What links Muhammad Ali, Che and Reagan? - their Irish roots By Britta Schultejans

dpa German Press Agency Published: Wednesday May 9, 2007

By Britta Schultejans, dpa =
Ennis, Ireland- US senator and presidential candidate
Barack Obama found his recently, three of the Beatles foursome have
theirs, while it would probably surprise many people that even the
revolutionary Che Guevara also has them.
Irish roots: It would seem that any number of famous people around
the world can establish genealogical links in Ireland. Even part of
former African-American heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali's ancestry has
been traced to Ireland's western county of Clare.

"Float like a butterfly ­ sting like a bee:" Yasmin and Shenara
from the Clare town of Ennis know Ali's famous motto by heart even
though the man the 12-year-olds quote had his greatest success in the
ring at a time when not even their parents had yet been born.

Ali is a "legend," Yasmin says, without knowing that this legend
has Irish roots, roots in her town of Ennis, in fact.

Researchers at the County of Clare Heritage Centre have determined
that a great-grandfather of the one-time world heavyweight champion
had lived in the market town of 24,000.

"Abe Grady was born there about 160 years ago and emigrated to the
United States in the 1860s, settled in Kentucky and married an
African-American woman," Antoinette O'Brian of the Heritage Centre
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"Their son also married an African-American and one of the
daughters of that union was Odessa Lee Grady, Muhammad Ali's mother,"
she says.

For centuries, Ireland saw the emigration of its inhabitants,
particularly in times of the mid-19th century potato famine, to far-
flung regions and continents.

"The Irish have emigrated all over the world. There are many Irish
connections to many famous and successful people," Irish Prime
Minister Bertie Ahern told dpa during a recent election campaign
visit to Ennis.

He also referred to the "famous Irish pub culture," exported
worldwide along with the movement of his people.

Even the British music scene has a touch of the Irish in it,
considering that Brit Pop band Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher and
three-quarters of the Beatles (Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George
Harrison) were descended from Irish families.

Bruce Springsteen and actresses Grace Kelly and Judy Garland are
among the many US show business personalities with Irish ancestry.

"About 80 million people all over the world are said to have Irish
ancestors," O'Brian explains. "They live in Australia, New Zealand,
South America, especially Argentina, and Canada. But most of them
live in the United States."

An estimated 40 million US citizens have Irish roots, including
former presidents Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Theodore Roosevelt
and, of course, John F. Kennedy.

The ancestry of US Democrat senator and presidential hopeful
Barack Obama has been traced back to a shoemaker in the small village
of Moneygall in Country Offaly, central Ireland.

A great-grandfather, Fulmuth Kearney, sailed from Ireland to New
York, aged 19, in 1850, a Church of Ireland rector who had scoured
historical church files dating back to the late 1700s confirmed
recently.

The small town of Ballyporeen in County Tipperary in the south of
Ireland is well-known for its connection to former US President
Ronald Reagan. His grandfather Michael Regan had lived there before
he emigrated to the US in the 1860s.

The town used to have a Ronald Reagan Visitor Centre and a Ronald
Reagan pub but they have since closed down. Now, the pub's fittings
and its famous sign have been transferred to the Ronald Reagan
Presidential Library and Museum in Santa Barbara, California.

Were Reagan, who was a staunch anti-communist alive today, he
would likely be surprised to learn that he had something in common
with the iconic 1960s Latin American leftist revolutionary Che
Guevara - Irish roots.

According to biographical records, one of Che's grandfathers,
Patrick Lynch, set out for Spain from his birthplace Galway on
Ireland's western coast in the early 1700s. Guevara's father is said
to have commented about his son: "The first thing to note is that in
my son's veins flowed the blood of the Irish rebels."

In Galway today, however, few seem aware of the connection. Even
the local museum is unable to shed much light.

Patrick Lynch from Galway might be related to Che, but he has not
found out for sure, yet. "I have not traced back geneology as far as
necessary," he told dpa.

"But I might indeed be related to him," the solicitor, who met Che
Guevara's daughter two years ago, says. "She was with the Cuban
ambassador and briefly visited Lynch's castle in Galway. Her children
have red hair, by the way."

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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