris-johnson-is-related-to-the-next-eu-president/

The will of John Beauchamp, died 1475, was published in Testamenta Vetusta:

https://archive.org/details/testamentavetust01nico/page/338

The footnote implies that John had only one son, Richard Beauchamp.

The same information is stated here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Beauchamp,_1st_Baron_Beauchamp_(fifth_creation)

Also, Francis Wakeman of Connecticut does not appear to have any royal descent.

The people at MyHeritage must be very inexperienced, because they could have
easily found a better, documented connection between these two people.

Leslie

wjhonson

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Dec 5, 2019, 1:45:42 PM12/5/19

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"Myheritage" did not even do this work.

"Using Geni.com, MyHeritage researchers discovered..."

so random unnamed amateurs used a website created by random unnamed amateurs to make outrageous claims easily refutable.

Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt.

Message has been deleted

Olivier

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Dec 7, 2019, 3:19:03 AM12/7/19

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Le mercredi 4 décembre 2019 00:15:10 UTC+1, Olivier a écrit :
> Can we trust this kindhip between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen ?
>
> https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/12/myheritage-reveals-boris-johnson-is-related-to-the-next-eu-president/

wjhonson

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Dec 10, 2019, 5:46:41 PM12/10/19

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What a horrifying mass of nonsense.
I mean the *very* first link is broken and you would think people would be much more particular about their FIRST link....

P J Evans

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Dec 10, 2019, 5:58:20 PM12/10/19

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On Saturday, December 7, 2019 at 12:19:03 AM UTC-8, Olivier wrote:

Per "Ancestors of American Presidents (2009), this is wrong. It should be:

Edward I, King of England, d 1307 m Eleanor of Castile
|
Elizabeth of England m Humbhrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex
|
William de Bohun, Earl of Northampton m Elizabeth Badlesmere
|
Elizabeth de Bohun m Richard FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel
|
Joan FitzAlan m William Beauchamp, Baron Bergavenny
|
Joan Beauchamp m James Butler, Earl of Ormonde