Obama's Irish roots - CNN.com Genealogists at Ancestry.com first shed light on Barack Obama's Irish roots when he was campaigning for the presidency. They traced his Irish ancestry back to Falmouth Kearney, the president's great-great-great-grandfather on his mother's side, who immigrated from the Irish village of Moneygall to Ohio in 1850. Obama hasn't hesitated to embrace his Irish roots. Pictured, he enjoys a glass of Guinness in Moneygall alongside first lady Michelle Obama in May 2011.