Genealogy is the study of family. You can learn some really interesting things about a person just by discovering a little bit about his family tree. Since there will be a United States Presidential election in 2012, I decided to put together a brief family tree for each candidate, starting with Newt Gingrich.
Newt Gingrich was the fifty-eighth Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1995 to 1999. He is a Republican, and was the Representative from Georgia’s sixth congressional district from 1979 until 1999. Gingrich is among the candidates who hope to win the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.
He was born Newton Leroy McPherson, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on June 17, 1943. His mother is Kathleen “Kit” Daugherty, and she was sixteen years old when Newt was born. She was married to Newt’s biological father, Newton Searles McPherson, who was a mechanic. His father was nineteen years old. The couple divorced three days after Newt was born.
Kathleen’s mother was Ethel M Hendricks, and her father was Jacob Leroy Daugherty. Newton’s mother was Louise S. McPherson, and his father was Robert Nelson Kerstetter. These are Newt’s biological grandparents. From this, you can see that Newt’s middle name came from his maternal grandfather’s middle name.
One year later, his mother married Lt. Robert Bruce Gingrich. Kathleen’s second marriage made Robert Bruce Gingrich Newt’s Step-father. Later, after Newton Searles McPherson relinquished his custodial right of Newt, Robert Bruce Gingrich officially adopted him. This was when Newt’s surname changed from McPherson to Gingrich.
Kathleen and Robert had three biological children together. Susan Gingrich was born in 1948. Roberta Gingrich was born in 1950, and Candace Gingrich was born in 1966. All three are Newt’s step-sisters.
In 1962, when Newt was nineteen years old, he married Jackie Battley. She was twenty-six years old, and was his former high school geometry teacher. They had two daughters together. Kathleen was born in 1963, (and appears to be named after Newt’s mother). Jackie was born in 1966, (and appears to be named after her mother). Newt and Jackie Battley got divorced in 1980.
Newt’s second marriage happened in 1981. His second wife was Marianne Ginther. The couple did not have any children together. They separated in 1987, and got back together seven years later, in 1993. They eventually divorced in 1999. In 2000, Newt got married for the third time, to Callista Bisek, who was his former Congressional aide.
Image by Gage Skidmore on Flickr