Born in Lockport, Niagara County in 1841, Mary A. Duffy was the daughter of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon. She was their second child and first daughter to survive childhood.

In 1864, she married James W. Hogan, who had been born in Ireland in 1838. Hogan came to the U.S. in 1858. In the 1860 census, he is a farm laborer.

Until recently, I did not believe they had children. However, a closer look at the 1900 census showed that Mary bore three children, none of whom were alive in 1900. I suspect all died in childhood. I say this because I’ve discovered that in the 1865  NY state census, Mary and James Hogan lived next door to the John Duffy family, and had a child, a  fourteen-month-old girl named Susan. Susan was the first child born after James and Mary’s marriage.

In the 1870 census, I have found a Mary and James Hogan living in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania about the time we know they were there, although I can’t be certain this is the same James and Mary Hogan. This couple had a young son, William, then two.

Because I have not been able to find Mary Duffy Hogan in a census record or city directory with any certainty for the years 1870-1880, I can’t be sure when or where the other two children were born, but in 1880, the Hogans had no children living with them other than their nephew, Elizabeth‘s son William. (see below) Any children born after their marriage would still be too young to living away from home.

At some point, Mary and James Hogan moved to Pennsylvania, where all but one of Mary’s siblings and their spouses became involved in the oil industry by 1880. In the 1880 Federal Census, Mary and James were living in Fairview, Butler County, Pennsylvania.

The first of the family to become active in the oil industry was probably William George Duffy, who was living in oil-producing areas of Pennsylvania by 1869, fewer than ten years after the Drake Well came in near Titusville, Pennsylvania. Meadville, Pennsylvania is also in this area, and in 1868, the “Directory of Meadville and Oil Regions” shows both James Hogan and William G.Duffy boarding on Washington Street. James (assuming it is this James Hogan) is working as a teamster.

It would not be difficult to reach Meadville from Lockport — the Erie Canal connected to an extension canal that would have brought them to the area. I have not been able to locate the Hogans in the 1870 census.

The Hogans were in Fairview, Pennsylvania in 1880. They lived next door to William George Duffy and Mary’s married sister Margaret. Although the Hogans had no children of their own living with them then, their eight-year-old nephew William Westerman was living with them. William was the son of Mary’s widowed sister Elizabeth, who had returned to Lockport by that year. William later joined his mother there.

The 1890 census was destroyed by fire, so the next Federal census in which we can find the Hogans is the 1900 census. James and Mary were then living in Lincoln, Marion County, West Virginia. James was a superintendent on an oil lease. One of his siblings’ children lived with them — Rebecca Hogan, then 17. The family of Mary’s brother William George Duffy also lived in West Virginia by then.

James died in about 1911. Mary had returned to Lockport, New York, by 1912. The city directory showed her living with her sister Elizabeth, and Elizabeth’s married daughter Mary at 247 Lock St.

Mary Duffy Hogan died in about 1920.

Sources include:

“New York State Census, 1855,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-25918-9964-36?cc=1937366 : accessed 7 May 2016), Niagara > Lockport, E.D. 1 > image 5 of 43; county clerk offices, New York.

“New York State Census, 1865,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVNJ-L8JC : accessed 17 May 2016), James Hogan, District 02, Lockport, Niagara, New York, United States; citing source p. 10, line 39, household ID 83, State Library, Albany; FHL microfilm 1,577,675.

“United States Census, 1860,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCWJ-GPX : accessed 7 May 2016), Pat Duffy, 1860.

“United States Census, 1880,” Year: 1880; Census Place: Lockport, Niagara, New York; Roll: 901; Family History Film: 1254901; Page: 447C; Enumeration District: 196; Image: 0474. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&h
=4461582&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt :accessed 11 May 2016

“United States Census, 1900,” Year: 1900; Census Place: Lincoln, Marion, West Virginia; Roll: T623_1764; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 56.http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1900usfedcen&h=62581746&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt :accessed 11 May 2016

“New York State Census, 1915,” New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1915; Election District: 02; Assembly District: 01; City: Lockport Ward 01; County: Niagara; Page: 08 Accessed through Ancestry.com 11 May 2016.

“U.S. City Directories: Lockport, New York, 1912” TranscriptResidence date: 1912 Residence place: Lockport, New York, USAWeb Addresshttp://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=usdirectories&h=88243165&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt :accessed 11 May 2016

Map image: Library of Congress. https://lccn.loc.gov/2004629221

Contents of this site, except where noted, are ©2016-2019 by Jan Burke. While I hope you find this site useful in your family history research, please do not copy material you find here onto your Ancestry trees, etc. without permission.

Information presented here is based on my interpretation of the sources I’ve found. As new sources are found or inaccuracies discovered, the site will be updated.

Always happy to hear from cousins.