Disaster Strikes!

I like the definition of The American Dream on https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/american-dream.asp - I think it sums up what many immigrants to the United States believed when they immigrated here:

"The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone. The American dream is believed to be achieved through sacrifice, risk-taking, and hard work, rather than by chance."

We have seen that the Keohanes were living the American Dream. John Keohane had a steady job working for the Boston Elevated Railway - they saved and were able to buy a new home, a car. They were able to help relatives and friends immigrate to the US. 

In Arlington Jim and my mother were attending school across the street. The unmarried relatives and friends were still coming out on their days off. John Keohane had a garden in the back or side yard - he grew potatoes - I suppose he used some for his home brew. We saw that my mother thought her parents were happy - it must have been a happy home. I think of Ma taking in the Keohane relatives coming from Ireland and then young Mae Keohane after her mother died in March 1927. She - they - must have been good hearted. 

Below is my grandfather's working card - looks like he paid $2 dues every month - was that a lot of money? What benefits did he get?

"Working Card Division No. 589 - Located at Boston, Mass. - Keohane, John - Dues $2.00 For Month of January, 1929. Special Assm't ___ Local Sec'y EOM Fehrnstrom. W.D. Mahon, Int. Pres. "                    Inside the circle it says "Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America."

1929 saw Popeye in a theater for the first time; the St. Valentine's Day Massacre occurred; the San Francisco Bay bridge opened- it was the longest bridge in the world at that time; Herbert Hoover, the 31st President, is sworn in; the first Academy Awards are held - they only take 15 minutes! Al Capone is in the news - "Al Capone beats and shoots three gang members after accusing them of being traitors, whilst at a party he is holding for them. Their bodies are found on the side of a road in Indiana the next day." "After a downpour of rain during a Yankees and Boston Red Sox baseball game, two people are killed when the crowd causes a stampede running for the stairs." I wonder if John and Jim Keohane are sports fans? Vatican City becomes an independent state. Color TV makes it debut! And John Keohane dies.

Family lore is that John Keohane wasn't feeling well for a couple of days before he finally went to a doctor - then he was diagnosed with appendicitis - he went to St. Elizabeth's Hospital - his appendix had ruptured - he had surgery but died of a postoperative paralytic ileus. An ileus is an obstruction of the intestine - it can happen after surgery. Back in 1929 they didn't have ultrasounds or CT scans. We don't know how it was diagnosed - maybe X-ray, palpation of his abdomen, assessment of symptoms - and we don't know how it was treated - antibiotics weren't in widespread use yet if he developed an infection from the ruptured appendix. Add to this that John Keohane was supposed to have "bad asthma" - did he have respiratory distress as well? I often wonder if he had Cystic Fibrosis - I have that recessive gene - maybe I got it from my grandfather.

The certified death certificate says:

"Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

Town of Arlington

Certificate of Death 

From the Records of Deaths in the Town of Arlington, Massachusetts, USA

  1. Date of death: July16, 1929

  2. Name: John Keohane

  3. Sex, and whether Single, Married or Widowed: Married - Husband       of  Margaret Keohane

  4. Color: White

  5.  Age: 38

  6. Disease or Cause of Death:  Paralytic Ileus - Post operative,   Ruptured Appendix

  7. Residence: 104 Park Ave., Arlington, Mass.

  8. Occupation: Motorman - Boston Elevated Ry. Co.

  9. Place of Death: St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Boston, Mass.

10. Place of Birth: Ireland

11. Name of Father: Patrick Keohane

12. Name of Mother: Hannah Kiely

13. Birthplace of Father: Ireland

14. Birthplace of Mother: Ireland

15. Place of Internment: Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Arlington, Mass.

I, E. Caroline Pierce, depose and say, that I hold the office of Town Clerk of the Town of Arlington, County of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts; that the records of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in said Town are in my custody, and that the above is a true extract from the Records of Death in said Town, as certified by me. 

Witness my hand and the Seal of said Town, on the 6th day of March 1930.

