

This is a picture of the south facing Civil War Memorial located at Meeting House Hill in Dorchester. John Doodes' name is listed here.
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Excerpt:
While some Irish workers rotated in and out of Dorchester, others stayed permanently in the
neighborhood. At least one Irish family had continuing links to the Pierces. Michael Doody
was an Irish laborer who immigrated to the United States in the 1840s with his brother John. In
1850 he was living, with his wife and infant son, in the Pierce house, and his brother worked for
the neighboring Newhalls. In 1853 Michael Doody purchased a half-acre plot of land on Plain
Street from Lewis and began to build a house, into which he and his family soon moved. When
Michael Doody filed a naturalization petition in 1854, George Francis Pierce, Lewis Francis's
son, attested to Doody's good character and his loyalty to the United States. Sadly, both Michael
and John Doody died young, but their widows and children remained in the neighborhood;
Michael Doody's widow, Mary, stayed in the house on Plain Street until her death. Although
Michael was relatively short-lived, he had achieved home ownership and a comfortable
existence in the United States. When Mary Doody died in 1884, she revealed the symbolic
meaning of the possessions she prized as signs of her upward mobility when she carefully listed
and distributed them in her will.
32
Footnote:
32 Lewis Pierce to Michael Doody, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, 214/291, Jan. 11. 1853. Pierce in turn gave
Doody a mortgage for almost half of the cost of the house, which Doody had paid back by 1858. Michael Doody to
Lewis Pierce, Norfolk County Registry of Deeds, 214/292, January 11, 1853. Michael Doody, Naturalization Petition
and Certificate, Nov. 4, 1854. For naturalization records see Federal Court Recrods, U.S. District Courts and
U.S. Cicuit Court, Massachusetts, 1790-1971, National Archives and Records Administration, Waltham, MA.
Mary Doody, Will, Suffolk County Probate, Docket No. 72036, 1884.
John Doody, Michael's brother, enlisted in one of Dorchester's Civil war regiments and died in Maryland.
Mary Doody's two sons predeceased her, and she left her real property to her nieces and nephews through individual,
personal bequests, listing her son's funeral wreath, featherbeds and other furniture, and a small china cream
pitcher among her special possessions. She also left money for her pastor, Father Fitzpatrick of St. Ann's parish in
Neponset, to say a mass on her behalf.