On February 20th, 1907, my great, great grandmother Mary Lillis Keenan passed away. The Keenan’s, Mary and Michael and their offspring were known as a wealthy family. Other than the Hawley family, who owned most of Hawleyville, the Keenans were thought to be the second richest family in Newtown. Little did anyone know, until Mary’s death, the entire family, in actuality, might not have been wealthy at all. It looks like it was Mary, herself, that owned all the goods! This included the land, the house, which sounds like a real mansion, the horses, cows, chairs, tables, and everything else. Everything was in her name. So, when she died, she left it to whomever she pleased. this “whomever” turned out to be her eldest daughter Catherine and her husband, the already opulent Michael Delohery. Michael Delohery was a lawyer and the proprietor of M Delohery and Sons Hat Factory on Liberty Ave, Danbury. Still, little did he know, or perhaps he did know, when his mother-in-law died, he would become even wealthier.
Here is Mary Keenan’s will:
“To the Probate Court of the district of Newtown, estate of Mary Keenan, late of Newtown in said district deceased. The subscriber represents that Mary Keenan last dwelt in the Town of Newtown, in said District, and died on the 20th day of Feb. A.D. 1907 possessed of goods and estate remaining to be administered leaving a husband whose name is Michael Keenan, and as her only heirs – at – law and next of kin, the persons whose names, residences, and relationship to the deceased are as follow, viz:
Names, Residences, Relationship
Catherine Delohery, Danbury, Conn, Daughter
Edward Keenan, Danbury, Conn, Son
Thomas Keenan. Danbury, Conn, Son
Michael Keenan, Danbury, Conn, Son
Mrs. Anna Lathrop, Bethel, Conn, Daughter
Julia Fanning, Newtown, Conn, Granddaughter
and that said deceased left a will herewith presented for probate wherein Michael Delohery of Danbury, Conn, is named as Executor. Wherefore your petitioner prays that said will may be proved, approved, allowed and admitted to probate and letters testamentary may be granted to the executor therein named Michael Delohery, Executor to the Probate Court for the District of Newtown. The subscriber make return that pursuant to the order of said Court he gave public notice of the pendency of the foregoing application, and the time and place of hearing thereon by publishing the same and said order in the Newtown Bee, a newspaper having a circulation in said District , and by posting a copy thereof on the public sign – post in the Town of Newtown six days before said time assigned.
Michael Delohery Executor Subscribed and sworn to this 6th day of April A.D. 1907 ,
before me William J. Beecher Judge
I, Mary Keenan of Newtown, County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut do make, publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament, hereby revoking all other wills by me at any time hereto before made.
First, after all my lawful debts and funeral expenses are paid, I give, devise and bequeath to my daughter Catherine Delohery, wife of Michael Delohery of Danbury, in said Fairfield County the Homestead where I now live in said Newtown, being a tract of land containing thirty two acres more or less with a dwelling house and two barns thereon, and being land purchased from James Lake and bounded on the East by land of Homer Hawley on the West by land of Amos Hawley and on the and South by my other land, to her my said Daughter Catherine and her heirs absolutely and in fee simple, subject however, to the life use of my husband and Michael Keenan if he survive me so long as he may live.
Second, all the rest, residue and remainder of my estate both real and personal subject to the life use of the real Estate by my said husband Michael Keenan if he survives me, I give devise and bequeath to my sons, Thomas, Michael and Edward, my daughters Catherine and Annie, and my granddaughter Julie Fanning, share and share alike, to them and their respective heirs.
Third, I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint my son in law Michael
Delohery of said Danbury, Executor of this Will, and that he be required to furnish no bond In Witness.
Whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal the 15th day of May, in the year of Our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred and fore (yes, it was spelled ”fore!”)
Mary Keenan Seal Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Mary Keenan as and for her last will and testament in the presence of us , who in her presence in the presence of each other and at her request have subscribed our names as witnesses hereto:
Henry M. Robinson of Danbury Conn
Chas W. Murphy
William H. Cable
State of Connecticut, County of Fairfield
ss Danbury March 13 1907.
and William H. Cable witnesses to the foregoing last will and testament of Mary Keenan who being duly sworn , depose and say that they subscribed said will as witnesses thereto in the presence of said testatrix and the said testatrix signed said will in their presence and acknowledged that she had signed said will and declared the same to be her last will and testament, and deponents further say that at the time of the execution of said will they believed the said testatrix to be of lawful age and of sound mind and memory and do make this affidavit at her request.
