Mary Elizabeth Duffy (b 1865)

The second child of John Duffy and Susannah Holland Duffy, Mary Elizabeth Duffy, was born in October, 1865 in Lockport, New York. As a young woman she obtained work at Haskell’s, a large store that sold fabrics, drapery, “domestic dry goods,” yarn, and more. According to the Lockport City Directory, she became a forewoman there by 1887 — this was probably her situation in 1886.

In about 1888, she married William J. Mulvey, a blacksmith who worked at an iron foundry. Williams parents, Catherine Doherty Mulvey and John Mulvey, had immigrated from Ireland not long before William’s birth — his older siblings were born there.

Mary and William had two sons:

James P [Mulvey] Duffy (1889-1960)
Elmer [Mulvey] Duffy (1890-1966)

The marriage did not last, although at present, I’m not sure exactly when it ended. My best guess is that they separated around 1892, because in that year Mary is listed in the Lockport City Directory as “Mrs. Mary Mulvey” and living in her father’s home at 383 Gooding. William Mulvey is not listed in Lockport again until the 1904 City Directory and then in the 1910 census with his next wife, Catherine Sheenan Mulvey, and three children. The two sons, if his by birth rather than adoption, would have been born while he was still married to Mary.

Mary and her sons continued living with her parents and her brother William. Her mother died in 1893 and her father in 1895. William, Mary, and her boys stayed in the home, which was just a few houses down from the hotel and home occupied by Mary and William’s aunt, Elizabeth Duffy Scheffer, her husband Charles, and their cousin Mary.

In the 1899 directory, William is noted as having moved to Michigan. In the 1900 census Mary and her boys are still in the home, although there is a boarder, Daniel Shaw, living there. Mr. Shaw was 31 and worked as a teamster. Mary was working as a seamstress. I suspect these were difficult times for her.

In the 1901 City Directory, Mary is listed at a new address, 291 Gooding. I will need to do further research on what became of the home at 383. On January 10, 1902, she married John Lacey in Welland, Toronto, Canada. At the time, they each listed their place of residence as Chicago, Illinois, and their birthplaces as Buffalo. Mary lied about her age, which she gave as 1872, and said that she was a spinster — although the form did not have a designation for “divorced,” so that may be why.

John C Lacey [later spelled Lacy], was born in Buffalo, New York in 1877 — he was about 12 years her junior. I do not have much information on him at present. He was a teamster. His parents, James Lacey and Johanna Maloney, were Irish immigrants.

Mary had three children with John Lacey, all daughters:
Catherine Theresa Lacey 1902–1957
Helen Marie Lacey 1903–1985
Dorothy S Lacey 1905–1931

Interestingly, at about the same time William Mulvey returned to Lockport, his sons began using Duffy as their last name. They lived in their stepfather’s household (and later) as James and Elmer Duffy.

Their daughter Dorothy died in 1931.

John died in 1949 at the age 0f 72; Mary Elizabeth in 1956 at the age of 91.

You can see their graves in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Lockport, New York by clicking here:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=109171564&ref=acom

Patrick Duffy (b 1812) + Elizabeth Dillon (b 1818)
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John Duffy (b 1838) + Susanna Holland (b 1838)
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Mary Elizabeth Duffy. (b 1865) + William Mulvey (b 1867)
+ John C Lacey (b 1877)

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.

John Duffy Jr (b 1861)

The eldest son of John Duffy and Susannah Holland Duffy was born in June, 1861, in Lockport, New York. John Jr. was the first of several John Duffy Jrs., although he doesn’t appear to have used the suffix “Jr.” in adulthood.

Lockport became an industrial center early on, with mills and factories established by the early 1830s. John worked at a paper mill at the age of 18. At 23, he was working as a “grinder” — this may have meant that he sharpened cutting edges in the mill, but I’m not certain. Later, he is listed in the City Directory as a laborer.

In 1887, he married Margaret (Maggie) Maher, who was the daughter of Irish immigrants. Her parents, John and Julia Mahar, raised their nine children on a farm in nearby Hartland, New York. One of Margaret’s brothers, James, worked in the paper mill, so that may have been how John and Margaret met, or perhaps they met through the Catholic church in Lockport.

After they married they lived near the homes of John’s father and grandmother.

In 1900, they had moved to another home; Margaret’s brother James, who worked at a rolling mill, lived with them. At that point, John worked at the city gas company.

