POLITICAL GENEALOGY

The Immigrant Ancestors Ann Coulter Wishes She Didn’t Have

In an appearance on The View to promote one of her books, Ann Coulter reiterated her well-known anti-immigrant stance. Guest host Ana Navarro responded, saying, “Let me point out that you’re sitting at this table next to two immigrants … What is your family’s immigration story? Are you a Native American?”

Coulter’s reply was curious: “Yes, I am. I’m a settler. I’m descended from settlers. Not from immigrants … I’m not living in the Cherokee Nation. I’m living in America, which was created by settlers, not immigrants.”

Every school child knows that the United States is a nation of immigrants, and genealogists like myself are hyper-aware of this reality since we routinely trace family trees back to those who came to America from the “old country,” so Coulter’s peculiar logic and word play provoked my own curiosity about her heritage. I decided to take a peek into her past, starting with her parents.

The obituary she wrote in tribute to her mother, Nell Husbands (Martin) Coulter, revealed that the maternal half of her family history is well known and extends back to colonial times, so I opted to explore the unknown — her father’s side of the family.