People who take interest in the “Little House” have, no doubt, become familiar with the three names on it – Mary Agnes, Mary Julia, and Eddie. In addition to the inscriptions on the dollhouse, there are five headstones surrounding the dollhouse which mark the graves of Michael Keating, his wife Lizzie (it says “Mother”), Michael’s daughter Blanche, Michael’s grandson Albert Schneider and his wife, Evelyn.
The entire “Keating Plot” on which the dollhouse is located includes many burials of adults and children from the Keating family. As noted by John Keating’s great great grandson, Patrick Gerbus, the cemetery card for the dollhouse plot shows that it was purchased on June 4, 1869 by “J & M” – John and Michael. Date of interment for John’s daughter, Mary Julia, is listed as June 4, 1869.
Interment for Michael’s daughter, Mary Agnes, is shown as February 3, 1876. Both girls are shown in cemetery records to have been buried at SEP (Southeast Plat), not the house. Interment of the third child marked on the dollhouse, Eddie, is shown as April 20, 1876 and it is shown as being at the dollhouse plot location. It is not clear exactly what year the Keatings built the house, but it seems apparent that John and Michael – both stonecutters – and joint purchasers of the plot – may have decided together to construct the house for their children and possibly moved the Mary Agnes and Mary Julia there upon its completion.
As mentioned, these three children are not the only Keating family members buried at the plot. All in all, John and Michael Keating’s dollhouse plot is the burial site of 17 family members – including eight children. Some graves are marked by flat headstones, and many are unmarked.
In addition to losing his daughter Mary Julia in 1869 and Eddie in 1876, John also lost another son – William, who died in 1880 at three years and one month. Michael’s daughter Mary Agnes who passed in 1876 is commemorated on the dollhouse. He and Lizzie lost their son James in 1891, at the age of 13. The Keating brothers had an older brother, Nicholas, who was also a stone cutter. Nicholas passed away in 1873. His daughter Maggie died at age 15, in 1881 and she is buried at the dollhouse.
John’s sister-in-law, Anna (McCarren) Wagner, lost her daughter Mary in 1900, at the age of three years and one month. She is also buried at the dollhouse. And finally, John Keating’s granddaughter Anna – the daughter of his son Nicholas Keating – is buried there. She died in 1908 at the age of 7 weeks, and is the baby sister referred to in Ethel Gerbus’s account of the Little House in a previous post.
In addition to the eight children buried at the site and the five adults whose gravestones are marked, there are an additional four adults buried at the dollhouse who have no grave marker. They include:
- The family patriarch, Edward Keating, 1818 to 1885
- John Keating, 1845 to 1901
- John’s wife Ellen McCarren, 1849 to 1905
- Bridget Keating, Edward’s daughter (and sister to Michael, John and Nicholas), 1861 to 1909
There is no way to know why some family members’ graves were marked, while others were not. Part of what we hope to accomplish in restoring the Keating Dollhouse is to include a placard on the site with information about the dollhouse. One idea is to include the names of the unmarked Keating graves on the placard. We will fundraise for this addition to the Keating Dollhouse after its restoration is completed.
If you would like to contribute to the Keating Dollhouse restoration, you can contribute directly to the restorationist’s company, Gravestone Transformations (Mark Smith) via the link below. Scroll down to the donation form and click on the checkbox next to “I would like to designate this donation to a specific fund.”
A dropdown menu will pop up. Keating Dollhouse is one of the options. If you would prefer to make a contribution via paper check, please send us a message here on this website, on Facebook, or email us at keatingdollhouse@gmail.com and you will be provided the proper mailing instructions. Thank you!
Keating Dollhouse 