Michael Keyes : Short Biography

Michael Keyes was the oldest of 12 children born to Edmund Keyes and Margaret Jones.  He was baptised 06 Feb 1825 in Graigue townland, County Cork. Six of his siblings died young, in Ireland - Maurice, John, Thomas, William, James and Larry.  Michael was the first to emigrate to New York in America in the mid-1840's; followed by his mother and siblings (Mary, Edmund Jr, Catherine, Patrick and Ellen), who emigrated one at a time from the mid-1840s to about 1850.  Each emigrated to New York, with the exception of Catherine, who went first to Quebec, expecting to stay with some Anglim relatives there.  Catherine contracted Ships Fever on her voyage, but survived and settled initially in New York, then in Wisconsin where two of her brothers settled. Last to emigrate was Michael's father, Edmund, who left Ireland for New York about 1850.  Family history details that Edmund contracted a pain in his leg just as he set foot on American soil, and died in or near Troy, New York within one year of emigrating.

Around 1852 Michael married Bridget Burns in New York and soon after they moved to Sheboygan County, Wisconsin where they raised 6 children.  He was later joined in Wisconsin by, his brother, Edmund Jr, and his sister Catherine & their families.  Michael died on 25 Aug 1899, and he is buried in St. Mary's Church cemetery in Cascade, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, along with his family, his siblings Edmund Jr and Catherine, and their families.