Is Obama half Irish?

[redstate_democrat]

Is Obama half Irish, or is it a mix of something on his white side of the family?

[FSogol]

1. O'Bama?

:beer:

[elkston]

2. Well, "Dunham" sounds like an Irish name. That's his mother's surname (eom)

[David Dunham]

6. Being one, I can say that Dunham is English

[Drunken Irishman]

8. Dunham is English.

Generally, Irish names do not end in "ham", that's mostly reserved for English surnames.

[dflprincess]

30. I did a quick Google and Dunham can be either English or Irish

(though more commonly English). I looked because my surname is often mistaken for English - which it can be - but it's more apt to be found in Ireland. There were also a lot of Famine Irish who Anglicized their names in order to find employment. My great-great-grandfather did that and it has caused problems when tracing the family tree.

I keep reminding older relatives that Obama is part Irish - now I can add that he's related to Biden. Cool.

[elkston]

24. LOL. Well I struck out on that one! :) (eom)

[anigbrowl]

53. Ah, no it doesn't. I'm from Ireland and there's nothing especially Irish about it.

That said, we'll take him anyway.

[Max_powers94]

3. No, he is just half white

[redstate_democrat]

26. I thought white people have different ethnicities like everyone else

Like a lot of black people's African ethnicities are Ashanti, Bantu, and Yoruba.

[Fran Kubelik]

37. Apparently it's really that black and white

:rofl:

[redstate_democrat]

41. lol

:evilgrin: :spank:

[VeraAgnes]

4. I do not believe he is half Irish.....

maybe a geno-history but not half.

But...........
Everyone is Irish on Saint Patricks Day!

[Drunken Irishman]

5. Not half, but his mother's side had some Irish in her.

Falmouth Kearney came to the United States in the 1850. Kearney is a great, great, great, great grandfather or something like that.

[DeschutesRiver]

My mom's maiden name is Carney, which is a variant of Kearney

so this news makes me smile at the thought that Obama is a Kearney in part:)

[SwampG8r]

46. all american women need

a little irish in em

and i just happen to be ready to provide!

[whistler162]

7. geeeez!!!!!!!

Haven't you heard of Black Irish!

[redstate_democrat]

13. That's why I asked because someone said he was black Irish so I thought they

were basically saying he was white with Irish ethnicity and black with African ethnicity. :shrug:

[justiceischeap]

17. Umm... Black Irish has nothing to do with skin color

Black Irish is a traditional term believed to have originated in the United States that commonly ascribes to a dark brown or black hair phenotype appearing in Caucasian persons of Irish descent. This can be distinguished in contrast to the (lighter) brown, blond or red hair color variant, the latter stereotypically perceived to personify the look of typical Irish folk.<1> The term itself is rather ambiguous and not frequently used in everyday conversation. As such, the description of those it depicts has been known to vary to a degree in that some have differing views on which physical characteristics (e.g., dark hair, brown eyes, medium skin tone or dark hair, blue eyes, pale skin tone) best define the appearance of the so-called Black Irish.<2>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Irish

[ailsagirl]

20. You beat me to it!! :)

[redstate_democrat]

27. Oh okay! Learn something new everyday.

:D

[Starbucks Anarchist]

29. Colin Farrell = Black Irish, Conan O'Brien = Irish.

:D

[redstate_democrat]

36. Colin Farrell would be so hot.

If he wasn't such a whore. :D

[vaberella]

28. Actually there are a multitude of answers, your answer is not the definitive one.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_'Black_Irish'_mean

I had a teacher who was Irish-American and his Grandfather was Black, but his lineage goes several generations in Ireland and was labeled as Black Irish. Actually when he talked about it, he told us that he was a slight lighter than me...and I'm a dark butterscotch/caramel color. And his Granddad was labeled a Black Irish.

The name doesn't really seem to have an origin per say or even a real distinction since it's found in many places. Apparently in Scotland it's a name for people who worked in the gallows or something. Check link above.

[justiceischeap]

35. Well, as an Irish person, I'd have to disagree with that "answer"

Someone could be considered "black Irish" who happens to be of African descent but it still ties into the hair/eye color. At least that's what I was raised to believe anyway. Maybe my Da lied to me...

