Santa
Clara County
Biographies
JOHN F. O'KEEFE
Prominent among the well known citizens of San Jose is John F. O'Keefe, a man of great artistic and executive ability, to whom has been entrusted the care and supervision of Oak Hill Cemetery, that beautiful resting place of the dead. A son of Michael O'Keefe, he was born in Middleboro, Mass., March 19, 1868. When a young man his father emigrated from County Cork, Ireland, his birthplace, to New England, where he began work as a railroad hand. Removing to California in 1868, he continued in the same occupation, locating in Vallejo, Solano county, where he still resides, being in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
But an infant when he came with his parents to Solano county, John O'Keefe was reared and educated in Vallejo, attending the public schools during the days of his boyhood and youth. Beginning life for himself as a clerk, he was associated with a grocery firm in San Jose for five years, after which as a commercial traveler he represented a wholesale grocery house of San Francisco for some time. Subsequently he was a deputy in the county auditor's office of Santa Clara county, serving in that capacity until the organization of the Oak Hill Cemetery Association, when he was made its assistant superintendent and manager. In this position he has ably performed all the duties devolving upon him and after three years was appointed superintendent and manager. This cemetery adjoins the old cemetery, which now, through Mr. O'Keefe's management, is kept in better condition than ever before. Of the seventy-three and twenty-six hundredths acres of land on which the city first established the new Oak Hill Cemetery, fifty-two acres have been artistically laid out under the supervision of Mr. O'Keefe, making a most beautiful landscape, and adding much to the natural attractions of the place. The ample drives and walks are shaded by stately and graceful palms, and these with the varied beauty of grass, flower and foliage, not less than the works of art and the associations of memory, are tranquilizing and inspiring. This cemetery was opened to the public in July, 1894, and has since been constantly improved. A reservoir, with a capacity of six hundred thousand gallons, supplies water for irrigation, sprinkling, etc. In 1902 the vault was completed at a cost of $16,000, and has room in it for sixty bodies. Either family or single lots are sold, and all are sold subject to perpetual care and preservation. At the entrance to the grounds are large iron gates, just inside of which is the office, a tool house, and a chapel, all buildings of modern construction. In the care of the cemetery and buildings, Mr. O'Keefe employs fifteen men all of the time, and at times has a much larger force. The officers of the Oak Hill Cemetery Association are as follows. W. C. Andrew, president; Ralph Lowe, vice-president; A. K. Whitten, secretary; these, with O. A. Hale and J. D. Radford, are the directors, while the First National Bank of San Jose is treasurer. The cemetery is located three miles from the city limits, and has, in addition to the office in the grounds, an office at No. 8 North First street.
Mr. O'Keefe married Mary R. Lowe, who was born in San Jose, a daughter of Waldo H. Lowe, and granddaughter of James R. Lowe, who came from Massachusetts to California in 1852 by way of Cape Horn, settling in San Jose. He was a landscape gardener by occupation, and spent his last days in this city. Coming with his parents to San Jose, Waldo H. Lowe began life for himself as a clerk, and was afterward assistant postmaster for awhile. Being then elected deputy sheriff, he served in that office until his death, in 1879, at the early age of thirty-eight years. He married Eliza J. Whitman, who was born in Buchanan county, Pa., a daughter of William and Rosanna (Pyle) Whitman. William Whitman, a son of Edward Whitman, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1785, came with his family to California in 1846, accompanying the Donner party. His father-in-law, Mr. Pyle, Mrs. O'Keefe's maternal grandfather, went back to assist that part of the company that was left at Donner Lake, and carried Mrs. Lewis out on his back. The Whitmans settled in Santa Clara county, where William Whitman was accidentally drowned, in 1848. Eliza J. Whitman, his only child by his first marriage, became the wife of Waldo H. Lowe, by whom she had four children, namely: Mary R., now Mrs. O'Keefe; Sherburn; Samuel B.; and Waldo H. Mrs. Lowe married for her second husband Samuel F. Schwartz, of San Jose. In 1904 Mr. O'Keefe built a fine resident in San Jose. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and has served on some of the special committees of his lodge.
Transcribed
9-23-15 Marilyn
R. Pankey.
ญญญญSource:
History of the State of California &
Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A.
M., Pages 794-795. The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
ฉ 2015 Marilyn R.
Pankey.