Eneclann on Nationwide this Friday

This Friday you can see our partners Eneclann in action on the RTE Programme “Nationwide”, tracing US President Barack Obama’s roots in Co.Offaly as far back as 1698.

Eneclann began the search for the Obama roots about four years ago as a training exercise for a new member of staff. Their starting point was the research done by American genealogist Megan Smolenyak who brought the family tree back to 1850 when Falmouth Kearney left Ireland bound for America.

The Nationwide team spent four days filming in Co.Offaly, Tipperary and Limerick visiting all the sites associated with Obama’s ancestors. Producer Niall Martin said: “All I can say at this stage is …it’s not what people think it is. Eneclann have spent a lot of time in archives and going through registers and have come up with some completely new information which we will be giving to the President”.

“If you look in some of the less well used archives you can find out surprising material and find out a lot more than just dates of births , marriages and deaths,” explains Eneclann Director Fiona Fitzsimons . “You can find out about the texture of peoples’ lives - what they did, trouble they had with the law, deeds and documents they signed and secrets they held or withheld.”

Tune in to Nationwide this Friday 20th May on RTE 1 at 7pm.