The US ambassador, Michael J. Sullivan, likes to sport a Stetson when he can. He might be wearing a more traditional Irish cap had not his great grandfather, James Sullivan, left his native Beara Peninsula for the promise of better things.
Through his family line, therefore, the ambassador is a Corkman. By all accounts, he is proud of his roots. More than a year ago Riobard O'Dwyer, who has researched the genealogy of the entire Beara Peninsula, began work on the ambassador's family tree at his request.
There are over 80 branches of the Sullivan/O'Sullivan clan but from his earlier researches Mr O'Dwyer thought he had good leads as to the ancestry of this particular Sullivan.
He pored over the ancient records here and in the US and discovered that James Sullivan was baptised in Eyeries Church in 1844 and emigrated to Houghton County, Upper Michigan, around 1861 to become a copper miner.
James married another emigrant, Johanna Dunne, in 1866, and they had 10 children including Joseph, the ambassador's grandfather.
Telling it like this makes it look easy but that's not quite the case. Mr O'Dwyer, a former teacher with a passion for genealogy spanning 40 years, had to track James Sullivan's movements in America and those of his children. As he was doing it, the ambassador kept in touch and was keenly interested in the research.
Just recently Michael and his wife, Jane, visited Mr O'Dwyer in Eyeries and went to the church where James Sullivan was baptised, to the site of the school he attended in nearby Urhan and to the graveyard at Kilcatherine where the ambassador's great great grandparents are reputedly buried.
"He was absolutely thrilled with the completion of his family tree and the visit to his ancestral place," Mr O'Dwyer said.
The sequel to it all is that the Beara Tourism and Development Association has asked the ambassador to officially open the Beara Way Cycle Route, which has been developed to complement the successful Beara Way walking route. Mr Sullivan has agreed to do so once a suitable date has been found.