So how is Tom Cruise Irish?

Tom Cruise is the talk of Dublin all day and has been all over the place, including the Guinness Storehouse, since he received his Certificate of Irish Heritage this morning. 

But just how is Tom Cruise Irish?

His family history has been researched for his visit today, and would you believe they've managed to trace it back 840 years to the arrival of Strongbow in Ireland. 

Cruise's furthest ancestor in Ireland is thought to be Augustino de Cruce, a knight who arrived with in Strongbow's army in the 12th Century. The Cruise family were given lands in Dublin and in Meath – namely the town of Naul in north Dublin and the parish of Cruicetown in Meath. They kept their Catholic faith throughout the years after the Reformation, like many old English settlers.

Meanwhile the Russell family were another family of English settlers who arrived in Ireland in the 1200s. They too were unmoved from their Catholicism throughout the generations, and members of the family fought with the Irish in the 1641 Rebellion.

In 1766 Bridget Russell married Andrew Cruise, and since then all family descendants have had the double-barrelled surname.

Patrick Russell Cruise was born around the year 1799 in the Drynam House, Dublin. He married Teresa Johnson and the couple emigrated to New York in the early 1800s.

However Patrick had inherited 500 acres of his families land in Co Westmeath and knowing that his tenants' leases were due to expire in 1843 he promised them first refusal on whether they wished to renew at the end of the term.

He discovered that his land-agent John Smith ignored this instruction and had evicted the tenants anyhow. So Patrick took the boat back to Ireland and personally restored all his old tenants to their land. He died in 1849 in Dublin, never making it back to the US.

Tom's great great grandmother was Mary Pauline Russell Cruise, the daughter of Patrick. Her son Thomas Cruise Mapother was born in 1876. He was the great grandfather of Tom Cruise, or Thomas Cruise Mapohter IV to give him his full name.

Upon receiving his Certificate of Irish Heritage this morning Cruise said:

'It’s a great honour for me and for my whole family – I can’t wait to bring it back to them and enlighten them on their history.'

'I’m very proud to be Irish. There’s a pride in America of being Irish. I can’t wait to come back and I want to visit the land of my ancestors and the castle that they had.'

Categories: Tom Cruise Irish heritage