Nation | By TIME NewsFeed | September 8, 2010 | +

Top 10 American Dynasties

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File

In honor of longtime Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley’s announcement he won’t seek reelection, NewsFeed looks back at some of the most storied families in American society.

Related Topics: Chicago, dynasties, families, mayor richard daley, Nation

All in the Family

Yesterday, Chicago's longtime Mayor Richard M. Daley, who has held office over the nation's third-largest city for 21 years, announced that he will not seek reelection for a seventh term. Mayor Daley, who followed in the footsteps of his father, Richard J. Daley, as the city's mayor makes up a limb of one of the country's ... strongest political family trees, with decades of time served in office. But they're not the only American family with a storied reputation of success. NewsFeed compiled ten of the country's most institutionalized families – from politics to sports to publishing.

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The Barrymores

Hollywood runs through the veins of the Barrymore family, beginning with Maurice Barrymore and his wife, Georgianna, who were a matinee star and a comedian. They had three children — Ethel, Lionel and John. Ethel became a theater and silent-film star, John mastered Shakespeare, comedy and early film alike, and Lionel appeared ... in It's a Wonderful Life and won an Oscar for his performance in A Free Soul. The play The Royal Family was based on their family, particularly John and Ethel. John was amused, but Ethel was not.

Later Barrymore generations included actors like Doris Rankin, John Blyth Barrymore III, Bramwell Fletcher, Diana Barrymore, and of course, rom-com star Drew Barrymore, John Barrymore's granddaughter.

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The Astors

Though the Astor’s name and affluence are most commonly associated with New York real estate, the dynastic family originally began amassing wealth through fur trading when John Jacob Astor founded the American Fur Company in 1786.

Though John Jacob did purchase property in New York, it was his son, William Backhouse Astor, ... who really began to expand the family’s real estate holdings. Property would prove to be the foundation of the family’s wealth throughout the 19th and 20th Century, and would result in famous properties like the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the St. Regis Hotel, and the New York Public Library.

However, some members of the family diverged markedly from the traditional family path, pursuing other interests such as science fiction writer, Newsweek publisher, and owner of the Times of London.

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The Williamses

A handy guide for remembering which Hank Williams is which: The original was a country-western pioneer and a Nashville legend. You know him from songs like "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Your Cheatin' Heart." Hank Williams Jr. is a modern country star who stepped out of his father's shadow by adding Southern rock influences ... to his sound. You know him for singing the theme to Monday Night Football. Hank Williams III is an iconoclastic younger country singer who moonlights as a punk and heavy metal rocker. You know him for being the youngest Hank Williams, though NewsFeed enjoys his "Smoke & Wine." The Williams brood also includes other musicians who are not named "Hank," the most famous of whom is Hank Williams' granddaughter Holly

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All in the Family

The Daleys

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The Kennedys

The Coppolas

The Bushes

The Mannings

The Rockefellers

The Barrymores

The Astors

The Williamses

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All in the Family

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