On St. Patrick’s Day, I send along a pic of my great-grandfather, Dr. Michael W. O’Keefe, 1852-1926, born in Millstreet, son of Daniel & Catherine O’Keefe, so it is said, and sent to the US about 1860 to be educated by his older brother Rev. Dennis Aloysius O’Keefe (1840-1868), a priest who sent the boy Michael to a Catholic school (St. Charles) in Maryland.
Dennis had parishes in Uxbridge, Mass., and then Clinton, Mass., and died while raising funds to build a church. His parishioners built a huge monument to him in the graveyard (instead of a church?).
Michael went on to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., and graduated in 1874, then went to New York City and took his medical degree at Belvedere Hospital (now Columbia University). Then he settled in East Boston, and had an office in Maverick Square for 40+ years I believe.
He had a son Charles and a daughter Mary Anna (Molly), born 1882, who married Dr. Ernest L. Booth and became my father’s mother.
We know nothing more about Michael’s background except that his parents evidently did not come to the US, and that he had an older sister too, who married in the US a Mr. Belyea or some such. On the back of Michael’s old photo it is noted that he was born in Millstreet. On his death certificate his name is given as Michael Wallace O’Keefe. He was among the first Irish-born physicians in Boston.
Erin go bragh,
Robert Booth
Marblehead, Mass
.