Posted on 07/31/2012 12:41:59 PM PDT by TopDeadCenter
A study from Ancestry.com has determined that President Obama is related to John Punch, the first black African enslaved for life in America--which would make Punch the 11th great-grandfather of Obama.
The connection is made through Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunhan. The website's records say she had ancestors who were white landowners in Colonial Virginia who descended from an African man, Punch.
According to the site's press release, Punch tried to escape indentured servitude in colonial Virginia in 1640 and was punished by becoming enslaved for life. The records show that Punch had children with a white woman, and her status as free was passed on to her offspring. Punch's descendents became successful landowners in the slave-owning state of Virginia.
This would mean that the first documented slave and the first African American president have a shared lineage, claim researchers. Said Ancestry.com's genealogist Joseph Shumway, "John Punch was more than likely the genesis of legalized slavery in America. But after centuries of suffering, the Civil War, and decades of civil rights efforts, his 11th great-grandson became the leader of the free world and the ultimate realization of the American Dream."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
OH - and this supposed relation... all through his VERY White mother... yeah...
You beat me to it.
"Even my white ancestors were black! So there! Nyah nyah nyah NYAH nyah!"
I think that this news item was put out there just to promote Obama’s next $100,000 a plate fund raising dinner. The theme will be the “Take a Punch to Lunch Bunch”.
Where was he headed for when he ran -- Chicago?
I thought he was Irish....?
Ah well. Next week we’ll probably learn he’s related to the first openly queer American. And surely there’s a Mexican in the mix. And his great-great-somebodies began a union to protect the workers ... in Hawaii, yeah that’s it, Hawaii...
He was an indentured servant. That doesn't necessarily mean he contracted to come over here and was paying off his passage.
That may have been true of many who came from Britain, but you'll have to provide some evidence that it was true in this case -- or that Africans, as Punch is assumed to be, were clamouring to get passage to New World plantations.
Punch may have been brought to America against his will and essentially sold as a slave for a limited time period without his consent. He ran away, and was told he was bound to his master for life.
It’s too bad we can’t check into Obama’s Kenyan family tree to see if his Muslim ancestors owned slaves.
They are leaving out a major part of this story. The man was sold by the white guy who owned his contract. He was sold to a BLACK man. When the contract was up, the White guy felt guilty and tried to buy the guy’s contract and set him free, but the BLACK slave owner, wouldn’t have any part of it and took the issue to court, where a judge ruled that the man was now a slave for life. The Black slave owner never set him free and in fact bought more slaves.
Glen Beck told this story.
So, we have two different men with the same story, but one was owned by a White guy and the other by a Black man?
I would think Punch would have to be a free man of color first in order to become an indentured servant.
“Bovine Excrement” is right!
Another diversion (”Hey, look over here!”) from HIS fraudulent birth story and past!
LLS
I say nonsense. Ancestry.com has many, many, incorrect family links. Good place for a beginner to start, but don’t take Ancestry.com’s word that you are related to Miles Standish.
The mix you describe is called the tri racial isolate and referred to Melungeons.
Current belief is that the mix is far, far more complex. I’m probably a little behind on the current thoughts resulting from intense investigation and DNA studies.
Your right, it’s the identical story, but a different name and there are lots of stories on the web to refute the Punch line.(LOL!)
This happens all the time in genealogy. When stories are passed down by word of mouth, they get confused, just like the old whispering down the lane game. Someone simply decided to try to tie Obama to some family lore about slavery.
The census records favor the Casor, (Castor) story and I bet there are court records as well.
Do I have this right?
They have records of the first American slave, who Obama is supposedy a decendent of, but no records they can show us on Obama?
Soon to be published:
“Dreams of my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather”.
I’ve made some amazing (and documented) discoveries about my family on Ancestry.com, but you really have to be careful. Sometimes other people’s trees contain erroneous information and can lead you on a wild goose chase.
In the beginning there was Adam, Eve and Obama the first....
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