Chapter Seven - Coming to America

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Chapter Seven - Coming to America

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Cousin Margaret O'Keane (R.I.P.)

shared this photo that she thought might be 
a young Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane/Keane 

and a young Mathew O'Keane/Keane

In addition to family stories about Mathew's need to leave Ireland in a hurry to keep ahead of the British, there are extensive reasons to leave that are given in Thomas Gallagher's book "Paddy's Lament" where he describes "...the unbelievable, incomprehensible story of an entire population, under the protection and dominion of Great Britain, whose shoreline was little more than a day's sail away, starving to death while their own country's produce, cattle, and wheat, oats, and barley were being shipped in British bottoms to British ports.

During the winter of 1846-47 alone, while over 400,000 persons were dying of famine or famine-related disease, the British government, instead of prohibiting the removal of Irish food from Ireland, allowed seventeen million pounds sterling worth of grain, cattle, pigs, flour, eggs, and poultry to be shipped to England---enough food to feed, at least during these crucial winter months, twice the almost six million men, women, and children who composed the tenant-farmer and farm-laborer population. At the same time, to make matters worse for the Irish and even better for what 'The Nation' called 'British Commercial Christianity,' no relief food could be shipped to Irish ports, from whatever country, except in British ships."

British history notes a similar pattern in India where, under British rule, "agriculture produce" was exported outside India to better markets during the Great Madras famine of the 1870's. By British estimates, nearly 5.5 million people perished due to these English policies and actions.

The "Mayo-Ireland" website has a good summary of "The Great Famine - 1845-1849." The article notes that the event is often called "an Gorta Mor" (The Great Hunger) that includes a story about Catherine's home area: 

"In March 1847, a large body of starving people gathered in Louisburgh seeking assistance from the relieving officer. He informed them that they would have to apply to the Board of Guardians who were to meet the next day at Delphi Lodge, ten miles away. Having spent the night in the open, they proceeded on foot to Delphi. When they reached Delphi, the Board were at lunch and could not be disturbed. When they finally did meet with them, assistance was refused. That day it rained and snowed and there was piercing wind. On the return journey to Louisburgh, many perished." 

An annual walk on the same route is held every year at the end of May to commemorate the sad event. The people walk from the Delphi Lodge back to the town of Louisburgh in remembrance.

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In May/June of 1848, Great-grandfather Mathew O'Keane and Great-grandmother Catherine (Prendergast) O'Keane---our first ancestors who came to America---emigrated from Ireland's County Mayo with their infant daughter, Bridget, while leaving their first-born son, George, behind with his Prendergast grandparents for lack of funds for the passage. Family stories have a sister of Mathew's going into indentured servitude to be able to purchase tickets for the trip to America, along with a ticket for a brother of Mathew's named Jacob. (No other information on this unnamed sister and Jacob are available.)

They probably sailed aboard a "coffin ship,"" out of Liverpool, England. Those sailing vessels were so named because of the many lives that were lost to illness along the journey. Sadly, according to family stories, Mathew and Catherine's infant daughter died on the journey and was buried at sea.

I'd like to think the "Prayer for the Burial at Sea" was given:

"We therefore commit the earthly remains of Bridget Keane, the daughter of Mathew and Catherine Keane, to the deep, looking for the general Resurrection on the last day, and the life of the world to come, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose second coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the sea shall give up her dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. Amen."

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As mentioned, the book "Paddy's Lament" gives a horrifying description of the need to emigrate from Ireland, the immigration process and the terrible experiences the immigrants had to go through. But, I just got the feeling that Mathew and Catherine and Bridget's situation did not seem to match as terrible a situation as the conditions described in the book. The photo on the right is believed to show the trunk that Mathew and Catherine brought with them and was in the attic of one of the homes in Wisconsin. The stenciled letters on the side appear to say: "M. Kean." Unless it was only brought from the east coast of the United States to Wisconsin, this large trunk would be a luxury that most of the emigrants on the "Coffin Ship" would not have had.

So, they might have traveled "one notch" better in a "cabin" passage, rather than "steerage" which is below the deck. This is only a balanced guess.

