Biographies

Michael O'Keefe was born in the County Kilkenny, Ireland, November 1, 1832, and emigrated to this country in 1846; he came to Kansas and to the parish of Wea in 1868. Mr. O'Keefe married Anastasia Norman, a young lady from his own county in Ireland on November 30,1869.

Michael O'Keefe from the Community of Aubry-Stilwell

Their children's names are Margaret, Joseph, Mary, John, Anastasia, Lucy, Edward and Lawrence. Mr. O'Keefe was a fair type of the plain people of Ireland. He came to America when it took six weeks to make the voyage. He was rugged in body and mind, simple in honesty, strong in what he believed to be right, true to his friends, industrious, and always successful and useful in his undertakings. He believed in Catholic Education for his children, always subscribed for and read the County Papers and one Catholic Journal. He knew his religion by heart. Just a year before his death he was heard reciting the Ten Commandments in short, he was one of the old timers who had the faith deeply implanted in the heart. He died at Stillwell, Kansas, April 2, 1905 and is buried at Wea.

Anastasia O'Keefe from the Community of Aubry-Stilwell

Michael O'Keefe // 1832 - 1905
Anastasia O'Keefe // 1844 - 1916

In the same year, 1846, Anastasia O'Keefe came to Cincinnati, Ohio, thence in 1865 to Kansas City, Missouri, where she met and married Michael O'Keefe. She came into this County for the first time on that day and took up life's burdens and for forty-seven years was a valiant worker and a defender of the Faith. She was a woman of energy and thrift, having a bright mind that swayed all around her. She was a lover of books and left no task unfulfilled. She was truly a pioneer and a good woman. She passed away on November 30, 1916, and rests beside her husband in Holy Rosary Cemetery. Mrs. O'Keefe was beloved by all and greatly respected by the entire community. The funeral oration was delivered by Father Kinsella of Paola, a native of her own County in Ireland. It abounded in many beautiful passages,extolling the valiant woman. "The price of her," said he, "is as things from afar and from the remotest coasts."

Stillwell and Wea have many finely built homes and well equipped farms, but the home of Anastasia Norman O'Keefe is not the least of them, nor is it excelled by the best she had known in her native land. All her hopes, surely, were fulfilled; she died, thanking God for all His blessings, not the least of which was the love and affectionate reverence of her children.

The History of Our Cradle Land, by Thomas H. Kinsella
PART VII, WEA, MIAMI COUNTY
THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY ROSARY
NOTES ON THE FIRST CATHOLIC SETTLERS OF THE WEA PARISH.
Transcribed by Sean Furniss

Michael O'Keefe, 1832 - 1905