The  O'Grady  Family 

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The Sheridans and Mount Kisco

We don't know why James Sheridan located in Mount Kisco at the end of the nineteenth century.   An early history of Westchester indicated that a "Sheridan from Ireland" was the mayor of Port Chester at the turn of the century, and in Chappaqua a recently deceased Sheridan ran a food store for many years and invested heavily in real estate, but neither of these were related to James Sheridan.  Sheridan is a common name: there are 269 James Sheridans listed in the Ellis Island Directory.

Why did Maria Grady come to Mount Kisco?  James Sheridan came from County Meath on the east coast of Ireland just north of Dublin while Maria Grady came from Ballyhedreen, County Mayo, at the west of Ireland, , so it is unlikely that this was an arranged marriage.  Perhaps, like Jane Foy O'Grady, she same as a nanny to one of the more affluent families.

An 1881 map of the Village of Mount Kisco shows a crescent shape of the land between Main Street and Lexington Avenue which remains today.   Chauncey Smith owned a large tract of land between Main and Lexington which he  divided into lots for housing.  By 1895 the land was owned by Boltis Moore, who devised a different plan for housing with smaller lots.  Both the Smith and Moore plans extended west of Lexington Avenue, but  the land west of Lexington was converted into two cemeteries: Oakwood and St Francis..  The two cross streets are now called Smith Avenue and Moore Avenue, and there is a  Boltis Street stemming south from Moore.  So much for memorials ...

James Sheridan purchased two adjacent lots and built a comfortable house on the west lot, 127 Moore Avenue, which measures fifty feet along Moore and extends 223 feet north towards Smith..  The adjoining lot was left vacant, giving the house a nice sense of space.   Land and  house remained with the Sheridans until June 1955, when Gertrude Sheridan Eberle sold them to Americo and Grace Panetta, who had lived at 177 Lexington Avenue.  The Panettas remain owners as of April 2002. 

Jane Foy worked as a nanny for the Parker family, who also lived on Moore Avenue (# unknown).  There are larger homes at each end of the avenue, as well as along Smith Avenue to the immediate north of Moore Avenue  and parallel with it.   Northern Westchester Medical Center, the largest hospital in central northern Westchester,  takes up the space just south of Moore Avenue.  As a  result, many of the substantial homes along Smith and Moore Avenues have been converted into doctors' offices.

In 1936 Gertrude Sheridan married Harry Eberle, who worked for many years as a designer, draftsman and estimator at the Builders Millwork Company, which was located in Mount Kisco.  Harry was born in New Rochelle, but moved to Mount Kisco with his family when his father took a job with a milk company in the vicinity. The Gertrude and Harry lived in a number of houses on Cowdin Lane owned by the Readers Digest Association, until Harry transferred to Institutional Commodity Services, the purchasing agency for the Archdiocese of New York.  The family moved to 100 Brevoort Avenue close to the center of Chappaqua.  

Their daughter Trudy attended Horace Greeley High School and then Wheaton College in Massachusetts.  After graduation, she married Mark Adams in 1961.  Mark was born in Des Moines, Iowa.  The couple met in college.  They moved for a short time to Texas, then to Brockton and Cambridge Mass while Mark attended Harvard Law School.  Upon graduation, they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1966.  The couple had two children, both of whom died in their teens from congenital heart disease.   Trudy and Mark are now divorced.  Since 1980 Trudy has taught at Albuquerque Academy.

When Harry and Gertrude retired, they relocated to Naples Florida, where they died in the mid 1980s.  Their cremated remains are buried in the Sheridan plot of St. Francis cemetery in Mount Kisco, within 100 yards of where Gertrude lived as a child.

The O'Gradys in America

When Thomas O'Grady (1891 - 1969) and his sister Mary Frances came to America to join their mother in Mount Kisco, he attended the local high school.  Soon after he met Jane Foy (1888 - 1981), who was working as a nanny on the same street – Moore Avenue.  The couple married and set up housekeeping in Valhalla, a town about ten miles south of Mount Kisco.  Their living quarters became a focal point for the Foy family members, similar to that of Mary Foy Mullin in Manhattan 

Soon after the end of World War I, Cecelia and Hannah Foy, who were nurses with the American Army in France, smuggled in Luke Foy, the youngest of the family, who suffered from consumption.  Jane was not happy, as her firstborn, Francis, had been born in November 1919 and she was worried about Luke's sickness spreading.