Research by our cousin Jack Whelan---based on his correspondence with a librarian and historian in Ogdensburg, New York---suggests the following process when Mathew and Catherine reached America:

In June of 1848, Mathew and Catherine disembark at La Chine, a port of the city of Montreal, Quebec Province, Canada. From there they travel by ferry boat down the St. Lawrence River, entering the United States at Ogdensburg, New York (the town where Mathew's naturalization papers say he entered the United States). A period map on the next page appears to indicate that they can be put to good use to help settle and develop the lands of Canada and America.

Their names are not listed on the registry for the Grosse Ile quarantine island located in the St. Lawrence River. So, apparently, they were not a part of that ongoing quarantine location. From Ogdensburg, a railroad line continues to Albany, New York. Mathew and Catherine spent about the next year to a year and a half in this area, perhaps to earn money for further traveling and where their third child and first American-born child, Richard, was born in 1849.

Albany is the city where the Erie Canal begins which is the likely route taken by Mathew and Catherine and their son, Richard. They would then travel through the Great Lakes until they reached Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Why they did not emigrate through New York City, Boston or even Chicago is likely to have had something to do with information gained from friends or relatives who had come to America before Mathew and Catherine arrived. Their route could have also reflected a quarantine in effect from time to time at different port cities that reflected health issues such as cholera outbreaks.

The local church they belonged to when they settled in Wisconsin has a cemetery with headstones for Fahey's and Staunton's who came from the same Westport, Ireland area as noted on the headstones.

The map on the right, from the online archival photos of the New York Public Library, notes: "The parts of the map which are shaded, designate the contemplated field of the SOCIETY FOR COLONIZING THE IRISH CATHOLIC POOR by sending them to America." The date appears to be November of 1842. This reflects the desire of the British to get rid of the Irish Poor still living in Ireland and the need in Canada and the United States to populate their new and growing countries.

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The Castlebar newspaper article on the left describes some good reasons to leave Ireland---including the death by fever of a Richard Kean, Esquire. At the same time, America was being settled with promises of cheap land and great opportunity. Wisconsin changed from being a territory to statehood in 1848, the same year Mathew and Catherine arrived in America. One family story has Mathew interested in traveling even further the next year to take part in the "California Gold Rush of 1849."

Someone or something brings them to Wisconsin. By 1850, Mathew and Catherine and first-born American son, Richard, are boarding with a widower, Michael O'Sullivan, a tailor and his children in Merton Township, Waukesha County, Wisconsin (probably in the Monches area), according to the US Federal Census of 1850. The census notes that some of Michael O'Sullivan's children are born in New York, so they could have met each other in the Albany area previously. There are O'Sullivan headstones in our family's nearby St. Columba Cemetery at "Lake Five," Village of Richfield, Washington County, Wisconsin. Also on the census, Mathew is listed as a laborer, age 33, and born in Ireland. Catherine is listed as age 24 and born in Ireland. Richard is listed as age 1 and born in New York.

While Mathew and Catherine were still in Ireland they could have heard "news" coming back from America that caused them to look for old friends and neighbors who had come to settle in Wisconsin earlier. As noted previously, the family's church, St. Columba at "Lake Five," has a cemetery with headstones of "Fahey's" that note that they were earlier settlers who had come from the town of Westport, Ireland, located between Catherine's Accony to the west and the county town of Castlebar to the east. The cemetery's "Stanton" headstones are for early settlers and are a common name for those same homeland regions in Ireland. Stanton's, Fahy's  and O'Keane's are listed as sponsors for the baptisms of each other's family members on a number of early church records here in America. So, it is possible Mathew and Catherine had received news about this particular paradise named "Wisconsin." 

The "History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties, Wisconsin," Western Historical Company, 1881, has a Michael Fahey listed as an early settler with the following description: "Michael Fahey, farmer, Sec. 27; P.O. Richfield; has 240 acres; was born near Westford ["Westport" in other documentation], County Mayo, Ireland, Oct. 1, 1813; is the son of William Fahey; he came to America in 1841; landed in Quebec, Canada, where he remained till 1844, when he moved to Town 9, Range 19 (now Richfield); he purchased his land from the Government. He was married, in Ireland, previous to coming to America, in 1841, to Miss Mary Stanton, daughter of Patrick Stanton...."