E. Caroline Pierce

Town Clerk"

What an awful shock this must have been for Ma! She was about 35 years old - she had 4 children - Jim was only 9 years old - Peggy was about 3. What was she going to do? How could she support her family? Was there life insurance in those days? Would John Keohane have had life insurance? Were there any Union benefits?

More immediately, how did Ma find out that her husband had died at St. Elizabeth's? Who told her? Was she at the hospital? How did she let people know? How did Ma take the news? What about the kids? Who was the first to get to Ma and the kids? I'm sure everyone must have gathered in Arlington Heights. 

The house must have been full of people. Aunt Hannah and Aunt Nellie Keohane were single and stayed there on their days off - they must have stayed there now to help with the kids, cooking, greeting people. Was Nellie Moriarty back in Ireland? I suppose Ma's brother Jim Moriarty didn't have time to come from Chicago - did he come later? Mary Moriarty Walsh was a widow herself with 6 children in Roxbury, and Catherine Moriarty Cronin and her husband also had 6 children and were living in Roxbury - I imagine they probably came out.  Tom Keohane must have been there as well as John Reardon, Con Butler, Jimmy and Peg McCarthy. The Hogan cousins must have come by. Was Dave Cosgrove from McLean's there? Matt Toohy? Ned Shea? John and Brother Tim Cummins? The Gardiners from Belmont? 

Who contacted the undertaker? When was the body returned home for the wake? Was it in the living room or in a bedroom? How did the kids react to this? 

I found a Purgatorian Society Enrollment from Ma. I wonder if she went all the way to Mission Church or someone got it for her. It says"

"This is to Certify that John Keohane is hereby enrolled as a perpetual member of the Purgatorian Society and is entitled to share in all  the spiritual benefits of perpetual membership. Eight High Masses are offered every day for the spiritual and temporal welfare of the members. When a living member dies, a special Mass is offered for the  repose of his or her soul upon presentation of the Receipt Leaflet. The person is then enrolled among the deceased members. Moreover, all members of the Purgatorian Society are considered Benefactors of the Redemptorist Order, and are thus entitled to a share in the prayers and other good works of the Order. 

Given at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual help, Roxbury, Mass.

this 18 day of July 1929 

By Margaret Keohane

Rev. Father Rector, C.S.S.R. "- I can't make out his name.

I wrote to Robbins Library to see if they had old newspapers that might have an obituary for my grandfather. Below is the reply.

"Robbins Library founded in 1835

November 27, 2006

Mary Ellen Murphy

222 Main St.

Watertown, Ma 02472

Dear Mrs. Murphy

I have enclosed a copy of John Keohane's obituary from the Boston Post's microfilm at Boston Public Library. The newspaper is dated July 18, 1929 p 31.

If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to contact Robbins Library.

Thank-you for your check.

Sincerely,

Ellen Wendruff

Ellen Wendruff

Adult Services

Robbins Library

700 Massachusetts Ave.

Arlington, Ma 02476"

The obituary states:

"Keohane - In Arlington Heights, July 16, John, beloved husband of Margaret Keohane (nee Moriarty). Funeral from his late home, 104 Park ave., North, Friday, July 19 at 8 o'clock. Solemn high mass at St. James Church at 9 o'clock. Late member of the Boston Carmen's Union, Division No. 589. Relatives and friends respectfully invited to attend."

They sent me an enlarged copy as well to make it easier to read.

A wake at home was the norm in the 1920s. As difficult as it was, I think death was considered more a part of life in that time. Multiple generations of a family lived together - so the family saw older relatives decline and die. Today families are scattered, and there are more life saving treatments  - doctors can keep people alive longer - people as well as doctors seem to be afraid to talk about death - people don't die - they pass away or just pass.

I wonder if Jim and my mother attended the funeral? Did someone stay home with Hannie and Peggy? Who were the pall bearers? How did everyone get to the church and then the cemetery - not everyone had cars back then.

Then there was the incident at the cemetery when the police arrested Con Butler - did they wait until people were leaving?  Con had gotten Sheila Donovan "in the family way" - she went out of state to have the baby but had come back to the Boston area. Family lore is that she knew that Con would be at John Keohane's funeral and had gone to point him out to the police. Did she have the baby with her? Did anyone notice or was it done discreetly? Was it the topic of conversation when they all went back to the house on Park Ave.? 

