Obama pays visit to ancestral property

[Jack Bone]

Obama pays visit to ancestral property
Published: May 04, 2008 12:04 am
By JOHN DEMPSEY
Tribune business writer

While Kempton may be the smallest Indiana town Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has visited, the Tipton County hamlet is the only one he could possibly call home.

Saturday, the Illinois senator, along with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, visited his ancestral home in Kempton. Now owned by Shawn Clements, the house was built on property owned by Obama’s great-great-great-great-grandparents on his mother’s side, Jacob and Catherine Dunham.

When he climbed off his campaign bus, Obama approached and introduced himself to Clements.

“We walked around the house and talked about the house and his family. He was interested in its square footage and some of the dates when it’s thought it was built,” the independent contractor related. “He wanted to know about his ancestors who lived here before they went to Kansas.<snip>

“Apparently, Grover Cleveland spent the night here,” Clements explained. William Riley Dunham, who built the house, served in the Indiana legislature as a Democrat and had a son named after the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms.

“We talked about the family, how they were farmers, principals, teachers, doctors. They went to Indiana University, Purdue. They were a genuine Indiana family,” Clements said.<snip>

“Him coming to Kempton, Indiana, who would have thought it?”


http://www.ktonline.com/local/local_story_125000414.html