Off the Farm

3rd Great Grandfathers (known)
John Keenan b. 1785, Antrim, Ireland; d. 1871, New York; oc. Stone Mason?
John (Jack) Leary b. unknown; d. unknown; oc. unknown
Cornelius Leary b. 1799, Ireland; d. unknown; oc. Farmer

2nd Great Grandfathers
Bernard J. Keenan b. 1829, New York; d. 1891, New York; oc. Farmer
Patrick Leary b. 1831, Ireland; d. unknown; oc. Farmer
Denis Leary b. 1835, Canada; d. unkown; oc. Meat Market?
Michael Barry b. 1839, Kerry, Ireland; d. unknown; oc. Farmer

Great Grandfathers
Walter Leary b. 1874, New York d. 1960, New York; oc. Dairy Farmer
James J. Keenan b. 1865, New York; d. 1955, New York; oc. Dairy Farmer

Grandfather
Hubert Keenan b. 1907, New York; d. 1984, New York; oc. Dairy Farmer

Census records tell me that most, if not all, of my male ancestors that lived in America on my mother's side - my grandfather through my 3rd great grandfathers - were farmers. I say most, if not all, because there are three of whom I cannot confirm (and as best as I can tell, the 5 great grandfathers not listed were born and lived in Ireland).

While the Keenan, Leary, Leary, and Barry households were farming - from as early as 1821 through 1960 - the rest of America was moving off the farms and into the cities. The graph below shows how fast the decline was. But we can also put it into perspective by looking at how much of the labor force were farmers while each generation of my ancestors were farming.

Source: Growing a Nation; The Story of American Agriculture. http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/farmers_land.htm

In 1790, before any of my maternal ancestors arrived, 90% of the labor population were farmers. In 1850, when Cornelius Leary is farming (and possibly John Keenan, too), 64% of the labor force were farmers. When my second great grandfathers (possibly excluding Dennis Leary) are farming in 1880, 49% of the labor force is farming. And in 1920, when James J. Keenan and Walter Leary - my great grandfathers - are dairy farmers, 27% of the labor force are farmers. By the time Hubert Keenan gives up farming around 1960 after his heart attack, with none of his children continuing in farming, only 8 percent of the labor population were farmers.

In 2000, when Hubert Keenan's children and grandchildren are spread across the country (having left behind our ancestral (if not actual) home of Franklin and St. Lawrence counties in norther New York State), working as (or retired from jobs as) managers, teachers, nurses, lawyers, engineers, technicians, accountants, analysts, etc - but no farmers, only 1.9% of the labor force are farmers (source: USDA).

For 200 years, many families in America moved away from farming - moving out of rural areas and into the cities. My maternal ancestors held on much longer than most, but in the end, we too moved off the farm.

*Note: Additional details and background will now be posted in the comments section.

Note the Functionality

Just a note on some additional features on the blog. On the top of the blog, you might notice that there is a header with links to other pages. Each of these other pages have additional features that I think add to this blog.

First, there is a page listing my history sources - aka Works Cited. I have this for two reasons. First, for transparency purposes - so that my readers can see which sources I am using when I include historical context with the genealogical information. I have also included it so that my readers can do further reading.

On a related note, my sources for my genealogy information are either from the research my father and uncles have done or, as often as possible, from what I have found on Ancestry. (I am debating whether to include more details on that in the comments - your thoughts are welcome.)

There is also a page showing my family tree - pedigree style (aka, just the parents). I have included this as a reference for my readers in case my descriptions of how a particular person is related to me is confusing.

Finally, I have added a page that shows two google maps I have made. The maps are of important genealogical sites for the Cheney / Keenan family and the Eisenberg / Blake family. I'll update the maps with new locations as I find them. But feel free to suggest sites I have not yet included. And more importantly, feel free to click on the maps or the links and explore them.

Edward Eisenberg and DuArt

Edward Eisenberg
Born: October 23, 1921, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
Died: October 17, 2010, Naples, Collier County, Florida
Relation to Author: Grandfather-in-Law
Paternal Grandfather of Rebecca Eisenberg

I met Edward Eisenberg one month before Becky's and my wedding in 2009 (and one of the biggest joys of our wedding was that Edward and his wife Gloria - Grandpa and Grandma - were able to attend the wedding). We visited Edward and Gloria at their home in Naples, Florida. As a new acquaintance, I was able to ask Edward about his life story. He told me about the many different jobs he had.

When asked what his favorite job was, he said quickly and emphatically that it was working at DuArt. Located in midtown Manhattan, New York, DuArt was / is a film processing lab for motion pictures - perhaps the premier film processing lab for motion pictures on the east coast.

When filming a movie, the film negatives from a day of shooting were sent to DuArt for processing (motion picture film, like still camera film, needs to be developed from the negatives). After processing, the developed film (I think they call this the "dailies") was sent back to the film crew (director, producers, etc) to review the day's shooting. This all had to happen quickly so that the film crew could watch the dallies and make decisions about the next day's shooting.

Edward talked about retrieving the negatives from the airport (the negatives having flown in from the picture shoot from somewhere on the East Coast), having them processed, then sending them back for review by the director and staff. He loved the job and I can see why. To know you are involved in movie-making, at a time when Hollywood was probably even more glamorous than it is now, must have been terribly exciting.

Unfortunately, there is still a lot I don't know. The conversation with Edward was pretty general. So I don't know exactly when he worked there, what specifically he did, and what movies the studio worked on while he was there. I will see if I can get that information.


DuArt is still in operation today, providing picture and sound support. From their website:

Picture: Since 1922, DuArt has been a leader in the field of moving image post. From black and white to color, from 16mm and 35mm to Red Camera workflows, from nitrate film to Blu-Ray and file-based delivery, we enjoy being present at the creation.

Sound: From our own sound printing process in 1929 to the 7.1 audio of today, the path to great sound has always led to DuArt. We provide sound design, mixing, scoring, dubbing for localization, and digital restoration services that are second to none; our highly skilled audio staff crafts the sound for your project to the highest standard.

So they have changed with the changing technology to continue to support the industry. But one thing has changed - Du Art has gone digital. Gone are the days of traditional film processing, as Edward knew it.