Obama is of mixed African and Caucasian parentage. His father, Barack Obama Sr., is an ethnic Kenyan Luo from the Nyanza province.
His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, is a Caucasian of English, Scottish, Irish, French, Swiss, German and Welsh descent. Dunham’s great-great-great-great-great grandfather from the maternal line, Christian Gutknecht Goodnight, was originally from Bischwiller, France, and arrived here in 1749 with his Swiss-German wife, Maria Magdalena Grüholtz (1723- unknown).
Dunham’s eighth generation paternal grandfather, Jonathan Singletary Dunham (1639-1724), is of English/Scottish stock. His lineage can be traced back to Edward I of England (1239 – 1307) and William the Lion (1143–1214). Robert Perry (1785-1852), her great-great-great grandfather from her maternal line, is a Welshmen. Dunham’s paternal great-great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney (1830-1878), arrived in New York City in 1850 from Moneygall, Ireland.
President Obama and wife, Michelle, greeting Henry Healy, his distant
cousin, during a visit to Moneygall, Ireland, on May 23, 2011.
Obama, through his maternal great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Philip Ament (1755-1836), is related to Lyndon B. Johnson, the country’s 36th President, who is the great- great- great-grandson of Ament. He is also the eighth cousin, twice removed, of the 39th President, Jimmy Carter, through his seventh generation maternal grandfather, Moses Teague (1718-1799). Interestingly, Obama is the tenth cousin of former presidents Gerald Ford (once removed), George H.W Bush (once removed) and George W. Bush (twice removed) through his tenth generation paternal grandfather, Samuel Hinckley (1589-1662). Obama is, additionally, the distant relative of two more former United States Presidents, James Madison and Harry Truman, as well as former Vice President, Dick Cheney.
|
