Obama’s Roots

Kenyan and Colonial Roots
Obama’s roots are Kenyan on his father’s side and extend deep into colonial America on his mother’s. The senator can count a number of notables among his cousins, including vice president Dick Cheney and actor Brad Pitt.

Obama and Pitt are 9th cousins, sharing an 8th great–grandfather named Edwin Hickman. Hickman owned land in Virginia that was eventually purchased by Thomas Jefferson and incorporated into Monticello.

“O’bama’s” Tie to Ireland
Obama’s most recent immigrant roots on his mother’s side hail from the small Irish town of Moneygall in County Offaly. Born in Ireland about 1830, Obama’s 3rd great–grandfather Fulmuth Kearney sailed from Ireland at age 19, landing in New York harbor on March 20, 1850. He was among the thousands of Irish immigrating to America to escape the late 1840s potato famine in Ireland. Settling initially in Ohio among Irish relatives, Fulmuth married, had eight children, and eventually moved to Indiana.

Working Class Midwest Family
Obama’s 2nd great–grandfather Harry E. Armour entered the oil industry in the early 1900s as an “oiler in the oil fields.” When he registered for the WWI draft, Armour was working as a roustabout, a common term for oil rig workers.

Another 2nd great–grandfather, Charles T. Payne, was a jack–of–all–trades as he moved from Missouri to Kansas. The 1880 census shows the 18–year–old working as a cattle buyer in Knox, Missouri, while supporting his widowed mother and 13–year–old brother. Twenty years later, Charles was an auctioneer in Kansas.

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