This is what I have:
In 1955, at 18 years of age, Senior married a girl called Kezia from the local village.
I wouldn’t be concerned with a discrepency of a year or two in barely post-colonial Africa.
I’m always finding the same anecdote reported with different dates from different sources.
....
Senior had taken the entrance examination for the Maseno Mission School, an elite college preparatory institution which very few Africans were allowed to attend. He was admitted to this school and seemed to have a great future ahead of him, but he soon encountered disciplinary problems. He insisted on violating the rules by bringing girls into his dormitory. He and his friends stole chickens and yams from nearby farms because the dormitory food was not to their liking. At first the teachers were indulgent because Senior was such a good student, but he was caught one too many times and was expelled. When he returned home he was severely beaten by Grandfather.
Senior’s life began to change when he encountered two American women missionary teachers. They helped him to sign up for a correspondence course leading to a secondary school certificate. He took the equivalency test at the US Embassy, and passed. He then applied to numerous universities in the United States, and in 1958, with the help of Tom Mboya, won a scholarship at the University of Hawaii.
....
“[Tom Schachtman] has found that the elder Obama came in 1959 with support from the AASF but appears to have been routed a different way as he made his way to the University of Hawaii.”
From Tom Schachtman’s book, Airlift:
“As far as can be determined from incomplete records, Mrs. Roberts and Miss Mooney paid his fare to Hawaii and provided a partial scholarship.
....
Mboya, while unable to transport the twenty-three-year-old, did put him on the AASF list to receive one of the handful of scholarships contributed by the former baseball star Jackie Robinson, which the Scheinman foundation was administering, and encouraged him to look to the AASF for further help if needed, which he later did. “
....
When Senior moved to Hawaii in June of 1959, it has been well documented that he originally lived in a room at the Atherton Y.M.C.A., not far from campus. He later moved to a small, single story wooden home located at 625 11th Ave., located in the St. Louis Heights area. Senior remained at 625 11th Ave. until he left Hawaii on June 22,1962 after graduation.
....
That’s what I have — open to corrections and additions.
Interesting story, most of that I had not heard before...about girls and chickens!
What seems to stand out is the difference in the ‘marriage’ years. First, they are married in 1957, she has one child and is pregant in 1959.
Next story has her seeing him off in 1959 with a six year old.