Obama’s history rooted in Offaly

THOUGH more associated with his roots in Africa, Barack Obama is one in a long line of US presidents with Irish roots.

Records uncovered in 2007 found Obama’s fourth great grandfather was a shoemaker in the midlands village whose son Fulmuth Kearney left for the US in the 1850s. He was just 19 when he left Moneygall in Offaly in 1850 on board Marmion to escape the Famine.

Kearney was destined for Ohio and later settled in Indiana. President Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, was a descendant of one of Kearney’s daughters and a man named Jacob Dunham.

A new study on family history website Ancestry.com has traced even more Irish in President Obama, identifying 28 living relatives who descended Fulmuth Kearney.

Despite their new found lineage, some of Obama’s distant relatives turn out not to be fans of the man occupying the White House.

“I really don’t like to claim a relationship to Obama. He is not my favourite president. I don’t have anything against him personally, but I don’t think we have the same agenda,” Roma Joy Palmer told the Associated Press.

Another relative, Dorma Lee, 83, of Tucson in Arizona also told the Associated Press she was underwhelmed by the news.

“I’m not a Democrat, so I can’t say I clapped. I don’t appreciate what he’s done by any means, but I do appreciate that he holds that office,” she said.

One thing is for sure. President Obama will get a far warmer reception when he touches down on Irish soil.