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As noted earlier, Mathew, Catherine and Richard's first residence in Wisconsin is with the widower Michael O'Sullivan. There are also five O'Sullivan children listed on the census. Mr. O'Sullivan and three of his children are all born in Ireland. The two youngest children were born in New York in 1842 and 1846, so perhaps both families met up while living in the Albany area of New York.

Catherine was known for her skills as a seamstress, so she could have learned her skills from Mr. O'Sullivan, the tailor. Nancy Bond, the genealogist from Chicago, noted that her "Keane-O'Sullivan" line originally lived amongst many others of the same name, nearby one another, in County Kerry. So, Nancy has speculated that the O'Keane's/Keane's and O'Sullivan's might have known each other in Ireland in the County Kerry region as well, at one time. She goes on to speculate that they could have been related by marriage, and perhaps Michael O'Sullivan's deceased wife could have been a relative of Mathew or Catherine, especially since it appears they linked up in Albany, New York.

According to my dad, James Joseph O'Keane, one of Mathew's first teaching positions was in the next township north of Merton Township in Waukesha County, which was Erin Township in Washington County at Mountin School (no "a" in Mountin), located on the northwest corner of the intersection of what is now State Road 83 and Roosevelt Road. (The site where the school was located is now the "Erin Motel and Restaurant." ) Mathew boarded just north of the school on the McGraw farm, again, according to my dad. A local history book notes that the first classes at Mountin School were held there in 1851. The school is named after the Mountin family who were early settlers in the area and who probably donated the land for the school.

Mountin School

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There were many Irish settlers in southeast Wisconsin. Erin Township was settled and named by the Irish because the rolling hills of the countryside reminded these Irish settlers of their homeland in Ireland. Nancy (Collins) Henke (R.I.P.), a descendant of one of the Irish families who settled Erin Township and a local historian, notes in her book: St. Patrick's Catholic Church - Celebrating 150 Years:

"When the Town of Erin was officially founded in 1846 there were 168 people living in the township. Eleven families were from Norway, seven from Germany, two from England, one from France---and 147 from Ireland."

In 1858, after teaching in the Town of Erin for several years and with a growing family, Mathew, with Catherine and their family moved a few miles northeast to the Village of Richfield, Washington County, having saved enough money to purchase their own six acres of land. The original mortgage is signed "In Witness Whereof" by Michael Fahey, Justice of the Peace." The home is about one-half mile north of the unincorporated village of "Plat" at 696 Plat Road, the last house on the east side of the road before the Dieball farm. Washington County Land Records Vol 9, p.32, has "Matthew O'Kean" purchasing six acres (part of SW 1/4 NW 1/4 of section 29) in the town of Richfield on 11 December 1858 from Edward, Francis and James McKenna for $120. The parcel was sold per Vol. 28, p.476 on 21 November 1871 by "Matthew O'Kean and his wife, Catherine O'Kean" for $600 to Thomas Cosgrove.

According to my dad, Mathew traveled, sometimes by horse, sometimes on foot, daily, from this first real home and property, always referred to as "The Six Acres" in family stories, to teach at St. Augustine School. The school was located just north of the original St. Augustine Church and Cemetery on the northeast corner of the intersection of today's Holy Hill Road (aka State Road 167) and St. Augustine Road (aka County Road CC). The current building is now a private, religious school.

During the school recess months in the summer, Mathew worked as a farm laborer. The family continued to grow and, eventually, the oldest son Richard owns a 40-acre farm southwest of Plat, the unincorporated village at the intersection of Monches Road and Plat Road in the Village of Richfield. Washington County Land Records, Vol. 34, p.166, has Richard O'Keane purchasing 80 acres (NE 1/4 NE 1/4 of section 31 in the town of Richfield from Daniel Shannon for $730 on 16 February 1876. Three small parcels (one acre or less) were sold off in 1895, 1898 and 1899 to William Dunn, John Kuenzi and John Meyer, respectively.

