Inauguration of Irish American – Joe Biden – as US President
Today Presentient Elect Joe Biden was inaugurated the 46th President of the United States. President Biden’s affinity with Ireland is well known. He is among 23 United States presidents of Irish heritage.
President Biden’s Irish lineage is through his maternal line: the Blewitt family from Ballina, County Mayo and the Finnegan family from the Cooley, Peninsula in County Louth. His great-great-great-grandfather, Edward Blewitt, emigrated to the United States in 1851; indications are the family followed their son Patrick who had left in 1850. The Blewitts settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. In the late 1840s Biden’s great-great-grandfather, Owen Finnegan, left County Louth with his family and settled in Ovid Township, Seneca, New York.
Two of Owen’s sons fought in the American Civil War, Biden’s great great uncle Michael Finnegan, was killed at Cold Harbor, Virginia, in June 1864, while serving with the Irish Legion. Michael’s brother, Stephen, was wounded at Spotsylvania Courthouse earlier that May. .
You can read more on President Biden’s Irish connection on genealogist Megan Smolenya website here and more on the Irish Legion on historian Damian Shiels’ website: irishamericancivilwar.com.