However, Luke died in 1920.  The Foy girls (Cecelia, Hannah and Elizabeth each put up $35.00) purchased a cemetery plot in Gate of Heaven Cemetery, near Valhalla to bury him, and agreed that any unmarried Foy family member would be buried there.  Peter Foy, the only one who had an automobile, was dispatched to purchase the plot.  The cemetery would not issue the ownership papers to women who were not there, so Peter became the nominal owner of the plot.  Luke was the first one buried, followed by Hannah who had married Charles Anderson in Rhode Island.  Then Virginia McKeon Foy, Peter's wife was buried in 1941, followed by Peter himself in 1951 and Cecelia Foy in 1960.   In December 2006, Mary Morley Foy, wife of Richard Foy, was buried in the plot, and Eileen Howitt Foy, wife of Peter Joseph Foy, who died also In December 2006, was cremated and her remains buried in the plot in June 2007

 Thomas and Jane had four children:  Francis, Robert, Thomas and Jane.  

Frank O'Grady (1919-1968) attended All Hallows High School in the Bronx (the parents had moved to Lohengrin Place in the Country Club section of the Bronx) and Niagara University for one year.  World War II intervened; Frank served as a Lieutenant in the U S Army.  After he was released, he married Margaret  Wilson  (1922 - 1998).  The couple had four children:  Brian, Bridget, Bernadette and Brenda.  After Frank's death, Peggy moved to Boca Raton Florida, where she died.   Bernadette and Brenda remain in Florida; Brian is in New Jersey; Bridget is in White Plains NY..   Frank and Peggy and Peggy's mother (Mrs. Wilson) are buried in Gate of Heaven close to the Foy and Mullin plots.

 Robert O'Grady (1923 - 2005) also attended All Hallows High School and then joined the United States Marine Air Corps during World War II.  After the war, Bob used the G I Bill to study at Manhattan College, obtaining a degree in business administration.  Bob married Marian Walsh of the Bronx in 1949.  He worked for Curtis Wright and several other large institutions, lastly for Schering-Plough.  The family moved to Roseland NJ to be near work.  The couple had six children: Maureen, Robert, Mary Beth, Timothy, Kevin and Jane Ellen.  Maureen died in her teens.  Robert became a career Army officer...  Mary Beth graduated from Notre Dame University in the ROTC program and served in the Army, marrying Gary Cook, also an Army officer.  The couple live in San Antonia TX. .  Timothy attended LaSalle University in Philadelphia and medical school; he is an anesthesiologist in Philadelphia.  Kevin served several hitches in the US Army, where he met and married his wife Riita from Finland.  The couple live in Littleton CO..  Both Kevin and Robert were engaged in the 1991 Gulf War.  Jane Ellen became a nurse and married Anthony Rubino.  The couple live in West Orange NJ and remain close to Eileen Foy Zysk of Livingston NJ.  Robert and Marian sold their home in Roseland NJ and moved to Spring Hill Florida.  Robert died 23 Dec 2005 in a Brooksville FL nursing home; in his last years he suffered  from Alzheimer's. 

Thomas O'Grady (1926  -  ) also attended All Hallows High School.  Upon graduation he entered the US Navy and served towards the end of World War II.   He used his G I Bill to attend a college in Sampson New York (since closed) where he learned computing.  He married Hedy Holzhauer of the Bronx.  His work took them to Syracuse New York, to Wyoming,  and then to Cocoa Beach Florida, where he operated an independent computing firm specializing in software for medical equipment.  The couple have five children:  Diane,  Kathleen, Susan, Eugene and Thomas, all of whom remain in the Florida area.  In 2006 Diane moved her family to California.

Jane O'Grady (1933 - 1999)  attended Villa Maria High School in the Bronx and then College of New Rochelle, obtaining a degree in elementary education.   She started work as an executive secretary  with IBM, working in New York City until IBM relocated to Yorktown Heights NY Meanwhile, Jane moved with her parents to Yorktown Heights  from the Bronx.   There she met and married Kevin Flood (1920  - 2007  ).  Kevin was a librarian and obtained a position with the state of New York.  Jane and Kevin relocated to Latham New York where  Maura, Andrew and James Flood were born.  Maura  married Mark Lentini of Ithaca New York and they moved to Seattle, Washington..  Andrew married Lisa  Griffith of Bennington Vermont and lives in Albany NY.  James remains unmarried and lives in the original family house in Latham NY..

