Tiny Irish Village Is Latest Place to Claim Obama as Its Own

[CountAllVotes]

By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, May 13, 2007; Page A14

MONEYGALL, Ireland -- Here they call him O'Bama.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, Democratic candidate for president, is the talk of this village because recently unearthed records indicate that he is a son of Moneygall.

Stephen Neill, a local Anglican rector, said church documents he has found, along with census, immigration and other records tracked down by U.S. genealogists, appear to show that Obama's great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, was reared in Moneygall, then left for America in 1850, when he was 19.

<snip>
While neither Obama nor his campaign has confirmed the connection, it has created a buzz in Moneygall, which has one stoplight, two pubs and a population of 298.

<snip>
"Sure, it's great!" said Henry Healy, 22, a villager who said family records indicate he is distantly related to Obama. Like many Moneygall residents, he is suddenly following the U.S. presidential race more closely and rooting for his kinsman. "It would be brilliant if he won because for one thing, he is related to me, and also it would be good for the village."

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/12/AR2007051201551.html

I think it is very cool that O'Bama as he is called in Moneygall, Ireland is part Irish! Erin go braugh! :D

:dem:

[JI7]

1. the world loves him and are excited at the thought of him being President

[Drunken Irishman]

2. Hey CountAllVotes!

I like your sig.

:)

[CountAllVotes]

3. Thanks Drunken Irishman

from an undrunken Irishwoman (among other things!).

Erin go braugh! I think we'll have something to really celebrate on St. Patrick's Day.

Its a long road to Tipperary, wanna go? :beer: }(

:dem:

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Let's do it!

I'm excited for St. Patrick's Day, too bad it's on a Monday, though.

[CountAllVotes]

5. lol!!

:D

[JVS]

6. Faith and begorrah!

[CountAllVotes]

7. O'Bama has it all

he wouldn't be quite complete without a touch of the green in him now would he?

I wonder if his great-great-great grandfather knew my great-great-grandfather from Ireland. I rather doubt I could be related to him as my Irish relations are from Donegal and Tipperary.

It just shows how the Irish are: We will take/adopt anyone with or without complete "credentials". :)

Proud to be Irish-American I am!

[JVS]

8. The Irish part of my family is our secret shame.

It all started when a Priest ran off with a laundry girl. When you leave Ireland that way, there's no going back. We still have his ordination ring.

[CountAllVotes]

10. My non-Irish Godmother had a nephew that was a priest

The house was covered with photographs of him until he ran off and with a nun and married her. Never was his name mentioned again and as for all of those pictures, WHAT PICTURES? Shame on him! :rofl:

:dem:

[Celebration]

15. well, you are probably related to me n/t

[hedgehog]

9. I don't know if we can trust him now or not., He's a Leinsterman.

Now, if he was from Connaught.....

[CountAllVotes]

12. we can trust him

he had no idea really it seems. Well he says he had no idea it seems! :blush:

[XemaSab]

11. Proud Irish-American

K&R!

[dkf]

13. Obama is a truly international creation!

Go Obama!

[hedgehog]

14. He seems to combine the experience of the immigrant and the

African-American. A Man for All Seasons!

[CountAllVotes]

18. Yes, there is a little bit o' O'Bama in all of us!!

:grouphug:

UNITE!

Let's not let "divide and conquer" work on We The People ever again!!!!!!!!

A.M. kick!

:D

:kick:

[THUNDER HANDS]

16. by the end of the campaign we'll find out he's related to everyone

[FrenchieCat]

17. Love it!

I'm dancing a jig!

[Scurrilous]

19. O'bama!

LOL

Beautiful. :thumbsup:

[CountAllVotes]

22. I've been doing a bit of research of this myself

I found one researcher had apparently located the grave of the great-great-great grandfather named Joseph Kearney. There was a picture of the Mr. Kearney's tombstone posted by the researcher.

There is quite a bit more to this story it seems! :D

:dem:

[H2O Man]

20. It makes sense.

Thank you for posting this.

Nominated.

[Jim Lane]

21. That helps to make up for his being related to Cheney (n/t)

[FunkyLeprechaun]

23. This 1st Generation Irish-American

Cheered when I found out that he was part Irish!

I really really want that O'Bama button/shirt like mad! I can't seem to find it anywhere! I've got relatives in Ballymoney :-) Close enough? Not really lol (it's in Northern Ireland while Moneygall is in the Republic)

That's another person to add to my list: Obama (Falmouth Kearney) Muhammad Ali (His great-grandfather was Abe Grady from County Clare), Charlotte Bronte (Her father was born in the county my grandmother is from, County Down, original surname was Brunty). Of course Bush's of Irish descent too... but I choose to ignore that :-D.

[H2O Man]

24. Malcolm X,

Bob Marley, and Peter Tosh, as well.

[Binka]

27. We Irish Are Grand!

:hi: Buddy. It has been a rough couple of weeks.

[H2O Man]

29. Hello!

When things are rough, it's always good to come to DU -- where calm, rational thought is always found! (grin)

[CountAllVotes]

25. Interesting!

See, we are all related! Oye mitakuye oyasin!!

I'm also part Native American myself besides being mostly Irish.

Re: A shirt like this - some places will make you up a shirt with whatever design you might have. I was going to do this myself but instead, I decided to simply buy an OBAMA 2008 shirt from his store. This way the money goes to Obama's campaign. I haven't gotten the shirt I ordered from his store yet, but I'm sure it won't be anything like this emblem I found.

You might check-out CafePress to see what they have or if they can make one up for you!

Thanks for sharing! :)

[FunkyLeprechaun]

35. If not

I am leaning towards the one with Obama's face on it. I quite like it... it's getting closer to St. Patricks Day though so it might be out again... I emailed them and asked.

Nothing yet though.

[Adelante]

26. Oh, shit

Black I could take :rofl:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

28. I love America.

I was just thinking about how the Irish loved Bill Clinton on his big state visit. I imagine Obama would get much the same response in international communities, and in a lot more places.

[CountAllVotes]

30. BINGO!!!

This is why America needs President Obama. He could help to heal the wounds of the generations that have preceded us with their greed and hate.

I can really see the need for a person like this to represent We The United People of the United States of America!

There is far more to an Obama presidency than anyone might ever suspect. Once the layers are peeled back and exposed, we find more and more reasons to elect by a landslide President Obama IMO.

:kick:

[HamdenRice]

31. I'm African American but by great grandma was an Irish prostitute!

That's what I infer from the somewhat garbled family history. She was a "dance hall girl" whatever that is in late 1800s NYC. She got knocked up by and/or married to by a West Indian and she/they placed the child -- my grandmother -- in an orphanage.

But somehow my grandmother did manage to meet her mother and father a few times.

[FrenchieCat]

32. International renaissance President........finally!

:thumbsup:

[goodhue]

33. cool

[AtomicKitten]

34. My maternal grandmother was born in County Tipperary, Ireland.

I approve of this endorsement!

[Tatiana]

36. The man is truly international!

YAY for the Irish! :bounce: