The Stanford Medical Center may be a 21st- century facility, but its operating rooms are crowded with some famous 19th-century names. There's Todd Lincoln, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon descended from Honest Abe; Stanton Davis, a resident in orthopedic surgery, who traces his line back to Confederate President Jefferson Davis; and Douglas Crockett, a pediatric anesthesiologist who is distant kin to coonskin cap-wearing Davy.
The trio discovered their unlikely connection last fall while performing orthopedic surgery on a young patient. "It was pretty incredible," says Crockett, 33, who grew up near Redding, Calif., hunting and hiking. "We all just happened to be in the O.R. at the same time, and we sort of compared notes."
The chances of such a coincidence, in fact, are not that remote, says Iain Johnstone, a professor of statistics. "Because there are so many ways for surprising events to occur, the fact that one occurs is perhaps even to be expected," says Johnstone, who, by the way, is descended from British revolutionary Oliver Cromwell.
