03/27/2026
Over 3-4 years, cemetery restorationist Mark Smith restored the dollhouse monument built by my great great grandfather Michael Keating, and his brother John...a beautiful piece of art these grieving fathers lovingly created, as the talented stonecutters they were, to memorialize their many children who were gone too soon. Thanks to many Keating descendants and other friends of this Cincinnati monument, we raised around $8,000 to complete the repairs. This could have not been done without Mark's dedication and commitment.
Today I am sharing one of our past posts about the Keating Dollhouse from Ethel Keating Gerbus, granddaughter of John Keating, whose notes provide a glimpse into her own experiences as a Keating descendant. I will be sharing others in the next week to mark five years since we started this journey.
I first saw the little house following the funeral of my great aunt Mae's husband, Bud Barry, in November 1986. I was four years old and thought it was simply fun and interesting. I remember that moment vividly. When I finally visited the dollhouse again when was in my 20s, the reality of my ancestors' pain in losing their children, and the work they put into this monument to express that, was both heart wrenching and moving.
When Ethel Keating's grandson Patrick Gerbus shared his grandmother Ethel's notes with me, what struck me was how much it mirrored my own experience with the little house, as a child and then as an adult. The Keating brothers (Ethel's grandfather John and his brother, my great great grandfather Michael) have managed to convey their love and loss to family and other visitors for many decades after they died.
As with any cemetery from the 1800's, St. Joseph is filled with the graves of children who were gone too soon. While all of those parents may have lacked the skill or resources to express this pain in the manner in which the Keating brothers could, the dollhouse embodies the pain of all the parents whose children were laid to rest there.
- Kathy Farro
Contributed by Patrick Gerbus, descendant of John Keating and grandson of Ethel Keathing Gerbus Ethel Keating Gerbus is John Keating’s granddaughter through his son Nicholas E. Keating, Sr. S…
