Boherbue, Co. Cork, O’Keeffes’ Home

Boherbue, Co. Cork, Ireland

Photograph by Allison F. Childs

John O’Keeffe and Julia O’Connor were married in this townland in 1862.  St. Mary’s parish records in Boherbue show that Julia was baptized April 15, 1841, and that she was from Doon. Her parents were Patrick O’Connor and Johanna Hickey and her godparents M. McAuliffe and Julia Murphy. A record for John’s baptism has not yet been found but family records show January 6, 1839, in Boherbue. Julia came to America the year after her marriage and settled in Brattleboro, Vermont, where her daughter Nellie was born in 1863. John disappears until the end of the decade when he, too, is in Brattleboro. Family lore says that he went to Australia or New Zealand in search of gold. He came into the Port of San Francisco in 1868, according to his naturalization papers.

–from A Reardon Family History by Blanche Reardon Childs