Katharine O'Keeffe O'Mahoney: Irish Women of Massachusetts

Katharine O’Keeffe O’Mahoney

(1852-1918)

Katharine moved with her family from County Kilkenny to Massachusetts when she was 10 years old, living in Methuen and then settling in Lawrence. She was a teacher at Lawrence High School, where one of her students was the poet Robert Frost. Later she made her living lecturing and writing books, among them Famous Irish Women (1907), a fascinating history of Irish women from Pagan Ireland to Ireland’s Literary Revival. She was president of the Ancient Order of Hibernians and St. Clare League of Catholic Women, a group that helped orphans.

Katharine O'Keeffe O'Mahoney is part of BITA's 2019 Irish Women of Massachusetts series in celebration of Irish Heritage Month and Women's History Month.

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