Dabney History

 Since my brother Jim and Deb will be going to Versailles and my sister Jane may go again someday, I thought I'd write up the information on our relative who lived at Versailles.  Madame de Maintenon  or Francois d'Aubigne pictured above in Versailles is not an ancestor but the half-sister of an ancestor.  Our grandmother was Vivian Maupin Long; her father was Henry Wesley Maupin; his father was John Dabney Maupin----so the name was still a family name into the 1800's.

But the story begins with Agrippe d'Aubigne who is believed to be our ancestor: "d'Aubigne" is how the name "Dabney" originally looked. For more about him click here.  If you need to more about the Huguenots, click here.  If you google his name, you will find a lot about him, the italicized section below is from the book The Story of Gabriel and Marie Maupin.


On this August 23, 1572, Henry of Navarre (Henry IV) having left his wife's quarters was walking with his Huguenot friend Agrippe d'Aubigne near Notre Dame when the rioting started and they heard the shouts "Death to all Huguenots".  Knowing he would be recognized and killed, he reacted instantly.  They hurried into the cathedral and Henry stripped off his cape of gold cloth, his rings, and other signs of wealth.  Clad only in the doublet, breeches, and boots he looked like a student.  He grabbed a prayer book from a young prieds and with his disquise he escaped. . .

I have included this story . . . .for the name of Henry's friend Agrippe d'Aubigne. It is well known that two of Gabriel Maupin's grandsons married women with the name Dabney (d'Aubigne) .  . . . .Agrippa d'Aubigne had a son Constant who had a son Theodore.  It is from this Theodore that the Cornelius Dabney whose daughters married Maupins is descended.  Constant had a second wife.  From that marriage were three children, one of them being Francoise d'Aubigne, who was to renounce her Huguenot upbringing and become Madame de Maintenon and later the last wife of King Louis XIV after the death of Queen Theresa.  It is said that Madame de Maintenon was influential in urging King Louis to revoke the Edict of Nantes in 1685.  We heard much about her on the Hugenot Tour, especially at Versailles, where two large prortraits of her hang.

To continue with our Dabney genealogy:  John Dabney Maupin (1814-1899) was the son of Carr Maupin (1776-1845) who was the son of John Maupin (1725-1806) and Frances Dabney (1712-1763).  Frances was the daughter Cornelius Dabney (1670-1764) who was the son of Cornelius Dabney (1640-1701).  Other famous Dabney descendants include Zachary Taylor (US president), Nancy Astor (first female in the House of Commons), Lyndon B. Johnson (US president), Marlon Brando (movie star) and Pretty Boy Floyd (notorious criminal).

Edited:  Cornelius Dabney was likely from England and settled in America before the Huguenots so the relationship to Madame de Maintenon is in doubt.

Presidential Cousins

Four of the men above are cousins of mine, sadly one is not. . . How do I know? Ancestry.com has a little button you can press that says, "Find famous relatives." For some reason, this only works on my "Maupin" family tree. So, maybe Barack Obama is a cousin on one of my other family lines. . .
The chart above says, "Living Clinton", but it is William Jefferson Clinton. If you double click on the chart, it will enlarge and you can actually read the names of our ancestors. He is my 8th cousin, twice removed (notice how his chart has 2 entries more than mine---that's the "twice removed.") Double click on the charts to enlarge them.
This is for Jimmy Carter---you may or may not note that he, Clinton and I have the same ancestor Thomas Swann. I also made it a little easier to see how Carter is my 8th cousin once removed. For more information on cousins, click here. This has more information on cousins than even I can digest. But the chart above shows how Carter is "once removed" from me---we are a generation off.Here's a little test. So, what is my "cousinship" with George Herbert Walker Bush?Did you say 6th cousin twice removed? Well, look again at the chart above. . . .He's my 8th cousin on that one. If you look carefully at his family tree, you'll see everything is all right---mine is the probem. I'm related to myself twice---Margaret Via is my common ancestor for both charts: I'm descended from two different brothers: John (b. 1725) and Gabriel (b. 1720) while the Bushes are from their sister Mary (b. 1723)
But, those four living former presidents are not all. If you look on the chart above, I'm also cousins with William Henry Harrison (5th cousin, 4 times removed) and Benjamin Harrison (7th cousin, twice removed). Yes, they were both Presidents of the United States.
But, the one that surprised me the most was John F. Kennedy---I thought his family was all from Ireland. But, apparently the Fitzgeralds were in the United States for many generations. He's my 7th cousin, 3 times removed)

The last one, Zachary Taylor, is probably my closest presidential relative (not counting the Bushes who are "double cousins"). He's a 3rd cousin to my great-great grandfather. So, he's my 3rd cousin, 4 times removed.

So, to all my Cousin Presidents, I wish "Happy President's Day." For the record, I don't think I'm that unusual to be related to so many presidents---this just happens to be a very well-documented family. And, President Obama, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. . . .but, if that means I have to be Dick Cheney's cousin, too. . . .

****UPDATE*****  Barack Obama is my 6th cousin 4X removed through the Jennings line(Maupin) AND Bill Clinton is 9th cousin through his father's side (William Jefferson Blythe---through Harris line which is also my Maupin line).  So he is also a double cousin.

No word on Hillary Rodham or Donald Trump. . . .