Famous R1b individuals

Famous R1b individuals

R1b-L11 branch

The Adams Surname Y-DNA Project compared the Y-DNA of 15 families that have an oral history of being related to the US Presidents John Adams (second president of the United States) and his son John Quincy Adams (6th president). All the men tested share the same haplotype that falls into the S6849 (aka FGC2389) subclade, downstream of R1b-S1200.

R1b-U106 branch (Germanic)

Larmuseau et al. (2013) tested the Y-DNA of three living members of the House of Bourbon, one descending from Louis XIII of France via King Louis Philippe I, and two from Louis XIV via Philip V of Spain. They concluded that all three men share the same STR haplotype and belonged to haplogroup R1b-U106 (Z381* subclade). These results contradict earlier studies by Laluez-Fo et al. (2010), who had analysed the DNA from a handkerchief dipped in the presumptive blood of Louis XVI after his execution, as well as by Charlier et al. (2012), who tested the DNA of the severed head which allegedly belonged to Henry IV of France. Both of these studies had identified the remains as belonging to haplogroup G2a. All kings of France being descended in patrilineal line from Robert the Strong (820-866), unless a non-paternity event happened some time before Louis XIII, it can be assumed that all kings of France belonged to the same R1b-Z381 lineage. The House of Bourbon also includes all the kings of Spain from Philip V (1683-1746) to this day with King Juan Carlos, all the kings of the Two Sicilies, the grand dukes of Luxembourg since 1964, and of course all the dukes or Orléans and the dukes of Bourbon.

The lineage of the House of Wettin was identified as R1b-U106 (Z381 > Z156 > Z305 > DF98+ branch) by the testing of two known descendants of the Wettin line by Brad Michael Little. The results confirmed that the two men, who share a common ancestor in Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, possess the same haplogroup and haplotype. Members of the House of Wettin include the Kings Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII and George VI of the United Kingdom, all the Kings of the Belgians, the Kings of Portugal from 1853 to 1910, the Kings of Bulgaria from 1887 to 1946, several Kings of Poland and Grand Dukes of Lithuania, the Margraves of Meissen from 1075 to 1423, the Electors of Saxony from 1423 to 1806, the Kings of Saxony from 1806 to 1918, and the rulers of the numerous smaller Saxon duchies.

James K. Polk (1795-1849), the 11th president of the United States, was a member of L48 subclade based on the results from the Polk-Pollock DNA Project. He was a descendant of William Polk/Pollock (c. 1700-1757).

According to the Grant DNA ProjectUlysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the 18th President of the United States and the military commander of the American Civil War, belonged to the Z159 subclade of R1b-U106, downstream of L47.

The two first human beings to have their whole genome sequenced, James D. Watson, the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, and biologist Craig Venterboth happen to be members of Y-DNA haplogroup R1b-S21 (U106), although they belong to distinct subclades (Z30, downstream of Z9 for Watson, and L45, downstream of L47 for Venter). Though both are American citizens, their patrilineal ancestors are respectively Scottish and German.

R1b-L21 branch (Atlantic Celtic)

According to the Stewart Stuart DNA Project House of Stuart, who ruled Scotland from 1371, then also England and Ireland from 1603 until 1707, belongs to the S781 branch of R1b-L21, downstream of DF13 and L744.

The Buchanan DNA Project confirmed that the 15th President of the United States, James Buchanan (1791-1868) was a descendant of the Scottish Clan Buchanan, and as such belonged to the CTS11722 subclade of R1b-L21, downstream of L1335.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), a British Liberal politician who served a record four times as Prime Minister under Queen Victoria, belonged to R1b-L21 based on a comparison of his genealogy with the results from Gladstone DNA Project.

The analysis of his descendants's Y-chromosomal DNA confirmed that Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement, belonged to haplogroup R1b-M222.

The forensic analysis of the skeletal remains of Che Guevara (1928-1967), the Argentine Marxist revolutionary and major figure of the Cuban Revolution, revealed that he belonged to haplogroup R1b-L21.