Henry M. Robinson
Chas W. Murphy
Subscribed and sworn to William H. Cable before me this 13th day of March A.D. 1907
Eber A. Hodge Notary Public
A true copy of the original on file — To the Probate Court for the District of Newtown Estate of Mary Keenan, late of Newtown, in said District deceased. The subscribers appointed Appraisers on
said Estate having been legally sworn, have appraised all of said Estate, both real and personal, according to its value, and have assisted in making a true and perfect inventory thereof as follows, viz
(The Following is a Sample of what She Left)
INVENTORY
One House $ 1,200 and
Lake land 32 acres $ 1,000 &
Hawley Land 40 acres $ 1000
Blackman Land 6 acres $180
2 barns 300
1 horse 25. 1 horse 150. 2 cows 50. 4 heifers $ 100, to cast 3. 1 Buck board 10. 1 sleigh S. Lumber wagon .50. Household Goods Range and pipe 15. 1 Tea Kettle, .25 1 tea pot .25, 1 table 1 Lounge 25 kitchen Chairs 1.50, 2 spiders 20 large pots .50 2 small pots .25 10 4 cake pans 1.10 3 bread pans ┃ clock 1. 3 lamps .30 4 water pails & dipper 2 shovel & dust pan .10 20 Broom ..15 Ironing board 15 4 sadirons 40 3 window shades Lantern Pantry 25 plates 25 4 sugar Bowls 20 1 spoon holder 1 Butter dish .10, 2 front dishes large .10 preserve dishes small pitchers $1 glass pitchers .25, 3 platters .10, 5 glasses .23, vegetable dishes .21, cups and 23 saucers .45 3 Bowls .10 small boxes .20 4 Washing machine 25 1 small stand .25 20 Molding board & rolling pen , I preserving kettles .10 pans 2 flour service Work basket Dishpan Bread pant Wash dish towels & 1 window shade 15, 1 feather bed 3 . Bed springs mattress & feather tick 23d 1 sheet. I feather pillows 2 pillow covers bolster & cover white spread .50”
This is a very truncated list. The original one seems to go on and on and on. After everything is totaled up, it amounts to $6,699.55, or about $200,000 in today’s money. Still, even this healthy sum is very misleading when it comes to accessing her wealth because she had a total of 78 acres of land, a house, which sounded extraordinary and also 2 barns, and, I ask, the whole shebang adds up to less than 7 thousand bucks? I’m not a real-estate appraiser but I have to think the property she was sitting on would be sold today for some figure in the multiple of millions.
In one of the other documents I read about this will, it mentioned that one of these properties was bordered by “the highway.” This highway is now RT 25 in Hawleyville. So, what would be the price tag now on an extravagant home on 78 acres of prime real estate bordering Rt 25 in Hawleyville? 3 million? … 5 million? … maybe more? I truly don’t know. It is amazing Michael and Mary had separate accounts and one way to look at is that in a financial sense, they weren’t really married.
Seeing it in a more positive light, it was a tradition that the women always got shafted in financial affairs. The sons were always the ones who got the big inheritances while the daughters were left looking to marry a man who got one of his own inheritances. In fact, it wasn’t until more than 13 years after Mary Keenan’s death woman were allowed to vote. So, in a way, we could consider her a ground-breaker, woman’s lib in 1907!
Of course, there were some expenses to be taken from Mary Keenan’s Estate. Money could not be distributed until her just debts were paid. A copy of the original court document regarding this is below:
Still, Catherine Delohery and family made out well as the probated property was distributed in the manner the will had ordered.
Michael Keenan passed away on October 2, 1917 in Danbury, Ct. I am not sure if he was living in Danbury in spite of his being allowed to live in his own home for the rest of his life, or if the only reason he died in Danbury was that he had been sick in Danbury hospital. The latter is possible because he was 85 years old and we do have proof he was living in Newtown several years after his wife’s death.
In any event, even though it seems like everything was stolen from my great, great grandpa Michael, it seems he did have a bit of a nest egg of his own. Though I have yet to find the actual will, the document below shows he actually did have one and he actually did have something to leave to somebody. The “F” on the card bellow means finalized and “testate” means he had a will. As to the amount he willed to someone; that was $150,000 in year 2025 money.
Though I have no documented proof of whom pocketed this windfall, family folklore tells us it also went to his eldest daughter, Catherine Delohery.
In the final analysis, I can’t see where Michael Delohery did anything wrong. Certainly, he executed the will as his Mother-in-Law had wished and she truly trusted him to do so. Things just don’t always get divided up equally in every will and there are many reasons why this is so. For the lopsidedness of this will, I can in no way assign thievery as the reason. I believe Mary and Michael Keenan simply thought the Delohery family would best carry on their homestead in the way they wanted it to be carried on after they left it.
Skipper