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Joe Biden’s ancestral homeland in Ireland celebrated his win over Donald Trump. The president-elect has ties to distant relatives in Ballina, Ireland, thanks in part to Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist and former chief historian at Ancestry.com, who first began digging into Biden’s family origins before he became vice president. Through Smolenyak’s research, Biden was able to locate and meet his distant Irish cousins who went on to vocally support his candidacy through the 2020 race.
After Smolenyak detailed Biden’s ancestry in a 2013 article for Irish America, he later thanked her with a signed copy and an inscription that read: “Megan, I truly appreciate what you’ve done for me. My mom would be so very proud. Love ya, Joe Biden.” You can read her full story here:
