Patty mentioned to me a few days ago that in searching census records dealing with President-elect Obama’s ancestors, that she ran across one that listed the man as a”pumper” for an oil company. I really haven’t followed his ancestry all that well, but ran across an article at arkcity.net that gives more details of his oil-company roots. Following is a teasor.
With the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States less than two weeks away, people and communities are claiming all kinds of connections with him. This is certainly true in Kansas, where his mother’s family has roots.
Now Winfield can claim its own part of Obama because his great-grandparents – his mother’s grandparents – are buried here. Their graves are in the far southwest corner of the old section of Highland Cemetery.
On a 1917 draft registration, Rolla Payne described himself as having a slender build, medium height, gray eyes and brown hair, according to a report from FOX News. At the time, he was 24 and a bookkeeper for a Tulsa oil company. His home address was in Kansas.
Read the full “Courier” article by by Judith Zaccaria and Tyler Gaskill in the January 8, 2009 edition of arkcity.net.
I found the draft card referred to above at Ancestry.com and it confirms the story. Following is side one of the card.