And still later, another son, James, owns the next 80-acre farm west of Richard's. More land is purchased but is later lost during a series of recessionary periods. That period in US history may have been the "Long Depression" which stretched from 1873 to 1896, beginning as a banking crisis brought on by insolvent mortgages and complex financial instruments that quickly spread to the real economy, according to the historian Scott Reynolds Nelson. A situation that was very similar to the housing crisis of 2006-2008.

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The family's church, St. Columba Church, in the unincorporated village of Lake Five, within the Village of Richfield, on the northeast corner of the intersection of County Line Q and State Highway 164, was primarily made up of Irish parishioners in those early days, just like the nearby churches of St. John's in Monches, St. Patrick's in Thompson and St. James in Lannon. 

St. Columba Cemetery and Church

(the second church that replaced the original log structure)

Many of our ancestors are buried in the St. Columba Cemetery. Besides O'Keane's and Prendergast's, there are also Kiley, Daley, Sheehan, Fleming, Flynn, McCartan, Persick, Quaid and Whelan relatives in this cemetery. 

Headstone photos and family information for this cemetery can be viewed at my blog: http://saintcolumbacemetery.blogspot.com/ . 

Other relatives are buried in the St. John's Monches Cemetery, the two St. Patrick's cemeteries ("Old" and "New") in Thompson, St. James Cemetery in Lannon and St. Paul's UCC Church at the intersection of Monches Road and St. Augustine Road, along with many Milwaukee cemeteries, especially Holy Cross Cemetery, because of the many family members in later generations who moved to "the big city" of Milwaukee for employment.

In the early years, families tended to settle and attend activities within their ethnic and religious groups. There were also churches with high concentrations of German, Norwegian, Swiss and English families such as St. Olaf's, St. Paul's, St. Clare's and St. Augustine's.

Going back to Mathew and Catherine's growing family, the 1860 US Census has Mathew "Okane," age 35 and Catherine "Okane," age 28, living in the Town of Richfield, Washington County, Wisconsin, along with Richard Okane, age 11, Mary Okane, age 9, Tereniz Okane, age 5, James Okane, age 4, Anna Okane, age 2.

In the early 1860's, as the American Civil War progresses, a family story has Mathew working in the fields while on summer recess from teaching when a military recruiter from Oconomowoc rides by on horseback and asks if he is interested in joining the Union Army.

There had been rumors that the British might be planning to support the southern, Confederate forces by bringing in much needed supplies and munitions through the Port of New Orleans. Family stories say that "the opportunity to fight the British" is reason enough for Mathew to enlist in the Union Army---and so he does. A sense of adventure, military wages and a way to demonstrate his patriotism to his new country may have been factors as well.

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According to the research done by our cousin Jack Whelan, Mathew enlists on August 10th of 1861 and musters on March 23rd of 1862 at Camp Randall in Madison, Wisconsin---little matter that he probably had to lie about his age in order to be young enough to meet enlistment requirements which were from ages 18 to 35 while he was likely to be closer to age 40. From Madison, as a private, Mathew and his regiment, Company G of the 20th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the United States Army, proceeded by rail to the end of the line at Rolla, Missouri. They then marched to Springfield, Missouri to join "The Army of the Frontier."

From Springfield, two divisions of "The Army of the Frontier," including Mathew's 20th Infantry Regiment, embarked on a forced march through the Ozark and Boston Mountains, covering  over 100 miles on foot in three days, arriving at Prairie Grove, Arkansas. There they engaged the South's Trans-Mississippi forces that were beginning a northward thrust in a final attempt to secure Missouri for the Confederacy.

"The Battle of Prairie Grove" was fought on December 7th of 1862. After the battle, the Confederates retreated southward. In that battle there were 3,500 Northern and Southern troops dead, wounded or missing. Mathew was one of those wounded, struck in the shoulder by a musket ball that went on to fracture his right scapula.

Mathew received a medical discharge
on March 23rd of 1863 because of the severity of the wound that remained infected throughout the rest of his life.                                                                 
                                                                              The Civil War research completed by our cousin, Jack Whelan (R.I.P.), will be presented in a later chapter.

