[Chief Engineer]

By the way it was often reported that Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wife, Ruth Lucille Armour, committed suicide but in fact she actually died of food poisoning as was reported in an earlier FR thread in 2009. If I can find the thread or the article in which I found that particular story I will post it for you. The story of suicide was yet another myth of the Dunham family being poilte.

[etraveler13]

Here is where Ruth is stated as committing Suicide
http://genealogy.about.com/od/aframertrees/p/obama_two.htm

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From wikipedia:
Dunham was born in Wichita, Kansas, the second child of Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham, Sr. and Ruth Lucille Armour. His father’s ancestors settled in Kempton, Indiana in the 1840s, before relocating to Kansas.[4] His parents were married in Wichita at a home on S. Saint Francis St. and opened The Travelers’ Cafe on William Street, sandwiched between the old firehouse and the old Wichita City Hall.[5][6]

In 1926, at age 8, Stanley discovered his mother’s body after she had committed suicide at the age of 26. Following his mother’s suicide, his father abandoned the family and Stanley and his older brother, Ralph Emerson Dunham, were sent to live with their maternal grandparents in El Dorado, Kansas.[7] A rebellious teenager, he allegedly punched his high school principal and spent some time drifting, hopping rail cars to Chicago, then California, then back again.[8] Stanley married Madelyn Payne on May 5, 1940, which was the night of Madelyn’s senior prom.[9]

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