Offaly features in new book by Obama roots researcher

Offaly features strongly in a new book due out on January 31 next by American genealogist Megan Smolenyak. In "Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing" Ms Smolenyak shares over 20 of her most famous cases, including how she figured out US President Barack Obama's connection with Offaly.The author's fifth book includes several chapters on her work looking into the ancestral roots of both President Obama and his wife Michelle, including one chapter entitled "There's No One As Irish As Barack Obama". The chapters trace Ms Smolenyak's work tracing President Obama's roots to Fulmoth Kearney and Offaly village Moneygall. The work of Cloughjordan's Canon Stephen Neill in the same case is also acknowledged.Ms Smolenyak herself came to Ireland in order to be in Moneygall for the visit of President Obama and First Lady Michelle on May 23 last year. The 288-page "Hey. America, Your Roots Are Showing" published by Citadel Press is on sale from January 31.