[vaberella]

44. I didn't say there was one answer...

I stated an example I was given in school by my teacher. Then there are the links to the multitude of uses that Black Irish seems to have. Some say it has nothing to do with hair and eye color, but a group of people. Other's say it's hair, eye, skin....other's have an entirely different class and status association.

My purpose was to say...at this point I don't think there is one right or I should say definitive answer.

[No Elephants]

54. Well, Obama's hair is black and he does have some Irish blood, so he fits the description!

[ailsagirl]

18. dup

[vaberella]

23. A Black Irish is mainly someone who's Black born in Ireland.

Lots of slaves were sent there and Black Irish associate themselves with Irish ancestry. Not African. Obama is American and not necessarily a Black Irish, but because of his Irish lineage they say Black Irish...but not really. He's just biracial American. However, back then Irish and Blacks, before Kennedy shared a lot of the same history. Even though the Irish layed a lot more hate on the Blacks back then.

[rvablue]

33. Can you post a credible source

that says there was slavery in Ireland.

There was never any slavery in Ireland, as far as I know.

[FSogol]

39. St. Patrick was a slave in Ireland. He escaped, returned to Rome and then returned

[justiceischeap]

43. PBS credible enough?

Irish raiders plundered along the Roman British coast and carried people off to sell them into slavery in Ireland. Slavery was an important institution throughout Europe at this time.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ancientireland/culture2.html

[vaberella]

45. Bah, beat me too it..this was the one I was aware of. St. Patrick was new to me. n/t

[rvablue]

51. WOW.

I didn't know this.
I intend to read up a lot more on it.
Thanks for the link.

[justiceischeap]

52. No problem!

I don't think there's a country around that if you go far enough back in history, there wasn't slavery of some sort.

Hell we still have slavery (sex slaves) in many countries today, including the US.

[LaurenG]

9. He's part Irish (so am I - wonder if we're related) ;)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3246786

Oh and this post by L. Coyote http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x199390 :rofl:

[vaberella]

14. He's related to Biden. I have no Irish, lots of French/Germans. n/t

[ps1074]

10. There is noone as irish as Barack O'Bama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

[vaberella]

15. Class...the ultra Black Irish. Hahaha...I wish I had some Irish blood now.

Damn the Germans and French for taking over Haiti.

[AspenRose]

56. Your ancestors picked the wrong caribbean island

They should have picked Montserrat ;-)

http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/Montserrat.html

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000000/000064.htm

[Pirate Smile]

34. That is great. That is pretty new - September 26th. We need to send that out to the media.

The Irish have claimed O'Bama. :)

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

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.

Megan Smolenyak, chief family historian for Ancestry.com, an online repository of family history records, said that although no single "smoking gun" document was found, there are about 20 different records that when pieced together make her "absolutely certain" of Obama's Moneygall roots.

Kearney sailed to New York aboard the S.S. Marmion at a time when legions of Irish were leaving their famine-stricken island. The shoemaker's son made a life in America, and his family line eventually produced Ann Durham, who was born in Kansas, according to Ancestry.com. The Web site has posted some of Obama's records online.

-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.
"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."

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

[vaberella]

11. Something like that. His mum's side and their related by blood to Biden's family.

It's freaky isn't it? Technically they're related by some stray family member. They share blood.

Biden said this in an interview...but I think he's also connected to McCain or someone like that as well.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. He has Irish ancestory

show that Obama's great-great-great-grandfather, Fulmouth Kearney, came from Moneygall in Ireland.

On March 20, 1850, a 19-year-old farm hand named Fulmouth Kearney landed in New York Harbor from famine-wrecked Ireland. He went to Ohio to live with relatives, married and had eight children. Three of his daughters married brothers in the Dunham family and one of them eventually produced Ann Dunham (Obama’s mother). Ann Dunham married a Kenyan student called Barack Obama and they had Barack Obama Jr.


http://www.irishamericansforobama.com/obama_irish_roots.html

[redstate_democrat]

16. Okay that's cool.

I know I have English and Native American ancestry, as well as my African ancestry.

