On this day, President Barack Obama visits Moneygall, Co. Offaly.
Among the relatives welcoming him to the ancestral village are Tom Donovan and Dick Benn.
In 1825, Joseph Kearney of Moneygall married Phoebe Donovan of Ballygurteen, Co. Tipperary, a daughter of Falmouth Donovan and Mary Benn. Among their children were Falmouth and Margaret.
In 1850, Falmouth Kearney, aged 21, his sister, Margaret Kearney Cleary, 24, and her husband, William Cleary, 48, sailed for America from Liverpool on the Marmion. They arrived in New York on March 20. Falmouth and Margaret had asked their parents to go with them, but the parents weren't ready yet. They would follow in a year.
Falmouth and Margaret and William traveled to Wayne, Ohio, and moved in with Falmouth's uncle, William Kearney, aged 38, a farmer, and his wife and children.
In 1852, Falmouth Kearney married Charlotte Holloway, a daughter of Josiah Holloway and his wife, Martha Mallow. On July 1, 1863, Falmouth Kearney, aged 35, registered for the draft in Marion, Ohio. By 1870, Falmouth and Charlotte and their eight children lived on a farm in Jefferson, Indiana.
After Falmouth and Charlotte died, in 1876 and 1877, three of their children, Falmouth, aged 14, Mary Ann, aged 11, and Francis, aged 7, went to Oswego, Kansas, to live with their older sister, Phoebe Kearney Dunham, and her husband, David Dunham, a grocer, and their children.
David Dunham was a son of Jacob Mackey Dunham, who fought for the Union with the 46th Indiana Infantry, and his wife, Louisa Stroup.
When Mary Ann Kearney grew up, she married Jacob William Dunham, another son of Jacob Mackey Dunham and Louisa Stroup. Among their children was Ralph Emerson Dunham, born in Argonia, Kansas, in 1894.
Ralph married Ruth Armour, daughter of Harry Armour and Gabriella Clark. He owned a cafe in Wichita. He registered for the draft on June 5, 1917. Among their children was Stanley Armour Dunham, born in Wichita in 1918.
In 1940, Stanley married Madelyn Lee Payne of Peru, Kansas, daughter of Rolla Payne and Leona McCurry. On January 18, 1942, Stanley Dunham enlisted in the Army at Ft. Leavenworth. On November 29, 1942, Stanley Ann Dunham, daughter of Stanley Armour Dunham and Madelyn Lee Payne, was born in Wichita.
Stanley Ann Dunham married Barack Hussein Obama of Kenya. On August 4, 1961, their son, Barack Hussein Obama II, was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Barack Obama ? Stanley Ann Dunham ? Stanley Dunham ? Ralph Dunham ? Mary Ann Kearney ? Falmouth Kearney ? Joseph Kearney ? Falmouth Donovan and Mary Benn.
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Afternoon update: Wasn't he wonderful? The visit to Moneygall went perfectly. The speech in Dublin was magnificent. (Thanks to those who pointed out the typo in the President's birth date.) The sun shining on his face? The enormous crowd? My friend in Limerick called after the speech, and we crowed about it for an hour.
