Andrew Philip Kehoe was born in Tecumseh, Michigan, on February 1, 1872, into a family of 13 children and attended the local high school. After graduating, Kehoe studied electrical engineering at Michigan State College in East Lansing and moved to St. Louis, where he worked as an electrician for several years. Sometime during this period he suffered a head injury in a fall and was semi-conscious or in a coma for a period of several weeks.<ref name="Lansing State Journal/Kehoe Knew Few As Friend"/><ref name="Battle Creek Enquirer/May 19"/> He later returned to Michigan and his father's farm.