Retired Building Supply Regional Manager Would Have Been King

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George Washington gained such fame as the hero of the American Revolution that people literally begged him to become king of the United States. He declined, of course, and set a precedent for the peaceful transition of power when he voluntarily left the presidency after two terms. What if he had accepted? What if the United States had become a monarchy with power passed down through the generations? Who would be king today? Ancestry.com claims to have answered that question. Washington died without a direct heir, but genealogists tracked four different family lines that grew out the greater Washington clan and found 8,000 people, now living, who can trace their ancestry back to the first president. But there can be only one king, and according to Ancestry.com’s Megan Smolenyak, a retired regional manager for a building supply company “won the sweepstakes.” Paul Emerson Washington, 82, of San Antonio, Texas, is the man who would be king. Not that he’s upset about losing the throne. “He’s always been a modest, soft-spoken person,” his son told the Associated Press, adding, “the idea of one individual having supreme power over all others is an antiquated idea.”

Photo used under a Creative Commons license from cliff1066.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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