BESIGHEIM, Germany — President Barack Obama in traditional German lederhosen? It may be hard to imagine, but researchers in the U.S. say they have located documents that prove the president has German roots dating to the 1700s.
According to parish records uncovered by experts at the genealogy website , Obama’s sixth great-grandfather Johann Conrad Woelflin was born Jan. 29, 1729, in Besigheim, a small town north of Stuttgart, in southern Germany. He sailed to America in 1750 aboard a ship called Patience, changed his last name to Wolfley upon arrival and eventually settled in Middletown, Pa., according to head genealogist Anastasia Tyler, who oversaw the research.
The investigation was started by the website, which determined in 2007 that Obama had Irish ancestry, after researchers decided a few weeks ago that it would be fun to try to prove or disprove rumored German ancestry ahead of the president’s visit to Dresden today, Tyler said.
