am i related to barack obama?

[johnmartin]

Hi all, this is my first post so not sure if I'm doing it right?
i have been using ancestry.com to trace my family tree and i keep getting barack obamas tree linked to mine.
if i can i would like to get someone who can show me if its right or not.
The link comes from my grandmother from norfolk who's birth name was payne.
can anyone help me.
thanks
john

[Olde Crone Holden]

Hello john and welcome to FTF.

When you say the link is to your grandmother....how is she linked to Barack Obama exactly? Sorry, I no longer have Ancestry access so I cannot look at the tree for myself.

OC

[Christine in Herts]

Welcome to FTF, John!

You sound wary of accepting the link, and I would think that's a wise attitude. There may be a link, but leaping to presume it is probably not a good way to get a reliable tree!

If the names in question are of people who have died, there should be no problem in posting name/date/place information on this site. It may be that someone here can find something to help you - or suggest how you can - confirm or refute the link.

When you say "Norfolk", should we understand Norfolk, UK, (the default understanding for a UK site like this) or (e.g.) Norfolk, Virginia?

Good Hunting!

Christine

[marymog]

The link is to a Barak Obama who died in 1982, he married a Dunham, whose parents were Dunham/Payne, the Payne line goes back 2 generations the mother a Payne died in 2002 in Peru, born Honolulu, her father was born 1892 in Kansas, his father 1862 in Missouri, and his father 1830 in Missouri. The trees dont go any further back. No mention of Norfolk from either continent.

mm

[Richard]

There is a tree online that traces Obamas Payne ancestry (through his maternal grandmother), to his 5x great grandfather Jesse Payne, a slave owning Virginia plantation owner.

Jesse Payne (1757- after 1808)
|
Francis Thomas Payne (Monongalia County, Virginia 19 Aug. 1794 - Hannibal, Missouri 28 Nov. 1867)
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Benjamin F Payne (Missouri 30 Apr. 1839 - Knox Co.Missouri 15 Apr. 1878 )
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Charles Thomas Payne (Knox Co.Missouri June 1861 - Kansas City, Kan., 14 Feb. 1940)
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Rolla Charles Payne (Olathe, Kansas, 23 Aug. 1892 - Winfield, Kansas, 15 Oct. 1968)
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Madelyn Lee Payne (Peru, Kansas, 26 Oct. 1922-Honolulu, Hawaii, 2 Nov. 2008)
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Stanley Ann Dunham (Wichita, Kansas, 29 Nov. 1942 - Honolulu, Hawaii, 7 Nov. 1995)
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Barack Hussein Obama (b.Honolulu, Hawaii, 4 Aug. 1961- present)

Source: http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html

Can't find any other sources which trace futher than Jesse, but the family gave its ethnic origin as 'English' on later census, so likely they do originate here. It is a fairly common name though. I also have Paynes, in East London late 1700's, early 1800's.

[Richard]

There are a couple of trees on Ancestry that purport to trace Jesse Paynes ancestry back further, to John Payne, a very early immigrant to America from Suffolk:

John Payne (1615 Circa Suffolk, England - 1689/90 Virginia)
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Richard Payne 12 May 1633 (Round Towers, Northumberland, Virginia - Cedar Hill, Westmoreland, Virginia 1692)
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William Payne (1660 Red House, Rappahannock, Virginia - 1700 Lancaster, Virginia)
|
George Payne (1680 Rappahannock, Virginia - 1744 Goochland, Virginia)
|
Josias Payne ( 1705 Goochland, Virginia - 1785 Pittsylvania, Virginia)
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George Payne (1734 Goochland, Virginia - 1807 Fluvanna, Virginia)
|
Jesse Payne (1758 Monongahel, Virginia -12 Dec. 1816, Fauquier, Virginia )

If correct that John would be Barack Obama's 11 x great grandfather, but that's a big if. Personally I don't trust the accuracy of the majority of Ancestry trees very much....