Reagan Genealogy

Talk story about Pres. Ronald Reagan's genealogy. Writer looked into the subject with the help of Dr. Hugh Peskett, the Senior Genealogist of "Debrett's Peerage," and reports that our chief executive is half Irish (on his father's side) and one-quarter Scots and one-quarter English (on his mother's side), and may be distantly related to the O'Regans, of County Limerick, who trace their lineage back to Riagan, an 11th-century chieftain and a nephew of the celebrated High King Brian Boru. Tells about the findings of Debrett's researchers, who worked with 19th-century church and census records. In 1904, John Edward Reagan, an itinerant salesman who apparently fought a losing battle with alcohol all his life, married Nellie Wilson, daughter of a Scot and an Englishwoman. Although Nellie was married in the Catholic church at Fulton, Illinois, she raised her two sonsNNeil and RonaldNas Protestants, and they seem to be the first Protestant Reagans in the history of this particular family. The younger son, Ronald, is the fortieth President of the U.S. and the ninth chief executive of Irish descent.

See the rest of the story at newyorker.com