The Doody's association with the Pierces' of Neponset

To the left is the Pierce Estate.  The home was in the Pierce family since the 1660's.  Every generation of Pierces' would update it to current standards.   Michael and Mary Doody in the 1850s' lived in the left hand side of the house and also worked for the Pierce family.  Michael later built the home below at the end of Oakton Street shown below.

The Pierce home is now a Historical Home for all Bostonians to visit and enjoy!

The picture below is the home of Michael and Mary Doody at 40 Plain Street in the Neponset section of Dorchester. Michale died in 1858...Mary stayed there until she died in 1888.  She past it on to the Doody family. This home stayed in the Doody family for generations.  

The Doody's had a professional relationship with the Pierce family of Neponset. Click on the Blog below:

Doody's of Neponset

the Pierce's home (where Michael Doody worked and lived), has been preserved in Dorchester. We should look into whether they have any information on the Doody's

Pierce Historical area

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.