It cost Ma $60 for Lot No. 1824, $9.00 for opening it, and $5 for an Evergreen - Total $74.00. Ma paid it or someone went and paid the Arlington Cemetery Department for her on July 22, 1929. 

Ma paid $3 for the Care of Lot No. 1824 for the year 1930 on May 29, 1930 for a bill dated May 1, 1930. 

The final bill I have is for Perpetual Care for Lot 1824 for $63 - the bill is dated August 7, 1951 - Ma paid it August 28, 1951.

These papers for the cemetery were in the envelop that Hannie had given me with John Keohane's naturalization paper and death certificate among other forms.

Ma was pregnant with my aunt Rita when John Keohane died. Did she even know at this point that she was pregnant? Or did she find out soon afterwards? She said she thought about her own mother, Ellen Leary Moriarty - remember her from an earlier blog post, being pregnant with Ma when Myles Moriarty drowned in 1893. Here it is  -  35 years later and the same thing is happening to Ma. It must have been terrible wondering how she would manage - how could she support 4 - soon to be 5 - children?

We know that Aunt Hannah and Aunt Nellie Keohane helped her - they were still single, but were they able to take time off from their jobs to stay with the family? I seem to remember that Aunt Nellie stayed with them for a while. Life was different back in 1929 - I don't know what social services were available if any. I know my Aunt Hannie told me that Ma had a bank account in Newton Corner, but how much money was there. Did she have a mortgage to pay? John Keohane had had the car - Ma gave that to Jimmy McCarthy because he was the only one she knew who drove. 

And how was Ma feeling while she was pregnant? Some of the kids went to stay with Aunt Catherine Moriarty Cronin when my Aunt Rita was born. Hannie said that my Aunt Peggy loved their uncle Tim Cronin because she was missing their father. But Hannie said she didn't like him because he would rub his bushy beard against her face. Hannie said it was the same in Roxbury as it had been in Belmont - no bathtub - Aunt Catherine would fill up a big steel tub and all the Cronins as well as Hannie and Peggy would take a bath in the same bath water. My mother might have been there too. I seem to remember that Jim stayed with John Reardon and his wife Bertha. 

We know that the Keohanes were still at 104 Park Avenue North in Arlington Heights when the 1930 Census was taken on April 4. The census is interesting - it says Ma was the head of the family, and she is paying $20 per month rent! What?! The question is what is the value of the home if owned or monthly rent if rented - there is no option re whether the house is owned outright or if there is a mortgage. So is the $20 the mortgage or did the bank take the house and is charging Ma $20/month? A road trip to the Middlesex Registry of Deeds is definitely in order to see if we can figure this out.

Anyway, the census goes on to tell us that Ma has a radio, she does not live on a farm, she is a 36 year old widow, she reads and writes English, she and her parents were born in Ireland, she immigrated in 1912, she is a naturalized citizen, she speaks English, she has no occupation.

Jim is now 10, Ellen is 9, Hannie is 7 - they all attend school. Peggy is 5. Rita was born in March - the census lists her as 1/12 or a month old although it looks somewhat like 11/12 or 11 months.

George and Annie Carpenter are listed next door at 108 Park Ave North. They own their home like everyone else listed on this page - it is worth $6000 - the other houses are worth between $6000 and $7000 although #146 is only worth $4500.

August 1928 Peggy with Mrs Carpenter

On top of everything else, the Stock Market crashed in October and the Great Depression started. Things worsened for the Keohanes - Ma lost the house - they had to find some place to live. 

I am thinking of Ma's mother like Ma said that she did - Ellen Leary Moriarty's husband drowned in October 1893 - Ma was born in March 1894 - Ellen Leary could not afford to pay the rent and taxes on the property in Loughane - plus her 7 year old son, who was the only boy and the oldest child, was taken to live in Annascaul by his uncle James Moriarty - leaving Ellen Leary Moriarty with 3 little girls and another child on the way - and no way to support herself.  Ma must have thought history was repeating itself.

