Anthony D. Keogh (1900-1972)

Aka Mark Anthony Keogh

Clerk, Commercial Artist, Poster Artist, Display Designer, Photographer, Inventor, Technician/Engineer, Author
Born September 16, 1900, Springfield, Ohio
Died March 24, 1972, Springfield, Ohio

Anthony Daniel Keogh was born on September 16, 1900, in Springfield, Ohio. His parents were first generation Irish-Americans and filled their household with various Keoghs, Hogans, Faheys, and Flahertys, all relatives. Anthony D. Keogh began writing stories when he was about sixteen and made his first sale four years later. His story was called "Peppermint Courage," and it was published in the January 10, 1922, issue of The Black Cat. In an article published less than two weeks later in The Editor, Keogh explained the genesis of his story. He also wrote a little about himself, closing his article with these words: "I am neither notorious nor famous; am practically unknown outside Springfield." Anthony D. Keogh wrote one story for Weird Tales, "The Silent Five," published in December 1924. In his four years of writing before his first story was published in The Black Cat, Keogh also contributed to Radio News and Popular Mechanics.

Keogh was a jack of some trades: clerk, timekeeper, bookkeeper, assistant advertising manager, sign painter, poster artist, display designer, card writer, commercial artist, inventor (he patented a folding thermometer back), technician/engineer, and of course writer. During World War II, he contributed to the war effort by working as a photographer at Wright Field. After the war, when Wright Field became Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Keogh stayed on as a technician and engineer. I suspect he lived in Springfield all his life, at his parents' house at 526 Scott Street, even after they had all gone--all the Keoghs and other relatives. Keogh died in 1972 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Springfield.

Anthony D. Keogh's Story in Weird Tales

"The Silent Five" (Dec. 1924)

Further Reading

"My First Story" by Anthony Keogh in The Editor: The Author's Magazine, Vol. 56, No. 3, Jan. 21, 1922, p. 19.

Update (Apr. 7, 2023): Antony Keogh in a photograph from the Springfield, Ohio, News-Sun, October 30, 1956, page 4. WADC was the Wright Air Development Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Text and captions copyright 2013, 2023 Terence E. Hanley