Richard FitzAlan belongs to the class of people whose birth date is in dispute. One source says “c. 1306”; the other says “not before 1307.” On second thought, 1307 IS circa 1306 so perhaps it is the month, rather than the year, that is unknown. What IS known is that he was the eldest son of Edmond FitzAlan, 9th Earl of Arundel (1 May 1285 – 17 November 1326), and Alice de Warenne (15 June 1287 – 23 May 1338). His maternal grandparents were William de Warenne and Joan de Vere. William de Warenne was the son of Alice de Lusignan, half-sister to the English king Henry III.

Samuel Moore Walton was born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, on March 29, 1918, the first child of a rural banker, Thomas Walton, and Nancy Lee Walton. He was an Eagle Scout, quarterback of the state champion football team, and student council president. He was voted "most versatile boy" by his graduating classmates at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri, in 1936. Working his way through the University of Missouri at Columbia, he delivered newspapers, waited on tables, and clerked at a five-and-dime store while taking classes in the Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps and serving as president of the senior class and the honor society. After graduating in 1940 with a degree in economics, he ...

He is the son of King David, who went from sheep herder to king of the Hebrew nation. Solomon ruled from around 970 to 931 BC and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy. It is recorded that in his reign of 40 years the Israelite monarchy gained its highest splendor and wealth. He was also the last king before the northern Kingdom of Israel split from the southern Kingdom of Judah. Solomon’s posterity ruled in the southern Kingdom of Judah after his death.

Researching William De Warenne revealed a Who’s Who of British nobility. There have been no less than four Earls of Surrey with that name. The William we profile here was the 1st Earl of Surrey. In fact, the position was created for him in 1088, as a reward for his service, by William II (the third son of William I of England; King of England from 1087 until 1100, with powers over Normandy, and influence in Scotland; commonly known as William Rufus or William the Red, perhaps because of his red-faced appearance). William de Warenne was one of the few whose name was documented as being among the army of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Known to history as William the Conqueror, he was known to his contemporaries, and enemies, as William the Bastard by virtue of being the natural son of Robert I, duke of Normandy, and Herleva, the daughter of a tanner in the city of Falaise. William was born c. 1028. Call him what you will William grew up to defeat the last Anglo-Saxon king of England and to become the first Norman King.

Barack Hussein Obama II was born, on 4 August 1961, to University of Hawaii graduates Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Obama, nee Dunham. Barack Sr. was from Kenya, Ann was from Kansas. He left the family when his son was two, studied at Harvard University for a time and then returned to Kenya where he died in an automobile accident nineteen years later. After her divorce from Obama, Ann married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro from Indonesia. For the four years between ages 6 through 10, Barack lived with his parents in Indonesia, attending Catholic and Muslim schools. As an adult, Barack remembered: “I was raised as an Indonesian child and a Hawaiian child and as a black child and as a ...

The son of the forty first president of the United States was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1946, while his father was finishing his sophomore year at Yale University. The baby was christened George W. Bush but soon came to be known as Georgie to his family. His upbringing was modest, considering his lineage was as close to aristocratic as Americans become. The Bushes lived at 37 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven which was a warren of apartments that had been carved out of a single house. The tenants were all veterans, their wives and children, a total of forty people in a space that was originally designed for a single family. The elder Bush had already given thought to what he would do afte...

William Jefferson Blythe III was born on 19 August 1946, in Hope, Arkansas, three months after his father, William Jefferson Blythe Jr., died in a traffic accident. The young Bill spent his early years being raised by two strong women: his mother and his grandmother, Edith Cassidy, although his mother was often away, taking nursing classes in New Orleans. His grandmother taught him to read as she tried to shape her grandson’s character. Bill remembered loving them both although often caught between them during their arguments.

George Herbert Walker Bush was born into a family with a tradition of public service, on 12 June 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts. His parents were Prescott Sheldon Bush and Dorothy Walker Bush who moved the family to Greenwich, Connecticut when George was still a boy. Prescott, an investment banker, and Dorothy were wealthy but taught their children to be modest, stressing the importance of public service and giving back to society. Prescott was a Republican senator from Connecticut from 1952 until 1963.