Speaking of Ma's mother, Ellen Leary Moriarty O'Sullivan wrote to Ma sometime around 1932 after Franklin Roosevelt was elected. 

So what did Ma do?

The American Dream

 We know from family lore that John Keohane moved his family to Belmont to save money to buy a house. I don't know if he continued driving the trolley from Harvard Square to Watertown Square or if he was given a new route. My mother had happy memories of living in Belmont. Eventually the time came when John Keohane and Ma were ready to buy a house - I don't know if John Keohane picked it out himself or if it was a joint decision. But they they found a house in Arlington Heights at the top of Park Avenue Extension - #104. I don't know if they had friends in Arlington or how they decided on Park Ave. There is a car barn in Arlington Heights. Perhaps John Keohane was driving a trolley from Harvard Square to Arlington Heights and got to know the area. I suppose we will never know. 104 Park Ave was at the top of a hill - there was a school across the street but there were also woods - it was much less developed than today. I think Arlington Heights had shops so Ma could walk down the hill to do shopping.

The red icon below shows 104 Park Avenue Extension - it goes down the hill, crosses Lowell Street, then comes to Massachusetts Avenue where the trolley passed on its way to Arlington Heights Station. Park Avenue continues cross Mass Ave. You can see Paul Revere road at the bottom - Aunt Hannah Keohane and uncle Stephen DeCourcey will live there later - on the end near Walgreen's - it used to be an A&P when I stayed with them. 

I like this picture because it shows the side of the house - it is on the corner Park Ave Ext and Morris Street.

I was searching around on the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds website to see when the Keohanes bought the house, but the online records only go back as far as 1994. But I did find out that the house was built about 1926 - so it was new when the Keohanes moved in!! That must have been a nice change from Belmont for Ma.

My mother and Hannie used to talk about their father having a car. My mother remembered riding in a rumble seat of a car. Hannie said she remembered Ma sitting in the back seat of a car with her arms in front of the kids so they wouldn't fall out. She said there were sides that had to be hooked to the car. The car was open - there was a see through piece that John Keohane attached to the car - to block the wind perhaps? I'm not sure when John Keohane bought the car - it was a Ford. By the 1920s Henry Ford had invented his assembly line so cars were more affordable to working families. Maybe after the trips to St. Elizabeth's for Hannie's and Peggy's births, Ma decided a car was more important than a new house!! We know that my grandfather had a car at least in Arlington.

Below is a picture of a 1926 Ford Roadster with a rumble seat - if 2 adults fit in it, I suppose a couple of kids could easily fit.

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/179374/216321.html?1307657351

Below is a picture of what a rumble seat looks like.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1097333

I took this picture years ago during one of our tours of Watertown, Belmont and Arlington. 

My mother talked about the Keohanes having a radio - they would put it in the window, and neighbors would come to listen to news about Al Smith running against Herbert Hoover. Al Smith was the first Catholic to run for president. I'm sure the Irish were very interested in the election. Unfortunately, Herbert Hoover was elected - Al Smith was subjected to some anti-Catholic prejudice.

My mother or Hannie told me that my grandfather and Ma also listened to Father Charles Coughlin - the radio priest! Apparently, at first Father Coughlin preached sermons and advocated for the poor. Later he was a supporter of Franklin Delano Roosevelt for President - later Coughlin turned against FDR. His shows later became anti-semitic, and he was eventually ordered off the radio by Catholic Hierarchy.

The Keohanes had reached the American Dream - my grandfather had a good job, they were able to buy a car, a house, and a radio. 

John Keohane could take the trolley or bus home from work and walk up the hill. My mother and Hannie both remember Jim taking an umbrella to met his father on a rainy day. A policeman was directing traffic in the intersection. Jim was standing waiting for his father, but the policeman thought he was trying to cross the street and motioned him to cross. Jim went to cross the street and was hit by a car. He was taken to Symmes Hospital in Arlington.

The above picture must have been taken shortly after the Keohanes moved to Park Ave. Peggy is the baby in the carriage - she was born in Belmont.  Hannie is on the left holding a baby doll, John Keohane is sitting on the steps, Jim is standing, and my mother is sitting on the stairs behind Peggy.

