Former President George H. W. Bush and his son, former President George W. Bush, in 2013. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)

They were caring, self-centered, devout, and intemperate — a hodgepodge of a group with one thing in common, all sired a U.S. president.

The lives of these disparate men “encompassed the full range of the American experience from inherited affluence to abject destitution and from heartening success to heartrending failure,” according to Harold Gullan, author of “First Fathers.”

Many worked the land, others had a trade, business, profession, served in the military or became ministers. Nearly 50%, at some point in their lives, engaged in a public service such as being a politician, judge, sheriff or magistrate.

Whether remote or fully engaged in their sons’ rearing, most, but not all, first fathers imparted a positive influence upon their offspring that inspired their journey to the White House.

There were seven presidents whose fathers were still alive at the time they assumed the office: J.Q. Adams, Millard Fillmore, Ulysses S. Grant, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, John F. Kennedy and George W. Bush. Two, Kennedy and Bush 41, attended their son’s inauguration in Washington; Coolidge’s dad administered the presidential oath to his son at their home in Vermont on the death of Warren Harding in 1923.

Not all interacted with their fathers. Andrew Jackson, Rutherford B. Hayes and Bill Clinton’s dads died before they were born. Others had limited exposure; the fathers of James Garfield, Andrew Johnson and Herbert Hoover passed away when they were very young.

Two of the nation’s initial leaders had contrasting paternal experiences.

Knowledge about the impact Augustine Washington had on the future first president is limited. He died when his famous son was only eleven. According to author Jeff Young in his book “The Fathers of American Presidents,” Augustine is scantly recalled by George and only mentioned “in three of his twenty-thousand surviving letters, memos, and diary entries.” America’s first commander in chief remembered him as a " tall, fair, strong and kind man.”

Unlike Washington, Thomas Jefferson owed a great deal to his father, Peter Jefferson. Although lacking a formal education, he “valued learning and instilled that esteem in his third son, Thomas, sending him to study English at age 5 and Latin at age 12,” writes Doug Wead in “The Raising of a President.”

While he had a credible reputation in public service, Peter was best recognized as a surveyor and map maker. He regaled Thomas with stories of his adventures on surveying trips through the scarcely navigable hinterland. He instilled into his son a love of nature and the outdoors.

On his death, Peter bequeathed to the future president his writing desk, books and most importantly his passion for knowledge.

It’s all in the family for three presidents.

John Quincy Adams’ father, the second U.S. president, raised his eldest son to pursue a life of public service. At age 10, John Q. began his international education on a trip to Europe with his dad. In Paris, the young Adams attended school and lived in a flat with his father and Benjamin Franklin.

As John Adams progressed up the political ladder, his son was frequently by his side. When John Q. was elected president in 1824, his father was offered congratulation by friends for his son’s success; he responded, “No man who ever held the office of president would congratulate a friend on attaining it.”

Paralleling John Q. Adams, 175 years later, George W. Bush also grew up in the shadow of his father’s many public successes that led him to the Oval Office. George H.W. Bush’s career path was the beacon that his oldest son followed from Yale to a successful business and then politics. Bush 41′s strong integrity and prudence were personal traits that his son embraced.

For the 23rd chief executive, Benjamin Harrison, the family heritage at the White House skipped a generation. His grandfather, William Henry Harrison, was the ninth president; he died one month after his inauguration in 1841.

Not every first father had admirable characteristics.

All of Abraham Lincoln’s greatness came from within; Thomas Lincoln provided no inspiration to his son. Although Abe was a good worker and a gentle soul in his youth, Thomas was abusive applying harsh physical punishment when he favored his books over manual labor. The future Great Emancipator didn’t attend his father’s funeral.

Teddy Roosevelt’s paternal influence was the opposite of Lincoln’s.

The senior Theodore Roosevelt’s parenting presence was best expressed by his son: “My father combined strength and courage with gentleness, tenderness and great unselfishness.” He was a man of wealth who taught his offspring the virtue of public service. On a personal level, TR, who was sickly as a child, learned the need for physical strength from his Dad. When president, the former Rough Rider never made any important decision without thinking what position his father would have taken on the issue at hand.

Joseph P. Kennedy was a financier and served as an ambassador to Great Britain under President Franklin Roosevelt. He was father to one U.S. president, John F. Kennedy, and two U.S. senators, Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and Edward Kennedy. He died in 1969 at age 81. (AP Photo, File) (AP)

Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was likely the most ambitious and politically controversial first father. JFK said, “my father was not around much, but whether he was there or not he made his children feel that they were the most important thing in the world to him.” He used his money and power to get his son elected.

Joe Kennedy and George T. Harding II were the only fathers of a president to outlive their sons.

Excessive drinking played a role in the paternal relationship with three recent commanders in chief.

Gerald Ford’s biological father, Leslie King, was an abusive alcoholic to his mother Dorothy. She left King and married Gerald Ford. Later the future president changed his name from Leslie King Jr. to Gerald Ford. Ronald Reagan’s father was often drunk and frequently not present for him while growing up. Bill Clinton’s stepfather was an alcoholic who regularly beat his mother; it stopped when her son stood up to him.

In 1851, Millard Fillmore’s dad, Nathaniel, was the first presidential father to visit the White House while his son was in office. On one occasion, a friend asked the native Vermonter how to raise a son to become president, he quickly replied, “cradle him in a sugar maple sap trough.”

Stolz is a resident of James City County