Civil War Recruitment Poster

Then a few years later, according to the 1870 US Census, Matthew "Okane," age 50, and Catharine "Okane," age 40, are residing in Richfield Township, Washington County, Wisconsin, along with James Okane, age 15, Ann Okane, age 14, and Catharine Okane, age 12. Their other four children---Richard, Mary Jane, Terence and Eliza are residing elsewhere. Richard is likely to be working and boarding at what is to become his farm southwest of Plat and Mary Jane, Terence and "Eliza" are at the Cosgrove farm next door.

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The "Second Generation"---

Mathew and Catherine's children (underlined)

Mathew William O'Keane/Keane (c. 1817 - 1879)

and

Catherine Prendergast (c. 1821 - 1876)

Mathew and Catherine have two deceased Irish-born children, their first-born son, George (c. 1841-c. 1855), and their second-born child, an infant daughter, Bridget (c. 1847-c. 1848). Mathew and Catherine go on to have seven American-born children. They are:

+ Richard (1849-1923) who marries Mary Ann Daley (1854-1929). Mary Ann is from a family of early settlers from the Monches area. They settle on that first 40-acre farm near Plat that is purchased on December 15, 1874 that was originally settled by the Patrick Shannon family in 1842.

+ Mary Jane (1851-1930) who marries Thomas Cosgrove (1830-1878), who is from a family of early settlers in the Plat area. Thomas is killed in a railroad accident after they move to DeKalb County, Illinois. Mary Jane later marries James Prendergast (1847-1920), a cousin from Accony, Ireland in what may have been a trans-Atlantic, "arranged" marriage. They settle on a farm in the Town of Erin, midway between Monches and Lake Five.

+ Terence (1853-1910) who marries Catherine Comer (1854-1933). Catherine is from a Manitowoc County (northeastern Wisconsin) family of early settlers who had emigrated from Achill Island, Ireland, just north of the Accony area, across Clew Bay. A family story claims that Terence was married to a Julia Colmer. Terence, who appears to be the "black sheep" of the family, lived in Chicago, Appleton and Milwaukee before drowning in the Milwaukee River.

+ James (1854-1942) who marries Anna Kiley (1859-1921). Anna is from a family of early settlers from the Plat area. They settle on the 40-acre farm next to Richard's farm. It was purchased June 4, 1881 and originally settled by the John Cosgrove family in 1844.

+ Anne ("Annie") (1856-1948) who marries Edward Flynn (1855-1929). Edward is a brother of the Michael Flynn named in the next entry and they are both from a family of early settlers from the Plat area. They settle south of Plat and west of Lake Five, adjacent to the O'Keane properties, right on top of the hill that is still known today as "Flynn's Hill."

+ Catherine (Kitty") (1858-1958) who marries Edward's brother, Michael Flynn (1845-1930). They start out on the Flynn family homestead north of Plat and then move to Milwaukee.

+ Elizabeth ("Eliza") (1862-1930) who marries Charles E. Fleming (1863-1957). Charles is from a family of early settlers from the Plat area and they settle on the Fleming farm east of Plat.

Great-grandmother Catherine Prendergast O'Keane dies on December 21, 1876. Great-grandfather Mathew William O'Keane dies two years later on November 2, 1878. Both are buried alongside their son, Terence, in the St. Columba Cemetery in "Lake Five," Village of Richfield.

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The "Third Generation"---

the children of the seven children 

of the second generation

Richard O'Keane & Mary Ann Daley O'Keane's four children:

+ Lucy (O'Keane) Burg and her husband, Francis Burg

+ Ambrose O'Keane (single)

+ Mathew O'Keane and his wife, Mary Burg O'Keane

+ Mary Ellen O'Keane, aka: Sister Mary Cornelia (single)

Mary Jane (O'Keane) Cosgrove-Prendergast and Thomas Cosgrove & then James Prendergast's six children:

+ Catherine Cosgrove (died in infancy)

+ Thomas Cosgrove (single)