R1b-U152 branch (Italo-Celtic)

Based on the data from the Habsburg Family Project, there is a high likelihood that the haplogroup of the House of Habsburg was R1b-U152 (L2+ branch). The Habsburg originated in the eponymous village in northern Switzerland. They first became Kings of the Romans in 1273, obtained the title of Duke of Austria. The Habsburgs provided all the Holy Roman Emperors but one from 1440 until the dissolution of the empire in 1806. The Habsburgs retained the title of Emperor of Austria, then Austro-Hungary until 1918. Their dynasty also ruled over Spain, Naples, Tuscany, Parma and Milan, among others. Check also Haplogroups of European kings and queens for mtDNA lines of many Habsburg family members.
The first President of the United States, George Washington (1732-1799) may well have belonged to the L2 subclade of U152. This deduction is based on the results from the Washington DNA Project. George Washington's ancestors hailed from Oxfordshire, and before that from Lancashire. Washington is a relatively rare surname and was originally distributed exactly in those two regions according to the 1881 survey. All project members with ancestry confirmed in those regions share the same haplotype, hinting at a common paternal ancestry.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), the 16th president of the United States, appears to have belonged to R1b-S20376 (U152>L2>Z142>Z150>S20376). The Lincoln DNA Project tested several descendants from Samuel "the weaver" Lincoln, who was Abraham Lincoln's great-great-great-great-grandfather, and they all share the same haplotype.

Grover Cleveland (1837-1908), the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, could have belonged to R1b-L20, a subclade of L2, based on the numerous results from the Cleveland DNA Project.

Undetermined R1b branch

Professor Tomasz Kozłowski tested the Y-DNA of Prince Janusz III of Masovia, Duke of Czersk, Warsaw, Liw, Zakroczym and Nur. He was a direct descendent of the Piast Dynasty, the first historical dynasty ruling over Poland, starting with Prince Mieszko I (c. 930–992) and ending in 1370 with the death of King Casimir III the Great. The Piast family continued to rule over the Duchy of until 1526 and the Duchy of Silesia until 1675. Prof. Kozłowski announced that the prince belonged to haplogroup R1b, and therefore probably also other members of that royal lineage, including all the Dukes of Masovia(1138-1526), as long as no non-paternity event took place.

Bogdanowicza et al. (2009) tested the Y-chromosomal DNA and mitochondrial DNA of the exhumed remains of the Renaissance astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. They established that he belonged to Y-haplogroup R1b and mt-haplogroup H.

Rogaev et al. (2009) tested the DNA of the presumed grave of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and all his five children, and compared them against archival blood specimens from Nicholas II as well as against samples from descendants of both paternal and maternal lineages. The results unequivocally confirmed that the grave was the one of the last Russian Royal family. Nicholas II belonged to Y-haplogroup R1b and mt-haplogroup T2. Consequently, all Russian emperors of the Romanov dynasty since Peter III (1728-1762) also belonged to haplogroup R1b. This paternal lineage ultimately descends from the House of Oldenburg, which includes all the Kings of Denmark since Christian I (reigned from 1448) as well as several Kings of Norway, Sweden and Greece, and the current heirs to the British throne (Prince Charles and his son Prince William).

Quite a few U.S. Presidents had their haplogroups deducted from descendant testing. Among those whose R1b subclade remains to be determine, we find Zachary Taylor (12th), Franklin Pierce (14th), William McKinley (25th), and Woodrow Wilson (28th).

The great English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who proposed the scientific theory of evolution and the process of natural selection, was a member of haplogroup R1b according to the test results from his great-great-grandson.

Kevin Bacon (b. 1958), an American actor and musician whose films include musical-drama film Footloose (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller JFK (1991), the legal drama A Few Good Men (1992), the historical docudrama Apollo 13 (1995), and the mystery drama Mystic River (2003). Bacon has won a Golden Globe Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.


The American actor Robert John Downey Jr. (b. 1965) had his Y-haplogroup was revealed by the PBS television series Finding Your Roots. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor and won him the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role in the movie Chaplin (1992), and won a Golden Globe Award for his role in the TV series Ally McBeal. He is also known for portraying the role of Marvel Comics superhero Iron Man.

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