The Edmund l KEYES family came to America between 1845 and 1850.  Edmund l & Margaret JONES KEYES left five children dead in County Cork, Ireland from the great hunger.  The living children were:

Ellen, m. Daniel Murphy

Tom KEYES of this web is the great grandson of Edmund ll.

To find Edmund KEYES ll, pedigree click here Ancestral File Search

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Edmund Keyes ll

From County Cork - the largest county in Ireland, Province of Munster

Cork was one of the worst affected areas during the time of the Great Famine, with an estimated 150,000 persons dying between 1841-1851, and over 50,000 emigrating.

The Story of Edmund ll

Edmund II was born in 1831, Parish Killdorrery or Kilclooney, County Cork, Ireland. He died in 1893, Twn. Lyndon, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Edmund 11 and Elizabeth Egan were married in Sheboygan in 1858. She was born in 1835 in Ireland and died in 1915. They are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Cascade.

In 1856 Edmund II purchased 53 acres at $6.00 per acre in Section 8, Town of Lyndon, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, from his brother, Michael Keyes and James Dooley. The area was wilderness covered with hardwood timber and many rocks. The land had to be cleared and shelters built to forge a unit which could support a family. The struggles and hardships of the early pioneers are difficult to imagine. They lived off the land which was abundant with wild game, nuts and berries. Trees were cut down and the surplus wood converted into charcoal which was sold as fuel. Edmund supplemented the meager farm income by grading roadbeds with his yoke of oxen when the railroad was being built North from Milwaukee to Green Bay,.

Edmund was not a person to overlook an opportunity. His two brother in laws were on the police force in Chicago and doing well. The expectations of the windy city ran high with rumors from the Egans of the big money to be made. About 1870 Edmund purchased a special box with lock and key to secure all the money there was to be had, made an agreement with the Mellaney's to run the farm, packed up the family and made for Chicago. Reality did not meet the families dreams, expenses were much greater than in the Twn. of Lyndon and they returned within the year with an empty lock box.  

Edmund II was an expert story teller. His favorite tales were mysteries which would leave his listeners spellbound. This interest was heightened by the call of the "Old Sod".  He returned to the Emerald Isle in about 1884 to locate the family treasure buried by his father 30 years earlier. The location of the booty; at the old family home was revealed as Edmund I laid on his death bed alone with his son by his side. After extensive digging the search ended. To this day it is not known if someone else stumbled on to the hiding place or if the description was misleading.  The family savings were never found.

Edmund II and his wife acquired stature in the community as successful farmers and a devout Christian Catholic family. Three of their daughters devoted their lives to the exclusive service of their church as nuns. Two other daughters were registered nurses. Their son, Maurice, purchased the family farm which he operated until retirement in 1940. The farm operation was continued by Edmund III, son of Maurice. Edmund II died from typhoid fever. Elizabeth died at home from old age.

The following children were born to Edmund 11 and Elizabeth Egan Keyes:

1. Sara Ann, died at 3 yrs. of age

2. Susanna (Sr. Kostka), b. 1863, d. 1941

3. Margaret (Sr. Gonzaga), b. 1866, d. 1940 (twin)

4. Mary, b. 1866, d. 1868 (twin)

5. Ellen (Sr. Theophila), b. 1867, d. 1962

6. Elizabeth, died at birth

7. Maurice, b. 1870, d. 1966, m. 1897 to Lena Konrad, b. 1872, d. 1949, they are bd. inSt. Marys Cem. Cascade, WI.

8. Elizabeth, b. 1872, d. 1960, bd. St. Marys Cem. Cascade

9. Mary Ann (Mayme), b. 1876, m. Ed Jahncke

10. Catherine (Cassie), b. 1879, d. 1945, m. John O'Neill of Galena, IL

More on the early Keyes family

A Trip to Grandmother's Cottage

These are the constructed memories of Edmund and Patrick Keyes from the North area ofCo. Cork. As children, they would call on their grandparents who lived in a thatched cottage.  The Keyes Cottage was a traditional single-story thatched cottage with exterior walls of stone. The cottage stood on a road, near the Strala River, close to the Co. Tipperary line, in County Cork. The topography consists of lovely green fields; lush rolling green meadows and pastureland that stretches as far as the eye can see.

Approaching this cottage from the road, one had to stop to open a black iron gate. Entering through this gate, one crossed over a narrow stream, then continued along a path lined by a hedgerow that gently guided you to the cottage door. The hedges bore flowers that displayed beautiful raspberry colored blooms. Grandmother planted brightly colored flowers in gardens surrounding the cottage. There was always something in bloom.

As one walked up the path to the front of the little white cottage, in the center of the building was a brown half-door (often called a Dutch door). The door was horizontally divided in half for a reason. One could open the top half of the door to admit air for circulation. The lower half of the door remained closed to keep out the hens, chickens and geese, some of which roamed freely around the yard of the cottage.

Sitting in the main room in the center of the cottage, one might see an occasional chicken fly up and land on the half door. Grandmother would leap from her chair and shush the chicken away before it could fly inside the cottage. Grandmother kept her hair tied in a bun. She always wore black clothes. She was small in stature, gentle in nature. A kind woman with a heart of gold who never had a cross word about anyone.

