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Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: DNA gives new insights into Michelle Obama's roots
The New York Times ^ | 17 Jun 2012 | Rachel L Swarns

Posted on 06/17/2012 6:14:05 AM PDT by Cronos

Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgia’s rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves

The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over the decades as their progeny scattered across the South, embracing unassuming lives. But one line of her family took another path, heading north on a tumultuous, winding journey that ultimately led to the White House

The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Mrs. Tribble, a retired bookkeeper who delights in her two grandchildren and her Sunday church mornings. They are also ancestors of Michelle Obama, the first lady.

...The bloodlines of Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Tribble extend back to a 200-acre farm that was not far from here. One of their common ancestors was Henry Wells Shields, Mrs. Tribble’s great-great-grandfather. He was a farmer and a family man who grew cotton, Indian corn and sweet potatoes. He owned Mrs. Obama’s maternal great-great-great-grandmother, Melvinia Shields, who was about 8 years old when she arrived on his farm sometime around 1852.

The DNA tests and research indicate that one of his sons, Charles Marion Shields, is the likely father of Melvinia’s son Dolphus, who was born around 1860. Dolphus T. Shields was the first lady’s maternal great-great-grandfather.

Melvinia was a teenager, perhaps around 15, when she gave birth to her biracial son. Charles was about 20.

..Contemporary America emerged from that multiracial stew, a nation peopled by the heirs of that agonizing time who struggled and strived with precious little knowledge of their own origins. By 1890, census takers counted 1.1 million Americans of mixed ancestry.

All four of Mrs. Obama’s grandparents had multiracial forebears.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: alteredtitle; geneology; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble
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i suspect there's really no more black or white issue. The GOP way in which we are color blind is the future, not the democrat way...
1 posted on 06/17/2012 6:14:14 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: Cronos

If an issue can be exploited the Marxists will exploit it.


2 posted on 06/17/2012 6:18:03 AM PDT by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: Cronos
I heard that the Russians have Obama’s DNA and know who his father really is. Could be interesting.
3 posted on 06/17/2012 6:19:22 AM PDT by mountainlion (I am voting for Sarah after getting screwed again by the DC Thugs.)
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To: mountainlion

Probabaly looking to clone him. ;-)


4 posted on 06/17/2012 6:29:31 AM PDT by No One Special
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To: No One Special
Can you clone a second time?
5 posted on 06/17/2012 6:33:59 AM PDT by mountainlion (I am voting for Sarah after getting screwed again by the DC Thugs.)
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To: mountainlion

It’s his DNA the interests me, not Moochelle’s. Odd, how the Slimes concentrates on hers, not his.


6 posted on 06/17/2012 6:34:53 AM PDT by libstripper
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To: Cronos

“Dreams of my wifes slave family anscestry” another fiction book, this one to relate to the struggles Michelles family went through recovering from slavery and how they overcame racism first hand.


7 posted on 06/17/2012 6:35:33 AM PDT by ronnie raygun (B B)
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To: Cronos

Oh, so it’s not just vactions and lobster but reparations that we’ve been paying to Moochelle.


8 posted on 06/17/2012 6:41:52 AM PDT by bgill
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To: Cronos
The article says “most had no idea their ancestors owned slaves”. When I researched my early Texas ancestors in the First Census of Texas. all of the possessions listed were “2 slaves and a wooden clock”. I also found grave stones in the woods like the ones showed in the article. Genealogy research is fun, if you haven't tried it you should.
9 posted on 06/17/2012 6:46:21 AM PDT by Ditter
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To: Cronos

So Mrs. Obama is more white than Mrs. Warren is Native American.


10 posted on 06/17/2012 6:46:37 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: Cronos

Sooo, Michelle has white blood in her.

Guess Zer0 now has to one up her.
‘Obama is related to Alexander the Great’ /s


11 posted on 06/17/2012 6:49:11 AM PDT by Vinnie (A)
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To: libstripper

>> the Slimes concentrates on hers, not his <<

One step at a time. If enough people get interested in hers, the MSM may eventually get interested in his.


12 posted on 06/17/2012 7:14:16 AM PDT by Hawthorn
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To: Ditter

I also have researched my family, no slaves.....ever. So why am I still paying reparations?


13 posted on 06/17/2012 7:42:28 AM PDT by sheana
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To: Cronos

I really tried to be interested in this....I’M NOT! WTFC


14 posted on 06/17/2012 7:44:48 AM PDT by WellyP (REAL)
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To: Cronos
where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves

Only a few of them. Everyone else was dirt poor and mainly subsistence farmers.

And how do I know that?

Because my ancestors settled North Georgia, and yes, some of them were named Shields. They came from North Carolina, as a quick glance at the map will show you why.

And they are still there, and yeah, a lot of them fought for the Confederacy. But most of those men did that because that was what their State voted for - in my case, my GG-Uncle was against secession but voted for it in the NC State legislature when he reluctantly concluded that this was the will of the people.

Glad to know Michelle is a distant relative. Always nice to have friends in high places...maybe I can hit her up for an interest free "loan" on a soon-to-fail solar cell company.

15 posted on 06/17/2012 7:45:57 AM PDT by Regulator
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To: Ditter
Genealogy research is fun, if you haven't tried it you should.
I agree 100%. I had no idea who or how we got here from Ireland and discovered my ggGF landed in NYC in 1851.
After that I discovered why my family history was a secret - lots of alcohol problems, plus, discovered my great grandparents didn't marry until after two kids.
Oh, those Irishmen ...
16 posted on 06/17/2012 8:08:24 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: mountainlion

Like the movie “Multiplicity”. BHO has been watered down so many times his IQ is near Zero. Thus the nickname.


17 posted on 06/17/2012 8:09:49 AM PDT by DrDude (Governor of the 57th State)
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To: mountainlion

Frank Marshall, it was all just too convienent. nobama1 was just a beard.

The ruskis have nothing of value to hold over our head.

No other possible reason for State of Hawaii to hold the original BC so closely. If the babydaddy was the kenyan, it would automatically throw NBC out, but if it was Marshall, nobama meets NBC, as it does not specify “legitimate birth”.

Who knows why they wanted to hide Marshalldaddy. The whole damn liberal family was in on this.


18 posted on 06/17/2012 8:17:00 AM PDT by X-spurt (Its time for ON YOUR FEET or on your knees)
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Comment #19 Removed by Moderator

To: Cronos
Hot black chick DNA:

Moochelle's DNA:

It's easy to tell one from the other.

20 posted on 06/17/2012 8:19:46 AM PDT by Sirius Lee (Goode over evil.)
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