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POLITICAL GENEALOGY
Tracing Barack Obama’s Roots to Moneygall, Ireland
Tombstones in Ohio made all the difference
Over the years, my sleuthing has resulted in some curious outcomes, but few were as unexpected as the time I traced Barack Obama’s roots to the village of Moneygall in Ireland. At the time I did the research, I had no notion that he would wind up visiting his ancestral hometown as President, but that’s exactly what happened. Identifying his Irish hometown took both effort and luck (as it happens, a pair of tombstones would be instrumental), so I thought I’d share the trail that led me there.
How It Began
Back before he was even President, a St. Patrick’s Day press release went out announcing that then- candidate Barack Obama was part Irish. In fact, on his mother’s side, his Irish third great-grandfather, Fulmoth Kearney, is his most recent connection with any old country ancestry. When Fulmoth arrived in New York in 1850, all of Obama’s other maternal ancestors were already here.
I was quoted in the release, and as I have an unusual name, it’s not difficult to locate me — and that’s exactly what a number of Irish journalists did. The general gist of all the inquiries I received? So he’s part Irish, but where in Ireland did his ancestors come from? I both welcomed and dreaded the question. Why? I like a challenge, but those with Irish heritage — particularly famine era — know identifying a place of origin in Ireland can be an iffy prospect. I wasn’t sure I would succeed, but it was worth a try.
Finding Fulmoth
Obama’s maternal roots extend back deeply — in most branches for centuries — in America. Because of this, the preliminary research proved to be straightforward. I relied heavily on census records to methodically march back generation by generation on his mother’s side of the family tree.
