Researchers say Obama has German roots

[sabra]

Source: AP

BESIGHEIM, Germany - Barack Obama in traditional German lederhosen? It may be hard to imagine, but researchers in the U.S. say they have located documents that prove the president has German roots dating to the 1700s.

According to parish records uncovered by experts at the genealogy Web site Ancestry.com, Obama’s 6th great-grandfather Johann Conrad Woelflin was born Jan. 29, 1729, in Besigheim, a small town north of Stuttgart on the Enz river where it feeds into the Neckar.

He sailed aboard a ship called “Patience” in 1750 to America, changing his last name to “Wolfley” upon arrival and eventually settling in Middletown, Pennsylvania, according to head genealogist Anastasia Tyler, who oversaw the research.

In Middletown, he married Anna Catherine Schockey in 1756 and had at least six children, including Ludwig Lewis Wolfley — Obama’s 5th great grandfather — who was born in 1766, Tyler said.

The investigation was started by the Web site, which determined in 2007 that Obama had Irish ancestry, after researchers decided a few weeks ago it would be fun to try and prove or disprove rumored German ancestry ahead of the president’s visit to Dresden on Friday, Tyler said.

Read more: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/June/international_June359.xml§ion=international

[bdamomma]

1. he is a man of many nationalities.

[babylonsister]

2. Ha! He's "Everyman"! nt

[GTurck]

3. My genealogy....

confirms that everyman/woman is everyman/woman. We think that there is a gigantic rift between each ethnic/racial group and another but in fact there is not. It is harder to find ancestry from Africa and Asia but I suspect because most of that is so far back into pre-history but I have traced my family tree to the 9th century and am astounded by the interconnectedness of us all.
My take is that peasants are the half-brothers and sisters of the royals born on the wrong side of the purple sheets and so disinherited for generations. I can think of no other way to explain the two classes extant in history. Except that one is from a different planet.:D

[TheCoxwain]

4. How does it matter if his ancestors are from Bremerhaven or Jupiter?

[izquierdista]

5. Bremerhaven isn't as cold

Although that wind off the North Sea sometimes is as strong as the winds on Jupiter.

[Synicus Maximus]

15. So?

[Dogtown]

6. But where's the birth certificate?

:shrug:

[BrotherBuzz]

9. And not the live birth one, dammit, we demand the long version certificate.

You know what I mean, Vern?

[David__77]

7. I find the focus on his ethnicity disturbing.

They just can't pin him down, but want to.

[Veruca Salt]

8. My ancestory is just as crazy and spans many countries

The most of any ethnicity I am is Italian at 25%, the rest is bits and pieces. Is the world just finding out America is a real melting pot? ;-)

[Hassin Bin Sober]

10. I KNEW it!! A fascist socialist commie!!!

[No Elephants]

11. 1729 is LBN??? (This was part of the geneaology released during the primary.)

[damntexdem]

12. German nothing -- clearly Irish!

;-)

[No Elephants]

13. Mostly German and WASP back to colonial times, but one Irishman who came from Moneygall c. 1840.

[annabanana]

14. "Success has a million fathers."

Failure is an Orphan.