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Presidential namesakes Mail Tribune / Jim Craven John Adams, a Butte Falls pastor, frequently is asked whether he's related to the second and fourth presidents of the United States. (He isn't.) Having the last name of a president can have its perks, the least of which is a little extra attention. From teasing to freebies, Southern Oregon residents with presidential monikers never know what to expect By MARK FREEMAN John Kennedy III vividly recalls being 7 years old one dark November day in 1963, riding in his mother's 1962 Ford Esquire wagon down the main drag in Glendora, Calif., when the song on the radio abruptly stopped. "The guy on the radio said, 'John Kennedy has been shot,' " says Kennedy, of Yreka, Calif. "My mom thought it was my dad and almost crashed the car." How relieved she was to learn it was the leader of the free world instead. But that's the kind of day you can have when you share a name with a president. Every day is Presidents' Day for the John Kennedys, the George Washingtons, the Bill Clintons and others whose names happen to match one of the country's 43 chief executives. It can get you laughs, teasing and even freebies. But it usually gets you noticed. "Sometimes, it's kind of cool," says John Adams, a 35-year-old Butte Falls pastor who shares his name with the second and fourth presidents. "People ask me if we're related, but we're not. And there's always someone who asks me, 'Is your middle name Quincy?' " It's David, not Quincy. Same goes for James M. Polk of Medford, whose middle name is different from James K. Polk, a Tennessee Democrat who was the 11th president, from 1845 to 1849. But James M. Polk, the 68-year-old retired Boise Cascade Corp. millworker, says he's a distant relative of James K. Polk, the one who fought Mexico for California and gave Vancouver Island to the British. They both came from Tennessee and, coincidentally, both married women named Childress. "But that's about all I know about him," the local Polk says. James Buchanan, a retired appliance repairman in Medford, knows little about James Buchanan the president, who served from 1857 to 1861. "I kind of stay out of politics," Buchanan says. "It can get to you. It's safer to stay out of it." Too bad the other Buchanan didn't think so. In his four years as president, he failed to quell tensions in the North and South, and the country drifted toward the Civil War. And all Lynn Johnson of Medford knows about Lyndon Johnson of Texas is that there's no way they are related. "My ears aren't big enough," Johnson says. "Boy, that guy had big ears." Having the name of a popular president has its advantages, even if you're a John Kennedy of Yreka, not Camelot. "When I was in the Army in Germany, I'd get a lot of free beer and free schnitzel," says Kennedy, who now owns a convenience store. "They loved Kennedy." Many of those who share presidents' names are similar to the living John Kennedy, John Adams and James Polk - they were named after their fathers or grandfathers, not Republicans or Democrats. "But I wouldn't have minded being named after (the president)," John Adams says. "He was a great man. My favorite book is the 'John Adams' biography." But having a president's name doesn't get you any perks on Presidents' Day. "I'll be working," Kennedy says. "Just because I have a famous name doesn't mean I have a lot of money." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.