President Obama: My Distant Cousin At Least Twice

One of the particularly neat things about ancestry research is recognizing when you are related to someone significant, such as the president. President Barack Hussein Obama II is my 10^th cousin once removed on my father’s side. Our common ancestor and an immigrant from England, Richard Singletary may have been married to a ‘Goodwife Singletary’ who died ca. 1638 and then to Susanna Cooke. These are President Obama’s 9^th great-grandparents and my 10^th. While President Obama descends from Richard’s oldest son Jonathan, I descend from daughter Eunice, likely the second of seven kids.

           My 10^th and President Obama’s 9^th Great-Grandparents

                    Richard Singletary and Susanna Cooke

Eunice Singletary m. Thomas Eaton        Jonathan Singletary Dunham m. Mary Bloomfield 

Jonathan Eaton m. Sarah Saunders         Benjamin Singletary Dunham m. Mary Rolph

James Eaton m. Rachel Kimball                Jonathan Dunham m. Mary Smith

Enoch Eaton m. Ester Williams                Samuel Dunham m. Hannah

Frazier Eaton m. Lucinda Blakeslee         Jacob Dunham m. Catherine Goodnight

Jesse Eaton m. Elizabeth Locke               Jacob Mackey Dunham m. Louise Eliza Stroup

Mortimer Eaton m. Sophia Weld             Jacob William Dunham m. Mary Ann Kearney

Mable Eaton m. George Mutch               Ralph W.E. Dunham Sr. m. Ruth Lucille Armour

Clarence Mutch m. Bliesner                     Stanley Armour Dunham m. Madelyn Lee Payne

Mutch m. Chapin                                      Ann Stanley Dunham m. Barack Hussein Obama Jr.

Chapin m. Maddox                                    Barack Hussein Obama II m. Michelle Robinson

Me

You may be wondering why Jonathan Singletary Dunham has the last name Dunham when his father’s name was Richard Singletary. I will share with you the various possibilities for that and you will probably still wonder. One claim is that Jonathan’s mother was ‘Goodwife Singletary,’ that her last name was Dunham and he took the name in tribute to her. However, there is no evidence of his mother being a Dunham. His mother might even be Susanna Cooke. Another legend is that Richard Singletary was an heir of the Dunham’s in England, and a nursemaid who had been instructed to kill him as a child had instead brought him to New York where she left him with a ship captain and called him Single-tarry because he was all alone in the New World. The nurse apparently confessed on her death bed. Still one more version of events is that Jonathan had angered puritan leaders in Massachusetts and ticked off some Quakers and when he moved with his wife’s family to Woodbridge, New Jersey, took Dunham as an alias. Based on numerous records it does appear that he generally went by Jonathan Dunham in New Jersey and Jonathan Singletary in Massachusetts. Perhaps the most interesting document is one in which Jonathan Singletary Dunham’s children give him power of attorney over land from Richard and Susanna and nearly the entire family signed their names, Dunham alias Singletary. Subsequent generations of Jonathan Singletary Dunham’s descendants went by Dunham. 

The second way in which I am distant cousins with President Obama is less direct and more complicated. The connecting ancestor in this case is Robert Hinckley, through sons Thomas and Samuel. I descend from Thomas, through his daughter Elizabeth, while President Obama descends from Samuel, through his daughter Susannah. 

When Thomas Hinckley died in 1635, his 16 to 17 year-old orphaned daughter Elizabeth sailed to Boston with her uncle Samuel Hinckley, his wife Sarah Soole, and three of her cousins. The family settled in Scituate Massachusetts and Elizabeth likely resided with her aunt, uncle and cousins until she married Edward Sturgis in 1640.  One of Elizabeth’s cousins, Thomas Hinckley, perhaps named after his uncle and Elizabeth’s father, served as governor of Plymouth Colony from 1680 to 1692, and held other important community offices, such as commissioner, representative and magistrate.   

            

        My 13^th and President Obama’s 11^th Great-Grandparent

             Robert Hinckley  m. 1. Elizabeth  2. Katherine

 

Thomas Hinckley m. Anna (Katherine)         Samuel Hinckley m. Sarah Soole

Elizabeth Hinckley m. Edward Sturgis            Susannah Hinckley m. John Smith

Edward Sturgis m. Temperance Gorham        Samuel Smith m. Esther Dunham*

Fear Sturgis m. Joshua Holmes                       Shubael Smith m. Prudence Fitzrandolph

**Mary Holmes m. John Randall                    Mary Smith m. Jonathan Dunham

John Randall m. Lucy Brown                           Samuel Dunham m. Hannah

Lucy Randall m. Amos Breed Sr.                     Jacob Dunham m. Catherine Goodnight

Amos Breed Jr. m. Eliphael Phally Weaver    Jacob Mackey Dunham m. Louise Eliza Stroup

Amos Breed II m. Elisa Dye                              Jacob William Dunham m. Mary Ann Kearney

Abigail Jane Breed m. James B. Chapin          Ralph W.E. Dunham Sr. m. Ruth Lucille Armour

George Chapin m. Flora Allen                          Stanley Armour Dunham m. Madelyn Lee Payne

Roy E. Chapin m. Madeline Wilson                Ann Stanley Dunham m. Barack Hussein Obama

                                                                                                               

(Grandpa) Chapin m. Grandma (Mutch)          Barack Hussein Obama II m. Michelle Robinson

(Dad) Chapin m. (Mom) Maddox                                  

Me

*Esther Dunham was the daughter of Jonathan Dunham alias Singletary (see above), so President Obama descends from the Dunham’s alias Singletary’s twice.

**I also descend from Mary Holmes’ sister Abigail and Jedediah Brown.