Hannie on the steps of the school across the street where Jim went. She is in he same outfit as the picture above. I cropped the picture for a closer look - the original is below.

I'm not sure if this is Hannie and Peggy or my mother and Hannah sitting on the same school steps. 

Jim in a nice suit.

Hannie remembers asking Jim if he had a happy memory about their father. Jim said he was with friends across Park Ave. at the school. John Keohane called him over to the car. Jim said he was so happy and proud - his father looked handsome in his uniform, and he had a car. Jim went running happily over to his father who slapped him for not doing something that his father had told him to do. I guess that was more a bittersweet memory, donít you think?

Hannie and Jim sitting on the grass - my mother behind Hannie - Peggy playing with Jim.

John Keohane with Peggy in the sweater and Hannie. I love his hat!

John Keohane holding Peggy - looks like my mother is in the back.

My mother in front, Ned Shea holding Peggy with Hannie on his shoulders. Dan Gimley - the boyfriend who dumped Aunt Nellie to marry someone he got pregnant - is behind my mother. She thought he was wearing John Keohane's hat. Look at Ma looking out the window.

The unedited version is below.

Dan Gimlett holding Peggy and my mother/Ellen - Jim in back playing with the hat.

Aunt Nellie with Hannie, Peggy, and my mother - Jim in the back.

Mrs. Carpenter who lived next door with Peggy, and I think it is Mrs. Carpenter's dog.

Hannie said that one day Ma was out of matches and sent Hannie to the neighbor - Mrs. Carpenter - to borrow some. Hannie brought the matches home but kept a couple. Hannie was small at this time - she was born in 1924, and this was before the 1930 census. There was a wooded area past the school. Hannie and a little playmate went to the woods and started lighting the matches. The woods caught fire. Hannie's memory of her father is her hiding under her bed and her father's arms reaching under the bed to pull her out. 

Not sure where this porch is but the kids seem to like the dog - Jim, Peggy and I think it is Hannie.

I know there were old pictures of the family at Revere Beach - John Keohane was in the old fashioned bathing suit. But those pictures have gone AWOL. I would love to include them in this narrative. I wonder if the Keohanes drove to Revere Beach or took the bus?

My mother said John Keohane used to make home brew in Arlington also. He had a garden in the back of the house. Mae Keohane came to stay with them in Arlington sometime after her mother died. (Do you remember her father was Tom Keohane - John Keohane's brother?)  My mother and Hannie both remember Mae taking the Sunday newspaper before anyone could read it - she would sit on the part she wasn't reading and read the funnies. The others were dying to get the paper, but Mae took her time. Hannie said Ma thought it was because Mae had nothing of her own - no mother, no home - she was sent from one relative or family friend to the next. 

Life must have been happy in those times for the Keohanes. Remember where Ma and John Keohane came from. Ma left Loughane - that rocky farm with the stern step-father. John Keohane worked and saved to buy a house for his family before he emigrated. They left their families not knowing if they would see them again. They came to Massachusetts and found work. Remember that there were still anti-Irish feelings when they arrived in Boston. They married, had a family, bought a house, bought a car. Their house was a meeting place for their single Irish friends and relatives. Life was good.

The Keohanes Move To Belmont

My grandparents were living in East Watertown within walking distance to the shops and fire station in Coolidge Square in the early 1920s. That was very handy for my grandmother with two small babies. My mother said that when Ma took her and Jim for a walk, Jim would yell "see the ball, see the ball" when he saw the ball at the top of the flagpole at the fire station - then he would run into the fire station calling 'Dada, Dada!!" With no freezers in those days and small ice boxes, I suppose Ma walked down to the grocery stores, the bakery, and the butcher's several times weekly - if not daily. She might have bumped into Hannah Burns, the wife of Johnny Murphy's great-great uncle Patrick Burns who lived nearby on Mount Auburn Street. Or perhaps she bumped into Johnny Murphy's great aunts Bridget or Julia Burns who lived near Sacred Heart Church with great-great uncle David Burns. They were all from Gortdromagh in Sneem - less than 2 miles from Loughane where Ma came from. I suppose Nellie and Hannah Keohane might come out on their days off or her sister Nellie Moriarty on her day off - we just learned she was out here until at least 1926. Relatives are living in Roxbury, Somerville, and Cambridge - the apartment on Adams Street was close to a trolley stop so it wasn't that difficult for visitors to get there.

