President Barack Obama’s Irish Ancestry
11 April 2016President Barack Obama’s Irish links to Moneygall, Co. Offaly came to light in 2007 following research conducted by Megan Smolenyak. In 2008, Eneclann researchers, Fiona Fitzsimons and Helen Moss, researched President Obama’s Irish ancestry back from Falmouth Kearney, Obama’s 2nd great-grandfather to Obama’s 7th great-grandfather, Joseph Kearney born ca. 1698. ...
Origin and History of the Benn Family
11 April 2016Research has established that by 1712 the Limerick Benns were a middleclass mercantile family living in the prosperous Limerick parish of St. John’s. It is unlikely that as Palatines, they would have been able to integrate this quickly into Irish society. This then begs the question – assuming that Mrs....
Kearney Family History
11 April 2016President Barack Obama’s Kearney family history, as researched by Eneclann, is interesting because it illustrates over five generations a family history that was not untypical in Ireland, but which we don’t often consider as a typical emigrant story. The Kearney family, were probably Gaelic Irish in origin, based on the...
Overview of Kearney Family History
11 April 2016Barack Obama is directly descended from the Kearneys of Shinrone and Moneygall Co. Offaly. The height of this family’s prosperity was between the 1760s and 1780s, when the nephews from Offaly stepped into their Dublin uncle’s business of wig-making (also known as peruke- or periwig-making). People wore wigs because they...
Fulmoth Kearney b. c. 1830
11 April 2016Fulmoth Kearney was Barack Obama’s 3x grandfather. This pedigree chart shows Fulmoth’s parents, Joseph and Phoebe Kearney, and his siblings. Reviewing Griffith’s Valuation, Fiona Fitzsimons and Helen Moss found that in March 1851 Phoebe Kearney leased a house and outbuilding in Moneygall from the Rev. William Minchin. They then examined...
Joseph Kearney b. ca. 1794
11 April 2016Joseph Kearney was Barack Obama’s 4x great-grandfather. This pedigree chart shows his parents, William and Margaret Kearney, and Joseph’s siblings. Information on individuals: Joseph Kearney Joseph was referred to in a lease dated 1 May 1800 (Minchin to Kearney) as the son of William Kearney. The lease was cited in...
William Kearney b. ca. 1762
11 April 2016William Kearney was Barack Obama’s 5 x great-grandfather. This pedigree chart shows his parents, John and Sarah Kearney (nee Healey), and William’s siblings. Joseph Kearney Joseph was probably born circa 1730. He is described as a ‘comber, of Shinrone’ in a lease dated 1759. He married Sarah Healey ‘of Moneygall’...
Tom Cruise’s Family History & the Mapother Name Origin
08 April 2016If you’re interested in genealogy, a fascinating way to explore it is by researching famous people and their family trees. One celebrity whose ancestry can be traced back to Ireland is Tom Cruise, the actor known for the films Mission Impossible, The Color of Money, and Risky Business, among others....
Patrick Russell Cruise – From Ireland to America
08 April 2016On 11th August 1825 Patrick Russell Cruise married Teresa Johnson in Warrenstown House, the ancestral seat of the Johnson family in county Meath.[1] The marriage united two ancient families, with origins in competing cultural and political traditions. Left: reproduced with the permission of the board of Trinity College Library Below: marriage...
Patrick Russell Cruise returns to Ireland
08 April 2016As a younger son Patrick Russell Cruise had not inherited the family ancestral seat of Drynam House. However, he had inherited a half share in approximately 500 acres of land, comprising the townlands of Paristown and Dardistown, in the Barony of Delvin in county Westmeath.[1] These lands had been set out to...
