Romney has six. Jon Huntsman has four. And Rick Perry has one.

It may not be like capturing the upcoming Iowa caucuses, but Mitt Romney at least wins among Republican presidential candidates for having the most U.S. presidents in his distant family history with six.

Jon Huntsman comes in second place with four, according to information released Tuesday by Provo-based Ancestry.com, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is related to a former U.S. president, plus an ex-president of the Republic of Texas.

"We find in these politicians' family tree links to the foundations of the country — early settlers seeking freedom and opportunities, Revolutionary War patriots and even American legends," said Anastasia Harman, lead family historian for Ancestry.com.

The company said Romney is related to Presidents Calvin Coolidge (10th cousins, meaning they share the same 10th great-grandparent), George H.W. Bush (10th cousins, once removed, meaning a 10th great-grandparent to Romney is Bush's 11th great-grandparent), George W. Bush (10th cousins, twice removed), Herbert Hoover (10th cousins), Franklin Pierce (sixth cousins, four times removed) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (eighth cousins, twice removed).

Romney is related to Coolidge, Hoover and Pierce through Thomas Richardson, an English landowner in the late 1500s from Hertfordshire.

Romney is related to the Bushes and Roosevelt through Anne Marbury Hutchinson, a key figure in the development of religious freedom in America and early settler of Rhode Island and New York.

Meanwhile, Huntsman is also related to Roosevelt (eighth cousins, three times removed), George H.W. Bush (11th cousins) and George W. Bush (11th cousins, once removed) also through Anne Marbury Hutchinson — meaning he and Romney also are related through her as 10th cousins, once removed.

Huntsman is also related to Coolidge (seventh cousins, three times removed) through William Goddard, who brought his family to Massachusetts in 1665, escaping London's plague and searching for opportunities.

Perry is related to Harry Truman (fifth cousins, four times removed) through Thomas Shipp, born in Virginia in the early 1700s. He is also the first cousin six times removed to former Texas Republic President Sam Houston, who also became a U.S. senator and Texas governor, through John Paxton, a Revolutionary War patriot.

"Time and again American politicians have family ties to our country's founders and past leaders," Harman said. "It seems the traits that forged past leaders have been handed down through generations to our current and hopeful leaders."

ldavidson@sltrib.com