Write a comment
As US President Joe Biden prepares to make his visit to Ireland this week, it's an appropriate time to recall his connection to the Port of Newry, the very place his ancesters left from in 1849 and 1850 on their journey to New York, a journey if not taken would have changed the course of history dramatically.
President Biden's Great Great Grandfather Owen Finnegan left County Louth for America from the Port of Newry in 1849 with his young son James Finnegan and other members of the family also making the journey in 1850. Once source claims that Owen left the Port of Newry on 10 April 1849, 174 years to the day but we haven't been able to confirm that.
James son Ambrose Joseph Finnegan married Geraldine Catherine Blewitt and their daughter Jean married Joseph Biden their son being Joe Biden. Just like Newry Court sitting in Banbridge, ships from the Port of Newry occasionally sailed from Warrenpoint and that may have been the case for the 1500 ton Marchioness of Bute that took young James to foreign shores due to it's size but it was still known as 'The Port of Newry'
This week there is great excitement in County Louth with President Biden due to visit on Wednesday following his trip to Belfast on Tuesday. It seems unlikely that the President will stop off in Newry en-route with the presidental helicopter Marine One conducting landings in Cooley yesterday, but stranger things have happened. More likely he will fly over the area in Marine One looking down at where his ancesters departed these shores all those years ago.
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council officially invited the President to the area in early 2021 but it is not known if Council received a reply. If he stopped off at the Albert Basin in the centre of Newry on his way he would see the departure point taken by thousands as they left an area affected harshly by the great hunger in search of work and a new life in America.
While the full schedule has yet to be published it is believed the President will visit Dundalk and Carlingford for a walkabout. It's not known if Lily Finnegans pub at Whitestown is on the schedule this time round, a pub he visited as vice president in 2016 and as former vice president in 2017.
