Many have written about his ancestry, but the definitive article by the experts will appear in a fall issue of New England Ancestors, the news magazine of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society.
Obama’s Royal Ancestry
Newspapers have reported that Barack has royal African ancestry. Such claims are difficult to prove. He comes from the Kenyan Luo tribe. Since much African ancestry is passed down in verbal form, little documentation exists. In addition, until recent generations Kenyans had but one name.
It is possible that he descends from one or more tribal chieftains. The route back starts with these names: Barack Obama Sr., Onyango, Obama, Opiyo, Okoth, Obongo, Otondi and Ogelo, says William A. Reitwiesner, a Library of Congress worker who dabbles in genealogy
In his book, Dreams from My Father (2004: New York), Obama says he told childhood classmates his father was a prince and his grandfather a king. Later in the book he reports that when he learned of his Luo background he found no African royalty.
Obama does, however, have European royalty: from Edward FitzRandolph back to William I, King of Scots, and from Martha Eltonhead back to Edward I, King of England. [See Gary Boyd Roberts, The Royal Descents of 600 immigrants (2008: Baltimore).]
Slavery: “Part of Our Tortured, Tangled History."
No Obama ancestors lived under North American slavery. His father was the first of his ancestors to leave Africa. That was nearly 100 years after slavery was abolished. However, 1850 and 1860 census records show several of Mr. Obama's maternal ancestors owned slaves.
During a 2007 speech in Selma, AL Obama referred to his mother’s slave-owning ancestors, saying: "That's no surprise. That's part of our tortured, tangled history."
He does have an ancestor named Christopher Columbus Clark, who served on the Union side during the Civil War, and DAR records indicate five of his ancestors--James Browning, John Browning, John Miles Duvall, James Hickman and John Overall—served in the Revolutionary War.
Presidential Kin
Obama’s family timber makes him kin to at least eight American presidents. Named with the common ancestors, they are: James Madison [Edwin and Martha (Eltonhead) Conway], Woodrow Wilson [Edward and Elizabeth (Blossom) FitzRandolph], Harry Truman [Mareen Duvall], Gerald Ford [Joseph and Rose (Allen) Holley], Lyndon Johnson [Phillip and Maria (Schmidt) Ament], Jimmy Carter [Adrian and Mary (Disharoone) Gordy], George Bush Sr. and George Bush Jr. [Gov. Thomas and Mary (Richards) Hinckley]. Dick Cheney is also a Mareen Duvall descendant.
Making Obama part of the American melting pot are his maternal ancestors who came to America from France, England, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland. His ancestors lived in New England and the South and by the 1800s most were in the Midwest.
Are you related to Obama? If you belong to the New York Dutch family of Vreeland, the Dunhams or Demarests from New Jersey, or the early Browning, Bunch, Hickman, Hudson, Lewis or Perkins families of Virginia, chances are you are distant kin.
If you had ancestors living in one of the original colonies in 1660, chances are good that you are related to many well known people. Why? Because there were only about 75,000 people then living in what became the United States. They have millions of descendants.
You can also read about John McCain's ancestry, Sarah Palin's pedigree and Joe Biden's ancestry.
