Johnson and Warren Families
11 April 2016The Warren family were Old English settlers, who claimed descent from the Anglo-Norman conquerors. Their main estates were in Drumree, county Meath. Sir Peter Warren (1703-1752) was the son of Michael Warren of Warrenstown, and Lady Katherine Plunkett (nee Aylmer).[1] Left: Warrenstown House Peter Warren joined the navy at Dublin...
History of The Cruise Family
11 April 2016The documentary evidence shows that between 1169 and 1176 the de Cruis family were among the first wave of Anglo-Normans to invade Ireland. In the medieval records, the name appears as de Cruis, (also Cruce, Cruys, and Cruws). In 1176 Augustino de Cruce acted as a legal witness to a...
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. ...
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’...
Joseph Kearney b.ca. 1730
11 April 2016Joseph Kearney was Barack Obama’s 6x great-grandfather. This pedigree chart shows his wife, siblings, nieces and nephews. Read on for further information on some of these individuals. Thomas Kearney Thomas was witness to a lease dated 1768 (Bettridge to Kearney) and describes himself as a ‘peruke-maker’. He married Miss Jane...
An Early Involvement in Politics
11 April 2016Within the extended Kearney family tree we found an early involvement in politics. Michael Kearney, a kinsman and probably older brother, of Joseph Kearney, entered the Guild of Barber Surgeons and Periwigmakers in 1717, and was entered as a Capillamentarius (i.e. a hair dresser) in the Freemens Rolls in 1718....
Benn Family History
11 April 2016Fiona Fitzsimons of Eneclann met with cousins Dick Benn and Tom Donovan, President Obama’s closest living relatives in Ireland, to discuss Eneclann’s research into the Benn and Donovan families for RTE’s Nationwide programme. In 1825 Joseph Kearney of Moneygall married Phoebe Donovan. Phoebe Donovan’s parents were Fulmoth Donovan and Mary...
People and Places
11 April 2016Our research showed that in the 1760s the Benn and Donovan families first settled in the townland of Ballygurteen, and that nine generations of the Benn family have farmed the land down to the present day. The Donovans likewise remained in Ballygurteen down to 1999. The identity of both families...
