Posted By: March 16, 2024

JOE KENNEDY III —A FERMANAGH MAN

Everyone knows the Kennedys— on the paternal side of the family—are from Wexford, Ireland. However, on the maternal side, they are from Fermanagh.

Here’s the maternal line:

Joe III’s grandfather was the famed, beloved Bobby Kennedy. Bobby’s mother, of course, was Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy (1890-1995), the matriarch of the famous Kennedy Family (President Kennedy, Teddy, Jean Kennedy Smith, etc.).

Rose’s grandmother Rose Anna Cox was born circa 1835 in County Fermanagh—in Tonymore, in the parish of Knockninny, next to the parish of Kinawley. Her father was from the Kinawley parish. Rosanna Cox emigrated to Boston in 1857. She married Thomas Fitzgerald. One of their 12 children, John F. Fitzgerald, would become Rose’s father.

It would be wonderful if Joe III would make a pilgrimage to visit his ancestral Fermanagh home while he is the U.S. Special Envoy—in due homage to the maternal side of his family, which has unfortunately been overlooked …Reparations are in order. Due honor and gender equality for an amazing and wonderful Fermanagh women demand it!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. God bless America and God save Ireland.

—Fr. Sean McManus, Washington, DC., by way of Kinawley.