An 1897 history of the area gives the background of the Lockport gas company:

Gas lighting was introduced in Lockport as early as 1851, chiefly through the efforts of James G. Porter… The site which has since been used for the works, corner of Transit and Lagrange streets, was purchased and the required plant established. The main streets of the village were first illuminated with gaslight on the night of the 30th of December, 1851….In August, 1894, the Lockport Gas and Electric Light Company was organized… The city was first wired for the use of incandescent lights in 1884-85 by the Gas Company. At about the same time another company was formed for lighting the streets by arc lamps, and the two subsequently consolidated. The present company supplies 209 street lamps.

They had seven children:

John Duffy Jr. [III] b) 1887
Mary C. (Mabel) Duffy b) 1890
Susanna (Anna) Rosella Duffy b) 1892
Edward Joseph Duffy b) 1894
Elizabeth Blanche Duffy b) 1896
Marjorie Duffy b)1898
Helen R. Duffy b) 1907

In the 1910 census, John was listed as working in a machine shop. The family lived at 176 Jackson St in Lockport. They stayed there for the remainder of his life.

In 1915, he was a helper in an “auto works” — the new industry of car manufacturing was alive and well in Lockport.

In 1920, when he was 59, he was listed in the census as a patrolman (in this case, probably a security guard) for the Gas Company.

By the 1925 state census, he was retired.

John died on May 6, 1927 at the age of 65. He is buried in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Lockport. Margaret died just over a year later, on May 25, 1928, at the age of 63. She is buried beside him.

Pool, William (Editor), “History of Lockport, New York” from Landmarks of Niagara County, New York D. Mason & Co. Publishers, Syracuse, NY 1897 quoted on http://history.rays-place.com/ny/lockport-ny-3.htm

Patrick Duffy (b 1812) + Elizabeth Dillon (b 1818)
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John Duffy (b 1838) + Susanna Holland (b 1838)
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John Duffy Jr. (b 1862) + Margaret Mahar (b 1865)

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.

Margaret J Duffy (b 1850)

The youngest of the surviving five children of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon Duffy was Margaret J Duffy, born in February, 1850. Although she sometimes listed her year of birth as 1855, in the New York State Census for that year, she is five years old.

Margaret and her sister Elizabeth were the last of the Duffy siblings living at home with her parents when the 1870 census was taken. Margaret was working as a dressmaker.

For a long time, I couldn’t figure out what happened to her after that, but recently had a breakthrough after a family history research trip to Buffalo and Lockport. Her sister Elizabeth’s obituary allowed me to see that Margaret had married a man with the same last name — one I already knew was connected to the family in some way, although I wasn’t sure how. Then, with a little more research, several other puzzles were solved.

In 1875, Margaret married Francis (Frank) W. Duffy. Frank Duffy was born in Buffalo, New York in 1855, the son of James Duffy and Alice Jane Flood Duffy. I’m still looking into his history. I do know that his parents were Irish immigrants and that his father was a carpenter.

By 1874 Frank was living on his own in Lockport, working as a moulder, which meant a maker of molds or casting.

Sometime between 1876, when their son George was born, and 1879, when their daughter Elizabeth was born, the family moved to Pennsylvania, in all likelihood to follow Margaret’s brother William George Duffy to the oilfields. In the 1880 census, they lived in Fairview Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, next to W.G.’s family and that of Margaret’s sister Mary Duffy Hogan. At that time, Frank was working as an “oil pumper” on a well, possibly that of his brothers-in-law.

Margaret and Frank had seven children:

George Francis Duffy 1876–1948
Elizabeth J. (Bessie) Duffy 1879–[after 1905]
John Duffy 1881–[after 1892, before 1900]
Mary F Duffy 1883–[after 1940]
Frank James Duffy 1886–[after 1960]
Margaret C Retie Duffy 1892–1913
Basil Edward Duffy 1898–1964

By 1886, Margaret and Frank had left Pennsylvania and returned to New York, first to Allegheny County and then to Lockport, where Frank again worked as a moulder. At some point between 1892 and 1900, their son John died.

In about 1905, the family moved back to Buffalo, and remained there through the rest of Frank and Margaret’s lives. They made their home at 42 Parkview Avenue.

This is what their street looks like now. Except for the vehicles, it probably looked much the same then.

By 1905, their daughter Mary and her husband Harold Baker were living with them, and over the next decades, the Bakers and their children remained with them. They also took in their grandson Francis Piper, the son of their daughter Retie (Margaret), after her death in 1913.

Margaret died on Feburary 25, 1930. Frank died six years later, on March 3, 1936.

Patrick Duffy (b 1812) + Elizabeth Dillon (b 1818)
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Margaret J Duffy (b 1850)+Francis (Frank) W Duffy (b 1855)

Sources include:

“New York State Census, 1855,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K63G-8S9 : accessed 6 June 2016), Frances W Duffy in household of James Duffy, Ward 1, Buffalo City, Erie, New York, United States; count clerk offices, New York; FHL microfilm 825,678.

