Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023
Margareth O’Keefe was born in County Waterford, Ireland in 1825. Her parents were Michael O’Keefe and Margarita Lannan O’Keefe.
County Waterford is in the province of Munster and is part of the southern region. It is named after the city of Waterford. Waterford city is situated in southeastern Ireland, on the river Suir (pronounced Shure) about seventeen miles from where the river enters the sea. Practically the entire city is built on the south bank of the river. The “old town,” now the business center, clusters behind the broad quay-front on a low-lying strip of land left behind by a gentle loop of the river at this point. From this, the land rises sharply to the east and opposite to the west while remaining level in between.
Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city. Though Waterford’s name is handed down from the Viking influence in the region, the area’s history of course precedes this. It was inhabited by a Gaelic tribe called the Déise, who conquered the area sometime between the 4th and 8th centuries after being driven out of the region known today as southern County Meath and northern County Kildare. They were converted to Christianity by St. Declan, who also founded the monastery at Ardmore.
The Vikings came to the area in the mid- to late-800s, as is evidenced by the remains of Woodstown, a Viking settlement just west of Waterford city. It is the only large-scale Viking settlement of that era to be found in western Europe and was likely the largest Viking settlement of Scandinavia. According to IrishCentral, Vikings founded Waterford city in 941; the name comes from the Old Nose Vedrarfjord. Reginald’s Tower, in the city’s historic Viking section, is the oldest civic, urban structure in Ireland.
Since then, it has seen sieges, invasions, famine, and economic highs and lows. It remains the foremost city in Ireland’s southeast, according to Wikipedia.
Margareth left Ireland for America in 1851, and became a settler-colonist, living in Ohio and Chicago, Illinois for two years. Then Margareth moved to St. Paul in 1853. While there, she met the acquaintance of Timothy Canty.
Timothy was born about 1822 in Ireland, and arrived in Lower Canada, and then to the United States. He came to Holmes Landing (Shakopee) as an employee of Thomas A. Holmes. Some said that Timothy came on the flat boat Wild Paddy in the fall of 1851, though others think he arrived a short time later. He came to file on a tract of eighty acres granted him by the government because of his involvement in the Mexican-American War, also known as the Invasion of Mexico.
While in St. Paul, Timothy and Margareth married, and they moved near Marystown to their farm in 1854. People said Timothy loved Margareth’s red hair!
Marystown is an unincorporated community in Louisville Township, near Shakopee. The community is located along Marystown Road (Scott County Road 15) and 160th Street West.
They had two sons, John in 1857, and Daniel Canty in 1859.
After working with Holmes in Shakopee, Timothy worked on the steamboats, including Greek Slave and Pocahontas. When the Civil War arrived, Timothy wanted to go, but he couldn’t leave his wife, who was blind at that time.
Timothy Canty died in 1885 in Louisville Township and was buried at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Eagle Creek.
Margareth then moved in with her son, John, for the next 16 years.
Margareth O’Keefe Canty died on June 16, 1900, and was buried next to her husband, Timothy, at the Calvary Cemetery in Shakopee.
An obituary in The Irish Standard in Minneapolis on June 30, 1900, noted that Margareth O’Keefe Canty “died at her home near Marystown on Sunday, June 17 (actually June 16), after an illness of sixteen weeks. Mrs. Canty (nee O’Keefe) was born in the county of Waterford, Ireland, left for America in 1851, lived in Ohio and Chicago for two years and came to St. Paul in 1853 where she made the acquaintance of Timothy Canty, and soon after married and came to Marystown in 1854 and settled on the farm where she lived until called by her Creator, respected and loved by all around her.
“The funeral took place from St. Mary’s church, Marystown, Rev. Ronald O.F.M, offering requiem high mass for the repose of her departed soul. Her husband preceded her in death 16 years ago, and since she then had lived with her son John, who cared for her, taking the place of a dutiful son and father.”
Bibliography
“What’s your Irish county? County Waterford.” IrishCentral, 28 May 2022. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/county-waterford.
“History of Waterford.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Waterford.
The Irish Standard. Minneapolis, 30 June 1900.