We're Related to President Obama?

Going Home to West Virginia

Every Christmas, I go home to West Virginia to see my Mom and Dad and my brother and sister and all of their families. I love getting back home because it is a time to catch up on things and go back to a place that I knew in my childhood. My wife Kim likes going back because she is now an apple orchard addict. My part of West Virginia, the Eastern Panhandle, is not like other parts of West Virginia in that it has long mountain ranges and long valleys. It is more like Virginia or Maryland than down-state West Virginia, where the mountains are higher and shaped more like clumps. People find out I am from West Virginia and they ask, "What part of West Virginia are you from?" And I reply, "The civilized part." Now, if you're from Beckley, don't take offense at me. I'm from West Virginia so I can make fun of it. The more south and west you go, the wilder it gets. I went to West Virginia University and I loved the football games there. My friend Barry said he went to Pitt game when he was in high school in the early 1980s and he tells the story of two guys in the crowd. He said that they said, "We're the Rand Brothers from Welch, in MacDowell (sic) County. Any of you from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania?" Except they didn't quite enunciate the t's in Pittsburgh nor the n's in Pennsylvania. You get my drift.

My Niece's Husband's Family

Well, anyway, West Virginia can be a different place. Sometimes, when Kim and I visit, we stay with my niece and her husband in Back Creek Valley. Adam's family has lived in Back Creek Valley for almost 200 years. His father runs his own saw mill and they raise pigs and other livestock. These people are a throwback to what people were like maybe 100 years ago. They work hard. Adam invited me to come to hog butchering day one year. I said thanks but I don't think I can make it up then. Adam and Heather heat their house totally with wood. They have a giant woodstove about 50 feet from the house and the heat is piped in by water pipes. Adam designed and implemented the system. He and his father built their chalet-type house from a kit. Like I said, these people are serious workers.

Hey, Can You See If We're Related to Obama?

Adam knows that I am really into genealogy because I mapped out his family pretty early in my Ancestry.com days. I knew that his Dunham family came from New Jersey in the early 1800s and settled in Back Creek Valley. One day, he says to me, "Hey, one of my relatives said we're related to President Obama. I don't know if it's real. Can you check it out?" I told him I would do my best.

This was one of my first find out if we're related to someone famous exercises. So I figured if I went to geni.com, I could quickly find out President Obama's ancestry. I went there and saw that Obama's mother was Stanley Ann Dunham. Well, she had the same last name as Adam, so there was a quick verification that Adam's relative may be right. So I churned through President Obama's Dunham family, Stanley Ann Dunham b.1942 to Stanley Armour Dunham b.1918 to Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham  b.1894 to Jacob William Dunham b.1863 to Jacob Mackey Dunham b.1824 to Jacob Dunham b.1795 to Samuel Dunham b.1742. In looking through Adam's Dunhams I saw the same Samuel Dunham in his line! Samuel Dunham was both Adam's and President Obama's 5th great grandfather. That made them 6th cousins!

Telling Adam

Now, almost none of us were really big President Obama fans. I broke the news to Adam gently. He took it good-naturedly. "Well, at least one of my relatives became President!" He said. My father gave him some ribbing and laughed it up to Adam. Adam said someone leaked this information to the local newspaper and they did a story on it. Most of the Dunham family members declined to comment on the story.

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