+ Richard Prendergast and his wife Margaret (Quaid) Prendergast

+ Kathryn "Katie" (Prendergast) Whipp and her husband, Edward Whipp

+ Mary Jane "Mayme" (Prendergast) Clark and her husband, Edward Clark

+ Margaret Agnes "Agnes" Prendergast, aka: Sister Mary Columba (single)

+ Rose Prendergast, aka: Sister Mary Mario (single)

Terence O'Keane and Catherine (Comer) O'Keane's three children:

+ Josephine O'Keane (single)

+ Helen Grace "Grace" (O'Keane) Carney and her husband, Harold J. Carney

+ Paul O'Keane (died in infancy)

James O'Keane and Anna (Kiley) O'Keane's seven children:

+ Kathryn "Katie" (O'Keane) Sheehan and her husband, John Sheehan

+ Viola (Ann Violet) O'Keane (single)

+ Ellen "Nellie" (O'Keane) Whelan and her husband, Joseph "Joe" Whelan

+ Florence (O'Keane) Whelan and her husband, Everett "Ev" Whelan

+ James Joseph O'Keane and his wife, Ruth (Reis) O'Keane

+ Francis O'Keane and his wife, Irma (Loew) O'Keane

+ John "Jack" O'Keane and his wife, Antoinette "Tootie" (Olinger) O'Keane

Anne "Annie" (O'Keane) Flynn and Edward Flynn's eight children:

+ Joseph Edward (or Edward Joseph) Flynn and his wife, Leone (Ripple) Flynn

+ William P. Flynn and his wife, Ann (Busch) Flynn

+ Walter T. Flynn and his wife, Catherine B. (Claffey) Flynn

+ George Raymond Flynn (single; died at age 31)

+ Mary Jane (Flynn) Boelk and her husband, Walter Boelk

+ Kathryn M. "Katie" (Flynn) Walsh and her husband, John Walsh

+ Eugene Flynn (single; died at age 1 year, 2 months)

+ Francis Flynn

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Catherine "Kitty" O'Keane Flynn and Michael Flynn's seventeen children:

+ Agnes Flynn

+ Ann "Annie" (Flynn) Clark and her husband, John Clark

+ Michael Flynn Jr. and his wife, Ella (Gauger) Flynn

+ George Francis Flynn and his wife, Mary "Mamie" (Mathews) Flynn

+ James Flynn and his wife, Lillian (Bucholz) Flynn

+ Mark Flynn (single; died at age 43)

+ Ralph Flynn (single; died at age 29)

+ Frances Flynn (died at birth)

+ Austin Flynn (twin to Rose) and his wife, Lenore (May) Flynn

+ Rose Flynn (twin to Austin) (single)

+ Mary Ellen "Mae" (Flynn) Gavigan and her husband, John "Jack" Gavigan

+ Loretta (Flynn) McCartan and her husband, Edward McCartan

+ Richard Flynn and his wife, (Dorothy Freisch) Flynn

+ Marion (Flynn) Weiss and her husband George Weiss

+ Genevieve (Flynn) Markey (twin to Jerome) and her husband, Frank Markey

+ Jerome Flynn (twin to Genevieve)

+ John E. Flynn

Elizabeth Ellen "Eliza" (O'Keane) Fleming and Charles Fleming's ten children:

+ James Marquette Fleming and his wife, Victoria (Degenefe) Fleming

+ Daniel Sarto Fleming and his wife, Dorothy (Birkholtz) Fleming

+ Paul Edward Fleming and his wife, Jean (Fons) Fleming

+ Mary Frances Fleming (single)

+ Martha Agnes (Fleming) Whiting and her husband, Charles Whiting

+ Catherine Blanche (Fleming) Fisler and her husband, Fred Fisler

+ Ann Marie Fleming (single)

+ John Joseph "Joe" Fleming (single)

+ Michael Matthew "Mike" Fleming (single)

+ Charles Sylvester Fleming (single)

Clockwise from left:

Anna (O'Keane) Flynn, Catherine (O'Keane) Flynn,

Mary Jane (O'Keane) Cosgrove Prendergast, Elizabeth (O'Keane) Fleming

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