President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama have revealed a common link. Aside from being presidents of the United States, the pair also share a similar heritage: each has an Irish shoemaker as their great-grandfather, which they revealed in a new Instagram post on Monday.
“Centuries ago, two shoemakers from Ireland boarded a ship to America with faith in an uncertain future,” Biden stated in the duo’s joint post. “In all their dreams, I’m not sure they could’ve imagined their two great-great-grandsons would be sworn in as United States Presidents. That’s the promise of hope.”
Biden’s shoemaker lineage can be traced to Owen Finnegan. A shoemaker by trade, Finnegan was born to John Finnegan and Mary Kearney in Ireland’s County Louth in 1818; his son James later moved to Seneca Falls in New York in 1850, according to ABC News.
Meanwhile, Obama’s seventh great-grandfather, Joseph Kearney, was born in Shinrone within Ireland’s County Offaly in 1698. The Kearney family later moved to the United States in the 1800s, according to the Irish Family History Centre.
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Biden and Obama’s sentimental post followed Biden’s own visit to Ireland last week, where the president conducted a pilgrimage through County Mayo. His trip included a visit to the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Knock shrine and a Castlebar hospice with a plaque dedicated to his late son, Beau Biden. The occasion was finished with a farewell speech outside of St. Muredach’s cathedral in Ballina to celebrate Irish and American values, according to The Guardian.
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