[FrenchieCat]

19. Here is the scoop!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EADUQWKoVek

[redstate_democrat]

22. I just saw that. lol that was cool

"There's no one as Irish as Barack O'bama" lol

[dipsydoodle]

21. What makes you think that ?

Is his middle name Mick. :shrug:

[CountAllVotes]

25. Obama, Biden descended from Irish cobblers: researcher

>> Both US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and running mate Joseph Biden are descended from shoemakers who emigrated from Ireland within five weeks of each other, a researcher said Friday.

US genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak said the two politicians' ancestors set off for the United States in April and May 1849, joining up to 1.5 million other Irish who fled their island's devastating 1845-49 potato famine.

Last year, Smolenyak Smolenyak, who lives in New Jersey, traced Obama's maternal Kearney family roots to Moneygall in County Offaly.

<snip>

"In the case of both Biden and Obama's family, what's interesting is that the gentlemen in the family left in 1849 and then their families followed in 1850," Smolenyak Smolenyak told RTE public radio.

"What is even more peculiar is that both of the progenitors were shoemakers."

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Obama_Biden_descended_from_Irish_co_08292008.html

:dem:

[redstate_democrat]

31. That is interesting.

Providence????

[vaberella]

32. yeah...I read that...Biden even went as far as to say they were blood related. n/t

[TuxedoKat]

40. LOL -- that's interesting...

I hadn't heard that one yet, but I wouldn't be surprised. People are much more connected than they realize. During the last presidential election I found out I was distantly related to both Bush and Kerry, through several ancestors -- something like 13th cousins, ten times removed for example to both of them. Of course, half of the rest of America is related to them too!

I haven't checked yet to see if I can find a common ancestor with Sen. Obama or Biden, but I will have to do that for fun!

[vaberella]

48. You should. My sister is related to LaCoste & an extremely wealthy and well-known Greek family in

Greece. She carries their name. My step-dad had Greek/Latin lineage---Haiti was popular.

My mum and biological dad have lots of French some German and English in our Haitian blood line. So I'm not related to any Americans. I just have the crest of my French Family. I don't know anything about my slave side since my family fought in the Haitian Revolution.

[TuxedoKat]

57. Cousins

That's interesting about your sister and you still could be related to Obama through his English ancestors, if you have a common one far enough back in England. Also it looks like he also has German ancestry too, as I see some German names in his genealogy, and there maybe some French names too, but I'm not sure, so you may find a link there too if you find a common name.

Here's Sen. Obama's genealogy:

http://www.wargs.com/political/obama.html

The same website has one for Sen. Biden too, but when I tried to access it I got an error message so I don't know if they are updating the site or if they had to take it down for some reason. You can see genealogies for several other politicians and presidents there as well.

I forgot to mention in the last election both Bush and Kerry were cousins too and had several common ancestors. I think I read that Obama was related to Bush too (very distant cousin) and Cheney too! I wouldn't be braggin' about being related to him though!

PS Go Tinklenberg! (From our conversation from last night) :)

[H2O Man]

38. Everyone is.

[redstate_democrat]

42. How so?

[H2O Man]

50. My grandfather

was born in Ireland in 1874, and came to this land in 1879. He fathered the last of his 14 children at the age of 70. It is said that he practiced abstinence, when compared to his younger brother. Thus, two years ago, when I was planning for a reunion with members of both branches of the family, my favorite aunt told me that if everyone from across the country who said they planned to attend actually showed up, I had to be prepared to feed one half of the world's population.

She was, as always, correct.

[No Elephants]

47. He has one Irish ancestor, Falmouth Kearney or Carney, from

Moneygall, who did come here around 1840 or 1850. However, he is far from half Irish. Most of his ancestors on his mom's side were English or German.

Obama is also a distant relative of Harry Truman and Dick Cheney and, I think, even Dummya.

[vaberella]

49. Really? Besides the African side ...maybe we share the English and German...hmm no French though.

French is strongest in my line alongside African. As a person of slave descent, I don't know that side at all.

[No Elephants]

55. Here is the google search link. Have fun.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLA_enUS290US291&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Obama+genealogy&spell=1

I've looked at a few sites. Some are easier to read than others. Some are even interactive. It's fun.