Published: November 18, 2009 11:41 pm      

Owner tries to keep Obama-linked home preserved

TIPTON — The owner of the rural Tipton County house that is accredited as once belonging to President Barack Obama’s ancestors wants to turn the property into a nonprofit organization, even if that means moving out of his home.

Shawn Clements, who owns the Dunham House in Kempton, told about a dozen Tipton County Chamber of Commerce members at a luncheon Wednesday he would be willing to turn the keys and deed to the house over if that meant its history would be preserved.

“It belongs to history. It doesn’t belong to me,” said Clements, who is a professional historical preservationist.

Clements bought the house in 2004 as a way to escape to a quieter life than he had living outside of Indianapolis.

Soon after moving in, he began researching the home’s history. A Google search led him to a Chicago Sun-Times family tree for the Dunham family.

When he scrolled to the top of the page, he saw “Barack Obama’s Family History.” The house belonged to the president’s great-great-great-great-grandparents on his mother’s side of the family.

Word got to Washington about the president’s connection to the house. In May 2008, Obama, then a presidential candidate, visited the house with his wife and daughters.

Clements said Wednesday he has no political objective by preserving the house’s history. He said he would have done the same if the house had belonged to Richard Nixon’s family.

For more of this story, read Thursday’s issue of the Kokomo Tribune.