Birthplace of JFK’s great grandfather

This small cottage in Dunganstown in County Wexford is the birthplace of JFK’s great grandfather Patrick Kennedy (b.1823 – 1858). By the time Patrick reached adulthood, both his parents were dead and the family homestead was controlled by his older brother John. The eldest son normally inherited the farmstead and the rest of the children would have normally emigrated to England or the New World. Patrick emigrated during the great Irish famine to the United States via Liverpool in 1849 and settled in East Boston, Massachusetts. The Kennedys went on to be top movers and shakers in American society and ultimately his great-grandson John F. Kennedy became the first Irish-American Catholic President of the United States of America. In June 1963, John F. Kennedy made a state visit to Ireland, in which he visited Dunganstown in what was seen as a personal tribute to his ancestry.