This obituary for Robert F O'Grady was printed in the Tampa FL Tribune on 28 Dec 2005

Robert F. O'Grady

O'GRADY, Robert F., 82, of Brooksville, passed away Friday, December, 23, 2005, at Spring Hill Health and Rehab Center. He was born in White Plains, N.Y., and came to this area 19 years ago from New Jersey. He was Roman Catholic by faith and a member of St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. He was a U.S. Marine Air Corp veteran who served in World War II. He retired from Schering Plough as an auditor. He was an avid golfer and very active in his church. He enjoyed spending time with family and friends. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Maureen O'Grady; brother, Frank O'Grady; and sister, Jane O'Grady. He is survived by his loving wife of over 56 years, Marion Walsh O'Grady of Spring Hill; three sons, Robert F. O'Grady, Jr. of Atlanta, Ga., Timothy J. O'Grady and his wife Susan of Ft. Washington, Pa., and Kevin M. O'Grady and his wife Riitta of Littleton, Colo.; two daughters, Mary Elizabeth O'Grady Cook and her husband Gary of San Antonio, Texas, and Jane Ellen O'Grady Rubino and her husband Donald of West Orange, N.J.; one brother, Thomas O'Grady and his wife Hedy of Cocoa Beach, Fla.; nine grandchildren, Brendan, Katie, Christopher, Kaitlyn, Andrew, Anniina, Amanda, Meaghan and Kara. Mass will be held on Friday, December 30th at 2:30 p.m. at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. Robert will then be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, family requests donations be made to:Alzheimer's Association, P.O. Box 1939, New Port Richey, FL 34656-1939. Services Entrusted To: Brewer & Sons Funeral Homes and Cremation Services A FAMILY OWNED SERVICE COMPANY Spring Hill Chapel 352-596-4991 http://www.brewerfuneral.com
Published in the TBO.com on 12/28/2005.

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Kevin Patrick Flood
Obituary printed in the Albany Times-Union August 2007

Latham.  Kevin P. Flood, 86, of Latham, beloved husband of the late Jane O'Grady, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at Community Hospice at Samaritan hospital in Troy, with his loving children by his side.

Born in Bronx, N, Y, on October 8, 1920, Kevin was the son of the late Patrick and Mary (Cullen) Flood.  He was the oldest of 13 siblings. Kevin was educated at Fordham reparatory School in the Bronx, and entered the Jesuit Seminary at age 17.  He received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy from Woodstock College, Mass., and began the study of theology at Weston College, Mass. in 1948.  Kevin was ordained a priest on June 15, 1961 and spent his post-ordination year in Dublin, Ireland in the Jesuit House at Rathfarnam.

During his priesthood, Kevin taught Latin, English and French at Fordham Prep, Canisius High School in Buffalo, and Xavier Military Academy in Manhattan.  He received his masters in library science from Columbia University in Manhattan and was in charge of the Bellarmine Library in Potsdam, N.Y.

Kevin was granted lay status by Pope Paul VI in 1969, and he married Jane O’Grady March 14, 1970.  He worked as a senior librarian in the NYS Library in Albany, from 1960 until his retirement in 1999.  He was a bibliophile, avid Yankees fan and crossword puzzle expert and a devoted father and husband.

Survivors include his living children, Andrew T. Flood and his wife Lisa of Albany, James Philip Flood of Latham, and Maura Lentini and her husband Marc of Seattle, Wash.  Kevin is also survived by three sisters, Anne T. Flood, S.C., PhD. of Manhattan, Jane Clare Flood and Margaret Nolan, both of Bronxville, N.Y.  His cherished granddaughter is Caitlyn Jane Flood.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the 34d floor staff of the Eddy Heritage Nursing Home in Troy and the staff of Samaritan Hospital for the loving care shown to Kevin.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 9:00 a.m. at St. Ambrose Church, 347 Old Loudon Road, where Kevin's Mass of Christian Burial will be held.  Relatives and friends are invited to call on Friday from 3-7o at the Dufresne & Cavanaugh Funeral Home, 149 Old Loudon Road, Latham.  Interment will take place in St. Agnes Cemetery, Menands.