US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's ancestry has been traced back to a shoemaker in a small Co Offaly village, it emerged today.
Records unearthed in the home of an elderly parishioner who died recently have shed new light on the prominent Illinois senator's roots
A Church of Ireland rector who has scoured historical church files dating back to the late 1700s confirmed Mr Obama descended from Moneygall on Offaly's border with Co Tipperary.
The village today holds little more than a couple of pubs, a few shops, a Catholic church and a GAA pitch.
Canon Stephen Neill, from the nearby town of Cloughjordan, began delving into the senior Democrat's past after a genealogist in Salt Lake City, Utah, told him about the possible connection with his parish.
"I would be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this is categorical evidence of Mr Obama's link to this part of the world," said the rector.
It was initially believed the would-be president's third great grandfather Fulmuth Kearney was the only one of his family to have sailed from Ireland to New York aged 19 in 1850. But the newly-uncovered records show other family members had in fact emigrated to America since the 1790s.
They also reveal that Fulmuth's father, Joseph, was a shoemaker — a wealthy skilled trade at the time. "They would have been among the upper echelons of society back then. They would have been comfortable," said Canon Neill.
The original Anglican church that Senator Obama's ancestors would have worshipped at still stands, although now as a private home, having been converted about 30 years ago.
A former civil rights attorney Mr Obama is being tipped as the first black presidential hopeful with a chance of taking the top office in Washington. The 45-year-old is hoping to see off Hillary Clinton to be the Democrat's official candidate for the White Office polls next year.
PA