Forgotten grave reveals a local link to Obama: Everett WA

[ClayZ]

Here's the article:

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081026/NEWS01/710269867#Forgotten.grave.reveals.a.local.link.to.Obama

Forgotten grave reveals a local link to Obama
By Eric Stevick
Herald Writer

EVERETT -- Rachel Wolfley's grave marker at the Evergreen Cemetery in Everett hadn't seen the light of day in decades.

It had literally faded into the landscape, covered long ago by a thick rug of grass and forgotten over nearly a century since she died.

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Genealogy and history buffs who had studied Obama's roots recently made the connection when they saw her posting. Some knew that Wolfley's husband, Robert, was buried in Olathe, Kan., and that Wolfley had died in Snohomish County. What they didn't know was where she was buried.

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Wolfley died Feb. 8, 1911, was buried four days later. She is next to her son-in-law and daughter, Nathan and Addie Butts, Obama's great-great aunt, who died in 1936 and 1937, respectively.

Addie was also known as Anna.

"We have both Republicans and Democrats who work here but everybody was excited by it," said Allen Ice, general manager of the Evergreen Funeral Home and Cemetery.

Shipman said it is rare to find an ancestor five generations removed from a national figure in cemeteries in Washington state, which became a territory in 1853 and a state in 1889.

"It's like a needle in a haystack," he said.

"What you found is accurate," said Joshua Field, campaign director for Obama's campaign in Washington state, after checking records. "It's interesting. I don't think people realize his Washington state ties."

Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, lived on Mercer Island before moving to Hawaii after she finished high school. Obama's mother died in 1995 of ovarian cancer. Obama took time off the campaign trail Thursday and Friday to fly to Hawaii to visit his ailing 85-year-old grandmother, Madelyn Payne Dunham, who helped raise him. Rachel Wolfley is a great-grandmother to Madelyn Payne Dunham.

Local historians are now trying to learn more about Wolfley's life story.

Her four-sentence obituary said she died at age 75 in her daughter's home after a 3 1/2-year illness. It said she moved from Kansas and was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The cursive scrawl from the 1910 U.S. Census in Snohomish County said she and her parents were born in Ohio and that she could read and write. She married Robert Wolfley in 1859 in Ohio.

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Shipman hopes to get permission from Rachel Wolfley's descendents, perhaps even Obama himself, to replace the grave marker with the misspelled name. He wants it to match the permanent gravestone of her daughter and son-in-law. Shipman and Ice have started a fund under the Evergreen Historic Committee, 4504 Broadway, Everett, WA 98203, to raise money for the stone.

Wolfley has been added to a Everett Public Library podcast and map of noteworthy figures buried at the Evergreen Cemetery. The podcast for self-guided tours of the cemetery is expected to be available at www.epls.org on Oct. 31.

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[Wickerman]

1. and there it is! The October surprise

Why hasn't Obama been taking care of that grave?

"It had literally faded into the landscape, covered long ago by a thick rug of grass and forgotten over nearly a century since she died."

/sarcasm.

Cool story, actually.