I just found that note that my mother wrote - the landlord on Adams Street was very fussy - he didn't like kids. Ma was worried when she was having my mother about going home to a cranky landlord. But he died while she was in the hospital - it wasn't like today when a woman has a baby and is home a day or two later! John Keohane never told Ma until she and my mother were coming home - he was afraid she would be upset. I guess there was a nice tenant in the house - she was nice to Ma and liked Jim. 

I am sure that Ma and John Keohane wanted to buy their own home. Owning property is very important to the Irish after all the years they were tenants at the mercy of absentee English landlords. So maybe it wasn't too much of a surprise when John Keohane came home one day and said he had found a cheaper apartment in Belmont, which was very rural in those days. With the cheaper apartment, they could save more money. But my mother said Ma was flabbergasted when she saw the house up the hill on the top of Concord Road! It was a downhill walk to Belmont Center, but then there was the walk back up while carrying bundles or pushing 2 babies and bundles in a baby carriage. The house was on a lane off Concord Ave with meadows at the other end. 

This picture was taken from Concord Ave side in 1979.

The Keohanes rented the left side of the house - the Gardiners the right. The new apartment was very remote compared to the house in East Watertown, which was within easy walking distance of everything. My mother said Ma almost died when she saw the place and where it was located. John Keohane must have been familiar with the area from working at McLean Hospital.  There was no electricity, no gas, no hot water - just a coal stove in the kitchen and a black pot belly stove in the 2nd floor bedroom. There was nothing on the 3rd floor. My mother remembers seeing living room and dining room furniture up there and lots of dead flies on the floor. There was no bathroom - only a toilet shared between apartments - it was just a toilet - no sink. Ma had to bring in kindling wood and light a fire even when it was 80-90 degrees to heat water for tea, cooking, bathing, washing clothes. Ma used to heat the iron on the stove. What a change for Ma - it must have been like going home to Loughane without the rocks and sea view. She had been working as a domestic servant so was used to a few modern - for those times - conveniences.

The Keohanes rented the left side of the house.

This is the back of the house.

My mother and Hannie talked about taking baths on Saturday nights  for Church on Sunday morning. There was no bathtub as we know it. They would pull out a big tub, and Ma would be boiling kettles and pots of water on the stove. One after another, the whole family took a bath in the same tub and in the same water. Imagine being the last one in?

My mother said when the electric light did come, they all went down to the street to look up at the house lit up with electricity. She said John Cummins brought Ma an electric iron - he was the only one who gave her anything after all the meals, etc. that she had made for the single Irish lads. 

John Reardon holding Hannie and Ellen with Jim in back. John was John Keohane's first cousin - John Reardon's mother was Ellen Keohane - John's aunt - his father, Patrick Keohane's sister. We have already seen that John Reardon came out to my father.

My mother also remembers gooseberries growing wild around the house - she and Jim would eat them. She said she and Jim used to play around the yard - the front and back of the house, in the lane, up to the field. Sometimes the farm hands would stop the wagons and take my mother and Jim up with them to ride to the field for haying and other work. She had a hazy recollection of a wind mill. These farm hands probably worked for the Atkins family who owned a huge portion of the surrounding lands - their mansions were on the opposite side of Concord Ave. and a little closer to Belmont Center. I think I read that the Atkins donated the land for Beaverbrook Reservation in Belmont. They owned the largest sugar cane plantation in Cuba - Soledad. Johnny Murphy's aunt Bridie Murphy worked for and retired from the Atkins family.

My mother said the Gardiners were an old couple. Mrs. Gardiner was very good and helpful to Ma - she liked to hold the babies. Mrs. Gardiner was from Mattapan. When she was a kid, my mother thought she would never get to Mattapan. She thought it was someplace wonderful and important. Imagine when she started dating my father from Lower Mills! Mrs. Gardiner always had lemon drops for the Keohanes when they would visit after they moved. 

