In an election year, it is good to know as much as possible about each of the candidates. You can learn quite a bit about a person by taking a look at their family tree. This is why I have been doing a series of blogs about the family trees of each of the Republican candidates. This time, I will look at Ron Paul’s family tree.
Ron Paul was a doctor in the United States Air Force and National Guard. Later, he opened his own practice, as an obstetrician and gynecologist. It has been said that he has delivered more than 4,000 babies.
He is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the fourteenth district of Texas, a position he has held since 1997. Previously, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the twenty-second district of Texas. Ron Paul is among the candidates who hope to win the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.
Ronald Ernest Paul was born in 1935, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This means that he was born during the Great Depression. His father was Howard Caspar Paul, and his mother was Margaret “Peggy” Paul (Dumont). She was of German and Irish ancestry.
Howard Caspar Paul was the son of German immigrants. Ron Paul’s grandfather, (Howard’s father), immigrated with his family from Germany to the United States when he was fourteen years old. Howard Casper Paul co-owned Green Tree Dairy with two of his brothers, Lewis and Arthur. This makes both of them the uncles of Ron Paul. Margaret kept the books for the farm.
Ron Paul came from a family of five children, all of whom were boys. He has two older brothers, William, and David. Ron Paul is the middle child of the family. He also has two younger brothers, Jerrold and Wayne.
Ron Paul met his (future) wife, Carol Wells, when the two were in high school. The two got married in 1957, during Ron’s senior year at Gettysburg college. Ron Paul was twenty-two years old when he got married, and Carol was twenty years old. This means that Carol Wells Paul was born in 1937.
The couple had five children, all of whom were baptized Episcopalian. They had two daughters and three sons: Ronald “Ronnie” Paul Jr., Lori Paul (Pyeatt), Randal Howard Paul, Robert Paul, and Joy Paul-Leblanc.
Ronnie was named after his father, Ron Paul. Randal Howard Paul, who now goes by “Rand”, is the middle child. He was born in 1963. He is currently the United States Senator from Kentucky. Rand’s middle name came from the first name of his grandfather, Ron Paul’s father, Howard Caspar Paul.
Image by Cory Barnes on Flickr