My Old Ohio Home

My great-grandfather Ned Rodgers usually had a boarder or two in his house at 4025 East 89th, Cleveland, Ohio, in addition to his family of nine. His daughter Margaret Cushing kept up the tradition. Margaret owned the home in 1920, and besides herself, her mother, two daughters, her sister and her four children, plus another two nieces, she had a boarder named Con Keating. I've written articles about the other Rodgers' boarders, so here goes the article about Mr. Keating.

According to his death record, Cornelius Keating was born on May 11, 1859, in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of John Keating who had been born in Ireland. In the course of my research I found that Cornelius' mother's name was Sarah, but I didn't find her maiden name.

The family was at 2553 Bluff on the southeast side of Cleveland by 1876. That became 2553 Bissell, then 86 Bissell, and then 4134 East 76th Street. John Keating died there in 1892, and Sarah Keating was still living there in 1920. She died in 1923 at the Little Sisters of the Poor home on Superior Avenue but was buried from Holy Name, so I imagine that East 76th was her home address when she died. Her death record did not name her parents. I didn't find a record of her husband John Keating's death.

Cornelius himself married Mary Downs on March 28, 1900. They had three children but only one, John, lived to adulthood. Mary (Downs) Keating died March 28, 1913, and Cornelius on May 26, 1927. They are both buried in St Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Cleveland.

When Con's wife Mary died in 1913, they were living at 4018 East 89th, so it was a short step to the Rodgers' home at 4025. He was found at that address in the 1916 to 1921 Cleveland City Directories. When he died in 1927 Con was living with his son John at 1389 Penhurst on the northeast side.

I'd hoped to find the Irish place of origin for the Keatings, but could not from the available records. That's twice that I've drawn a blank on someone named Keating.

What I did learn along the way was that the name was probably originally pronounced something like Cat'n with a long A. The earlier records often had spellings like Caton, Cating, etc. In fact the 1880 census had John and "Conroy" listed as "Kayton." Cornelius signed his wife's death record as "C. Kating."

So there you go, just about all I know about Cornelius "Con" Keating, one of the multitude of boarders at 4025 East 89th over the years. He is the last that I know of—I wonder if any more will turn up.

Sources and a little more information can be found on Cornelius Keating's page in the Ohio Families tree on this site.