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On St Patrick's Day US has Irish-American President, O'Bama

by 158 | March 16, 2010 at 03:18 pm

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Wednesday is St Patrick's Day, a celebration of Irish heritage. President Barack Obama has Irish ancestors in his family. His great, great, great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, left Ireland and landed in New York March 20, 1850. He moved to Ohio, near some of his relatives. One of his daughters married a man named Dunham and they are the great grandparents of Obama’s mother whose birth name was Dunham.

Obama is not the first president of Irish descent. One of president Ronald Reagan’s great grandfathers, Michael O’Regan, was born in Ireland. So was president John F. Kennedy’s great grandfather, Patrick Kennedy.

The White House was designed by an Irishman, James Hoban. There are about 40 million Americans with Irish ancestors. President Obama is 10th cousin to former vice president Dick Cheney and 11th cousin to former president George Bush.

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YankeeJim

at 15:21 on March 16th, 2010

A saintly figure in community organizing.

158

at 15:32 on March 16th, 2010

Patrick or O'Bama?

Barry ORegan

at 21:32 on March 16th, 2010

Michael O’Regan, one of the greats, my great,great, great grandfather as well, though we refuse to Anglicize our name for land and jobs as some did in Canada and New York State. Most of us hit Newfoundland and Quebec, a predominately Catholic and anti British Irish family who fought on the side of France against England. As I am and my ancestors were Catholic from Quebec we did not have to change our name when we hit Quebec city in the 1600s, we were given land grants for our service to France, became couer de bois, trappers and lived with the Huron, and pretty much every O'Regan male has been in the military ever since.