Born in Lockport, Niagara County, New York in about 1844, Elizabeth Duffy was the third surviving child of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon. A previous child of that name died at the age of three weeks. This Elizabeth was, in many ways, a survivor.
She attended school until at least the age of 16. At the age of 26, in 1870, she was living at home with her parents and younger sister Margaret. For reasons we can’t be sure of, she was in Pennsylvania by 1872. She may have traveled there with her brother William George Duffy or sister Mary Duffy Hogan.
She married Frederick Jacob Westerman in Parker City, Pennsylvania on February 13, 1872. Frederick was born in Pittsford, New York in 1844, the son of Bavarian immigrants.
The Westermans had three children that we know of:
William “Willie” Wallace Westerman b 1873
Henry Lewis Westerman b 1874
Mary Gertrude Westerman b 1877
William was born on February 25, 1873, at Bear Creek, Butler County, Pennsylvania. Henry and Mary were born in Millerstown, Butler County, Pennsylvania.
It was clearly a hard life. Henry died there in 1877, at the age of three. In that same year, Elizabeth was widowed: Frederick died on November 7, 1877, at the age of 33. It appears that he may have returned to his parents’ home shortly before his death. He is buried near them in Pittsford. I do not yet know the causes of Henry and Frederick’s deaths.
Elizabeth appears to have left Willie in the care of her sister Mary Duffy Hogan — he was living with Mary and James Hogan in Fairview, Pennsylvania the 1880 census. I am not sure how long he lived with with Hogans. His uncle William Duffy and aunt Margaret Duffy lived on either side of the Hogan’s home, so there would be many family members to care for him and younger cousins nearby.
Elizabeth and her daughter were in Lockport by the time the 1880 census was taken; her father had died there the previous year. She moved into her mother’s home at 277 Glenwood.
Willie died in January, 1885, and is buried in the Duffy family plot in Lockport. He was just shy of his twelfth birthday.
In 1887, Elizabeth married Charles E. Scheffer, who owned a hotel down the street from the residence of her brother John Duffy. Born in France in about 1844, Scheffer came to the U.S. with his parents when he was three. Other than that, I Elizabeth’s mother lived with them until her death in 1895. He also took in her daughter, who was listed as “Mary Scheffer” in the 1892 census. Scheffer seems to have arrived in Lockport not long before he married Elizabeth. I don’t have much information on his life before their marriage.
Charles died in 1901. Elizabeth moved in with her daughter Mary, who had married George Blackley in 1896. The Blackleys then had two children, and would add two more. They also took in Elizabeth’s widowed sister Mary Duffy Hogan. Mary died in 1920. Elizabeth died two years later, on November 26, 1922.
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.
“United States Census, 1860,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCWJ-GPX : accessed 7 May 2016), Pat Duffy, 1860.
“New York State Census, 1865,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-13031-126099-13?cc=1491284 : accessed 7 May 2016), Niagara > Lockport, E.D. 01 > image 3 of 52; State Library, Albany.
“United States Census, 1870,” 1st Ward, Lockport, Niagara County, New York, page 87, line 40; census taken 28 June 1870. (Accessed 7 May 2016) http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1870usfedcen&h=31519124&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt
Westerman Family Tree: Descendants of Frederick Jacob Westerman http://lwest.tripod.com/fred01.htm accessed 12 May 2016
“United States Census, 1880,” Lockport, Niagara, New York; Roll: 901; Family History Film: 1254901; Page: 467C; Enumeration District: 197; Image: 0515. http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&h=2633631&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt accessed 12 May 2016
Detail from Map of Butler County 1858, Library of Congress https://lccn.loc.gov/2004629221
Map of Armstrong County: http://www.usgwarchives.net/maps/pa/county/armstr/1876/
“New York State Census, 1892” Lockport, New York, 2nd ED, 2nd City Ward, page 2, column 2, lines 6-8. Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1892 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. http://www.ancestry.com
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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.
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Duffy Family History 
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