The owner of a rural Tipton County house says he hopes to preserve the home's history because it once belonged to President Barack Obama's ancestors.

Historic preservationist Shawn Clements owns the Dunham House in Kempton. He wants to turn the property into a nonprofit organization, even if that means he could no longer live there.

Clements says he researched the home's history and discovered that it once belonged to Obama's great-great-great-great-grandparents on his mother's side. Obama visited the house in May 2008 with his wife and daughters when he was a presidential candidate.

Clements says he has no political motive to preserve the home and would have done the same if it belonged to Richard Nixon's family.