My mother said that they had good times there in Belmont - obviously from a child's perspective. The Irish guys and girls would come out on their days off - especially on Sundays. They chipped in for an accordian. John Keohane made home brew. They would drink and eat, play music - there was a lot of set dancing, late nights. Mrs. Gardiner would leave her door open for the coats, etc. I'm sure there would be singing and dancing like back home in Cork and Kerry. They would pull out the metals balls and bowl down Concord Avenue like they did back in Kinsale.  Ma kept the bowling balls under the kitchen sink. 

I have an article from a magazine - maybe an Irish American magazine - that quotes a man from Durrus, Co. Cork describe road bowling game: "It's a bit like a country man's cheap equivalent of golf ... the aim is to get the bowl from one fixed point in the road to another in as few throws as possible." The article reports that a single game, called a score, can take sixteen to seventeen throws each and almost two hours to travel just the 1.5 miles of the course. The same Cork man goes on to say "Road bowling has its own pace and and there's nothing hurried about that. Actually the throwing itself is only half of the sport, the rest is all the socializing and, of course, the betting."

Road bowling was very popular in West Cork - John Keohane used to bowl at home. The article goes on to say: "Coins are tossed and the running order is fixed. The bowlers are handed the 29lb spheres of cast iron and start banging them against the tar macadam and walls to knock the smooth edge off their surfaces ... Taking a long run up, he makes his approach like a fencer, leading on one foot before taking a few short steps whilst winding his arm around and around, making one final leap and sending his bowl in a wonderful arc up the gentle hill. The large group of awaiting Spectators indicate their approval with huge whoops of encouragement ... Road Bowling is very much a team event. When the bowl - pronounced to rhyme with 'owl' - reaches its final rating point, the 'chalk man' lives up to his title and registers the spot and the thrower's initials on the road with a distinguishing chalk mark. Then the opponent's entourage spring into action. Each bowler has a number of advisors or 'road showers' backing him. One of these stands beside him counseling him on the bet line to throw and another couple stand further down the road to place handfuls of grass on the road as targets to aim at."

The history of Irish road bowling is uncertain. Some say it was introduced by Dutch soldiers in 1689 when William of Orange arrived in Ireland. Others say it became fashionable in Ireland thanks to the Yorkshire linen workers. Or maybe it dates back to the Red Branch Knights and their "Ball Game.' It was widespread in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and played throughout the 32 counties of Ireland.

I would have loved to see my grandfather and his friends road bowling along the roads of Belmont Hill! I saw road bowling in 1977 when my father, Beth, and I were heading to Ballythomas on the coast road - it might have been near Skibbereen when we came across them. We had to stop to let them play past us. I had never heard of road bowling so didn't know what was going on.

You can just see the bowl beyond his left hand.

Jim with the accordion. My mother with her fingers in her mouth - Hannie - John Keohane.

John Keohane pouring Ned Shea, who is holding Hannie, a glass of home brew. Matt Tuohy/Toohey is playing the accordion. Jim is up behind the guys - my mother is leaning onto a man who looks like he is holding another bottle of home brew and a glass in his hands. I do not know who he is but wonder if he is the John Cummins that my mother mentions.

Notice Hannie watching Ned Shea drinking the beer. Ned Shea is a neighbor from Kinsale - he ends up getting married and living in Watertown - I knew his daughter Linda.

Notice Ma on the left collecting wood for the fire so she can feed everyone. I think Matt Toohy is from Kerry - there was an accordion player of the same name who played in the dance halls in Dudley Square in the 1940s-1950s. If this is John Cummins, he is another neighbor from Dunderrow.

This time Matt Tuohy/Toohy is holding on to Hannie. The kids seem to like the single guys, and the guys don't seem to mind the kids. Maybe they remind them of home. 

Aunt Nellie Keohane and Matt Tuohy - it was probably Aunt Nellie who was taking all the pictures.

