Top o’ the Morning, Mr President

A topical one today: President Obama is Irish. Sort of. Obviously he’s more American (and Kenyan) now that numerous generations have passed, but nonetheless he joins a long list of US presidents – about half of them, in fact – with Irish ancestry. They include Washington, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, the Bushes, and of course JFK.

Obama’s great-great-great-great-grandfather, Joseph Kearney, was a shoemaker from the village of Moneygall (‘Grove of the Foreigners’) in Co. Offaly. As far as I can tell, Moneygall has 300 residents and one pub, about which Obama recently declared ‘I'm looking forward to going there and having a pint.’ Irish leader Brian Cowen, also from Co. Offaly, has apparently invited him to jet on over and make himself at home – although I suspect Obama may be holding out for a less unsavoury drinking partner.

Joseph Kearney emigrated to Ohio in 1850 with his wife and four children, one of whom – Falmouth Kearney – was Obama’s grandfather’s grandmother’s father. The family had been lured over by the promise of land left to them by Joseph’s brother, Francis, whose will stated: ‘My tract of land lying in Ross County shall be given to my brother Joseph Kearney (now in Ireland) during his life time, if he comes to this country.’ Very generous considering that ‘I bequeath to my wife my bay mare and the choice cow.’

It would seem the Kearney-Obamas left a handful of relatives behind in Moneygall, however, judging by this entry on the village’s Wikipedia site: ‘Andrew Sullivan, 2nd cousin of president elect also resides in moneygall since his retirement from international rugby.Sullivan captained the all blacks to the world cup in 1987.'

I wonder who inserted that into the otherwise grammatically correct Moneygall entry.