“Michelle Obama’s Irish roots traced to Irish slave owner.”  So read the headline I spotted on Twitter.  I knew that back in 2009 after I had investigated Michelle Obama’s ancestry, one of The New York Times journalists I shared my research with landed a deal for a book about the First Lady’s roots, so I thought that her book must have finally been released.  I was surprised, then, when I clicked through and saw my own name.

I assume that it’s President Obama’s upcoming visit to Ireland that has made my exploration of the First Lady’s heritage freshly relevant, and while I appreciate that Antoinette Kelly of Irish Central reminded her readers of my earlier research, I’d like to take this opportunity to offer a few clarifications:

• The article stated that I said, “Michelle Obama’s family tree has a large Irish branch” and that one of her ancestors “would go on to have children with an Irish-American slave-owner named Shields.”

The Shields connection may well be true, but is unsubstantiated.  DNA testing could confirm or refute what the paper trail hints at, but unless and until that happens, the genealogist in me compels me to point out that it’s not possible to say with certainty that the First Lady is part Irish.

• “Smolenyak spent nine months researching the first lady’s family tree in conjunction with The New York Times.”

Many are under the misimpression that The New York Times commissioned this research, but I did it independently at my own expense.  The Times triggered my interest with an inquiry shortly before the inauguration, but no one was aware that I had continued to delve into the First Lady’s roots until I contacted the newspaper again in late August of that year, at which time they asked to be the first to write about it.

• “Smolenyak began the project just before Obama was named president and she says she hopes that her discovery will please the First Lady.  “The vast majority of people are happy when their heritage is just kind of handed to them,” she said. “She’s got a really rich ancestry. This would be my fantasy: that she’s clicking [on the Web site] through all the branches of her family tree, sitting there with Sasha and Malia and Marian Robinson, and I hope they’re pleased.””

This is a quote from one of the many interviews I did back in October 2009 at the time my research was shared, but I’d like to make it clear that I was speaking of the entirety of her family tree – the four to five generations I had uncovered for every branch, extending to all of her great-great-grandparents and many of her third great-grandparents.  I emphasize this simply because several of the comments posted indicate that some are under the mistaken impression that I was referring specifically to Melvina McGruder, the great-great-great-grandmother whose older children may have been fathered by an Irish-American slave owner.