There were two small wood sash windows on either side of the front door to permit airflow into the bedrooms located on each end of the cottage. The cottage had an earthen floor that grandmother whisked clean each day with a hand made straw broom. Grandmother always kept a large fire burning in the hearth. This kept the interior of the cottage warm, dry and comfortable for her family.

In the main room, there was a large open hearth with a built-in storage area on either side. The fireplace was kept burning with turf, or coal delivered to the cottage. There was a crane in the hearth, from which was suspended a large black cast-iron kettle. The crane allowed grandmother to swing the kettle in over the fire for cooking and out for stirring, tasting or adding ingredients. The cooking utensils consisted of an assortment of hand made wooden spoons. Leaning against the hearth was a set of tongs; a poker and hand bellows all used to keep the fire going.

On the floor, near the hearth was a clothes iron. The iron was reddened near the fire, and then placed in a slipper. The slipper would absorb some of the high heat and prevent the iron from scorching the clothing being pressed. There was an open dresser or hutch against the wall opposite the entrance door. The pottery, cooking and eating utensils were stored here when not in use. The bowls and platters were brown on the outside and cream colored on the inside. Grandmother had a few cherished pieces of blue willowware china she brought out for special occasions. Beef and lamb stews soups and puddings would be served on this pottery.

Dinners were a time when the family was together. Meals were prepared in a three-legged covered skillet that was placed on a grate over the fire, or hung from the crane. The main meal sometimes included delicious salmon from the nearby river. Grandmother baked fresh bread in a bastable, designed specially for preparing bread.

Fruit and vegetables accompanied meals from the garden. There were always fresh eggs in the home. One annual event the grandchildren enjoyed was to see the Christmas turkey running around the yard, and to experience the anticipation that grandmother would soon bepreparing a delicious turkey dinner for the Christmas holiday.

Transportation was by donkey and cart. Each Saturday morning grandmother hitched the donkey to the trap and went to market for provisions. The barrel trap gets its name from its shape-like a barrel, open in the front where grandmother would sit and closed at the back. The trap was brown in color and decorated with handsome brass fittings. She would return from her shopping trip with candles, oil for the oil lamps, rice, flour and other basic provisions.

Fresh spring water was drawn from a spring well on the opposite side of the road.  The vegetable garden was located on the side of the cottage.  Fresh vegetables, including lettuce, potatoes, scallions and bushes bearing soft fruits and berries were grown in the garden. There were two apple trees growing near the cottage.

The cottage contained two sleeping rooms, each with a full size bed and feather mattress. Nothing went to waste.  Feathers plucked from the fowl served for family dinners were used as stuffing for the pillows and mattresses. Each bedroom contained a bowl and pitcher for washing.  Hanging on the walls in the bedrooms were some of the kitchen utensils and gardening implements.

Grandmother slept in the bedroom on the side of the house where the garden was located, almost as though she was keeping vigil over the source of the family food supply. The cottage did not have electricity, so each night she would light a small oil lamp, known as a Sacred Heart lamp before she retired for bed.  A cup of hot chocolate or a "goodie" was served before bedtime.  A goodie consisted of warm milk and sugar and a few small pieces of bread added to the cup or mug.

Grandmother was a good Christian person.  She, unlike her parents, had more freedom to practice her religion without fear of persecution.  The old penal laws imposed upon Ireland made Catholic ceremonies in her grandparent's day a crime.  Grandmother was not allowed to attend school until she reached the age of fourteen.  Therefore, she could read but not write.

She had mastered the art of keeping a home for her family. She had years of experience, and learned this talent from her mother, who learned it from her mother, all the way back to the beginning of the Connors in Ireland.

Grandmother Keyes was a Connors. The Connors have been around County Cork raising families for centuries.  Helping other family members during adversity is instinctive for the Irish.  Call it a family trait; it is just something the old Irish families knew how to do.  It did not matter how far out you were on the family tree, family is family.

All the family over time moved to America.  Grandmother and grandfather are in heaven now.  Their bodies are buried along side several generations of Keyes in an ancient cemetery.  The beautiful little storybook Irish cottage is gone now.  The landlord destroyed the cottage. The cottage was knocked down, the hedges are gone-there are no flowers, hens, or geese. The donkey is eternally silent.

If you drive along the road, you will come to a solitary black iron gate on the right side of the road.  Hedges now entwine the gate. It is a gate that once swung open into a field where the lush green meadows rise gently in the distance . . . that is the place . . . that is where grandmother lived.

We are the guardians of the heritage of our ancestors, of their ancient history, their customs, their traditions, of the wisdom they have passed along to each of us, and through our words and deeds, we are the defenders of their unswerving devotion to God and family.

These are our grandmother's gifts to us.

These are Ireland's gifts to you and me.

We carry these gifts of Ireland wherever we go.

Thank you for taking this trip to grandmother's cottage.

Grandmother's favorite saying was: "Every day is a gift."

A gift of gifts this lineage old,

More precious far than gifts of gold;

A precious gift these links that bind,

The lives before with the lives behind.

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