Birth Name: Jeremiah Wilson Nixon
Place of Birth: De Soto, Missouri
Date of Birth: February 13, 1956
Ethnicity: English, 1/8th Jewish (both Sephardi and Ashkenazi), small amount of German
Jay Nixon is an American politician. A Democrat, he has served as Governor of Missouri, since January 12, 2009.
Jay is the son of Betty Lea (Willson) and Jeremiah Nixon, who was Mayor of De Soto.
Jay is largely of English ancestry. One of his paternal great-grandmothers was Jewish (of Sephardi and Ashkenazi descent), and descended from one of the early prominent Jewish families in the U.S. Jay also has a small amount of German roots.
Jay’s religion is Methodist.
Jay’s paternal grandparents were Clark Nixon (the son of James Oscar Nixon and Louise Jonas) and Frances Margaret Simcock (the daughter of James Hamilton Simcock and Mary Hulda Huffaker). Jay’s great-grandfather James was the brother of politician John T. Nixon. James’s great-grandfather, Jay’s great-great-great-great-grandfather John Inskeep, was Mayor of Philadelphia (from 1800 to 1801 and from 1805 to 1806).
Jay’s maternal grandparents were Charles Elmer Willson (the son of John A. Willson and Amanda E. Reed) and Ethel Lenore Jones (the daughter of William Jones and Elizabeth Francelia Houtz).
Jay’s paternal great-grandmother Louise Jonas was Jewish, the daughter of Charles Henry Jonas and Sarah de Pass Block. Louise’s uncle, Jay’s great-great-great-uncle, Benjamin F. Jonas, was a U.S. Senator from Louisiana (from 1879 to 1885), and was the first Jew in the U.S. Senate. Louise’s grandfather, Abraham Jonas, born in Exeter, England, was the first permanent Jewish resident in Quincy, Illinois, and was a friend of President Abraham Lincoln. Louise’s great-great-great-uncle, Gershom Mendes Seixas, was the first native-born Jewish minister (rabbi) in the U.S., and was leader of Congregation Shearith Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue of New York.
Source: Genealogy of Jay Nixon – http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com
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