By HELEN RADKEY                    © Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey      June 20, 2009                  

On May 1, 2009, it became publicly known that President Barack Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was baptized by proxy on June 4, 2008 in the Provo Utah Temple, which is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The controversial online entry for Obama’s mother soon vanished from the LDS Church’s online database of posthumous rituals, the International Genealogical Index, (IGI). 

Coincidentally, on June 4, 2009—exactly a year after Dunham’s baptism—and a little over a month after that news went public—Associated Press reports began to appear online stating that Barack Obama has German roots. Provo-based Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, with many Mormon fingers in the pie, confirmed that Obama’s lineage—on his mother's side—can be traced to Germany: MormonTimes - Mormon library helps find documents of Obama’s German roots.mht.

Although there appears to be Mormon genealogical involvement in the discovery of Obama’s German roots—the news reports about his German lineage failed to mention that several of Obama’s German ancestors are in the process of receiving LDS temple rites by proxy. (Accredited Mormons with a special user log-in have access to online IGI ordinance details, and would be able to look up and determine which LDS rituals have been performed for a dead person—information which is always off-limits to the public.) 

According to the online IGI, as of June 5, 2009, the names of Obama's sixth great-grandfather—John Conrad Wolfley (Johann Conrad Wolflin), born in Besigheim, Germany, in 1729—his spouse, Anna Catherine—and their son, Ludwig Lewis Wolfley, who was Obama’s fifth great-grandfather, and the first U.S.-born relative in that branch of Obama's family tree—had all been "CLEARED" for baptism and other LDS temple ordinances for the dead.    

© Copyright 2009, Helen Radkey—Permission is granted to reproduce, provided content is not changed and this copyright notice is included.

Ludwig Wolfley Pedigree   Male     Event(s): Birth:  02 MAR 1766   Middletown, Dauphin, Pennsylvania Christening:  Death:  26 SEP 1822   Lancaster, Fairfield, Ohio Burial:  LDS Ordinances:   Baptism:  CLEARED       Endowment:  CLEARED       Sealing to Parents:  CLEARED       John Conrad Wolfley / Anna Catherine Shockey OR Shawkey   Parents:   Father:  John Conrad Wolfley Family   Mother:  Anna Catherine Shockey OR Shawkey   Messages: Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. No additional information is available. Ancestral File may list the same family and the submitter.

Anna Catherine Shockey OR Shawkey Pedigree   Female   Family Event(s): Birth:  1738     Christening:  Death:  1803   Middletown, Dauphin, Pennsylvania Burial:  20 JUN 1803   New God'S Acre, Middletown, Dauphin, Pennsylvania LDS Ordinances:   Baptism:  CLEARED       Endowment:  CLEARED     Marriages:   Spouse:  John Conrad Wolfley Family   Marriage:  About 1756     Messages: Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. No additional information is available. Ancestral File may list the same family and the submitter.

John Conrad Wolfley Pedigree   Male   Family Event(s): Birth:  29 JAN 1728   Besigheim, , , Germany Christening:  Death:  20 MAR 1794   Middletown, Dauphin, Pennsylvania Burial:  22 MAR 1794   New God'S Acre, Middletown, Dauphin, Pennsylvania LDS Ordinances:   Baptism:  CLEARED       Endowment:  CLEARED     Marriages:   Spouse:  Anna Catherine Shockey OR Shawkey Family   Marriage:  About 1756     Messages: Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. No additional information is available. Ancestral File may list the same family and the submitter.

Stanley Ann Dunham Pedigree   Female     Event(s): Birth:  29 NOV 1942   Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas Christening:  Death:  07 NOV 1995     Burial:  LDS Ordinances:   Baptism:  04 JUN 2008   PROVO   Endowment:  11 JUN 2008   PROVO Messages: Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. No additional information is available. Ancestral File may list the same family and the submitter.