Jim went to school in Belmont. He would get haircuts from the guy up the street. Jim and my mother went to a birthday party at the next house on Concord Avenue going toward Mill Street. My mother vaguely remembers playing with the Kerrigans across Concord Avenue at the end of the lane - "Jim & I would run & laugh up in our yard so they would think we were having a great time."

Pictures of the birthday party my mother and Jim went to in Belmont - Jim is on the right in the sailor suit - my mother is right in front.

I'm not sure when the family moved to Belmont, but Hannie and Peggy were born while they were living there - both in February. My mother said when Ma had Hannie, she had to walk down the hill in the snow to take a taxi to the hospital with John Keohane.  Hannie talks about her father coming home from work in a snowstorm to find Ma in labor. He had to walk back down the steep hill to Belmont center to find a taxi - and what kind of taxi did they have back in the 1920s? Hannie said it was a horse and cart!! Then they had to pick Ma up - I suppose the Gardiners looked after the children - how was Ma going to call anyone - there was no phone. Hannie said it was a terrible drive to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Brighton in the snow. When they got there John Keohane got out and was banging on the doors which were locked - he was yelling for help. Finally, a nun came out and scolded John Keohane and Ma for all the commotion. Poor Ma!!

The funny thing about this story is that years later the Navins told us this same story except Ma was pregnant with their mother - my aunt Peggy Keohane Navin!!

I found Hannie's birth registration on www.familysearch.org.

Place of birth was St. Elizabeth's hospital in Boston, Suffolk County. Registration #2094.

Hannah Teresa Keohane - female - born alive on February 14, 1924. Father:  John Keohane - 648 Concord Ave., Belmont - White - 34 years old - born in Ireland - occupation: motorman.                               Mother: Margaret Moriarty - 648 Concord Ave., Belmont - White - 29 years old - born in Ireland - occupation: Housewife.

Attendant at birth: Physician J Stanton, 320 Beacon St., Boston, Mass. was present at birth.

The birth registration was received in Boston on February 16, 1924; it was received in Belmont on July 17, 2024!

I guess Hannie and Peggy were baptized at St. Joseph's Church on Common Street in Belmont. I tried to get their baptismal records  - I sent the dates and a donation - but never got a response. It would be interesting to see who their Godparents are. I didn't find Peggy's birth certificate either. 

My mother said Aunt Nellie came one Thanksgiving after work to find Ma sick with the measles upstairs in bed with the kids. Only the carcass of the turkey was left after Dad feeding a crowd. 

The Keohanes are listed in the 1925 Belmont Street Directory - note the misspelling of Keohane -  "Koehane - John (Margaret) motorman, h 648 Concord av."

John Keohane

Pat Murphy

Hannah Riordoan - John Keohane's first cousin (remember her mother was Ellen Keohane Riordan - she was John Reardon's sister - we saw him above) stayed in Belmont. Hannie said Hannah Riordan walked down the hill to meet Dad - he thought it was a ghost and was scared - she was a big woman. She slept on the couch in the kitchen.

Hannah Reardon, Jim, Ma and Peggy might have been the baby in the crib.

Another of my mother's memories is walking on the walls down the hill going to the stores - running under bridges and hollering to hear an echo.  Ice cream in a drugstore - "mine fell on the floor once when I gave a big lick." "Walking down to meet Ma coming from church - me & Jim - Ma came the shortcut & had to come looking for us.  Ma would go to Mass at 6:30 am - John Cummins told her that she should be home in bed.

Ellen holding Peggy - notice the stone walls in background.

John Keohane had a garden up the lane. My mother remembers Dave Cosgrove - we talked about him in the previous blog post, Matty Tooey, John Cummins, and John Reardon coming to Belmont. She said Brother Tim Cummins liked Aunt Hannah O'Sullivan of New York - she was Ma's half sister. She is not sure if Con Butler or Jimmy McCarthy were in Belmont. 

I don't know how long Ma and my grandfather were in Belmont, but they are listed again in the 1927 Belmont Street Directory as Koehane - John (Margaret) motorman, h 648 Concord av. So we know that they were there for part of 1927 at least.