“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 88, lines 1-3; 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

“New York State Census, 1905,” New York State Archives; Albany, New York; State Population Census Schedules, 1905; Election District: E.D. 04; City: Buffalo Ward 05; County: Erie; Page: 74 Accessed on Ancestry.com

Obituary of Elizabeth Duffy Westerman Scheffer, “Scheffer,” Lockport Union-Sun & Journal, November 28, 1922.

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.

William George Duffy (b 1846)

William George Duffy was the second son and fourth of the surviving children of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon Duffy. He was born in Lockport, Niagara County, New York on April 6, 1846.

He left home to work in the newly booming Pennsylvania oil industry, probably in about 1866, when he was twenty. By 1869, he was living in the Meadville area, a “laborer” boarding at a place on Washington St in the boom town of Petroleum Center; a James Hogan, a “teamster” boarded there as well — this was probably his brother-in-law. Teamsters were employed in taking the oil from wells to shipping points.

Petroleum Centre is described in the Meadville Directory of 1869 as being located “on Oil Creek, and the Oil Creek and Allegheny River Railroad, and is a town of much importance in the Oil Producing Districts. It is situated about seven miles from Oil City and five miles from Titusville. In the town and surrounding farms are some of the most productive wells in the Oil Region.” Its population was about 4,000.

While the Directory paints a typically rosy picture of the place, saying “the town bears the name of a quiet and industrious people,” the local paper, the Petroleum Center Daily Record, reported the sort of carrying on one might expect in a boom town — assaults, murders, fortunes lost, and some made. And no shortage of saloons. On this website, which seems to have used a photo of a page from an unidentified book, a wild and rough place is portrayed; the photo is of the street where William G. Duffy lived.

This photo, from the Library of Congress, is from a stereograph image of Petroleum Center’s Main Street. This is from about 1860, and Petroleum Center was probably a little less built up than when William G. Duffy arrived.

PetroleumCenterPA1800s-2

Today the town is all but deserted, one of the ghost towns of Pennsylvania’s oil boom.

By the 1870 census, William G Duffy was in Oil City, Pennsylvania, working as an “engineer on [an oil] well.” He lived in a boarding house with about fifteen other people, mostly men. The three women were a servant, the wife of the owner, and the wife of a teamster.

“Engineer on an oil well” indicates that he was already experienced on oil rigs, although at this point in history petroleum engineering was a relatively new field, and not as we think of it — it was, as one study (Giebelhaus, 1996) says, “predominantly craft-based and ad hoc.” The same study notes that in the U.S., crude oil production increased from “only 2,000 barrels in 1859 to 4,800,000 barrels in 1869 and 5,350,000 in 1871.” The immediate center for this growth was Western Pennsylvania, and William George Duffy was there almost from the start.

Music with cover lithograph of Tarr Farm, OIl City PA

This sheet music cover from about 1864 features a lithograph of the Tarr Farm, Oil City, Pennsylvania. (from the Library of Congress.)

In 1874, he married Rebecca Smith, whose father, J.T. Smith, was an Irish immigrant and harness maker. Her mother, Margaret Redick Smith, was descended from a family who had been in western Pennsylvania from colonial days. J.T. Smith’s work led to travel throughout the boomtown areas. (The last thirteen years of his life were spent in Marienville, Pennsylvania, where the Moriarty family also settled.) William G. Duffy married Rebecca in Buena Vista, Pennsylvania. Buena Vista was part of Butler County at that time.

They had six children, five of whom survived infancy:

George Patrick Duffy 1874–1874
Emma Delores (Doll) Duffy 1875–1960
Elizabeth Mary Duffy 1877–1951
James Francis Duffy 1878–1964
William George (Wade) Duffy Jr 1881–1957
Rebecca Marie (Ruby) Duffy 1882–1949

Their first two children were born in Buena Vista.

Buena Vista Fairview Millerstown PA 1858 — Buena Vista is below the “F” in FAIRVIEW; Millerstown is below the R in the next township to the south; Fairview itself is north of the R.Map is from 1858; these areas were soon more heavily populated as a result of the oil boom.

The next three children were born in Chicora, Pennsylvania. Chicora was a later name for the post office for Millerstown, although the borough name of Millerstown remained for some time. At the time of their births, it was probably called Millerstown.

The youngest, Ruby, was born in Coleville*, Pennsylvania. Although you can’t find it on maps now, Coleville was near Aiken and Rew, Pennsylvania, an oil producing area, part of the Bradford field. It is nearer the PA/NY border than the other towns. Coleville suffered heavy losses in an November 1880 fire, as this story in a Minnesota paper mentioned:

Fire in Coleville 24 Nov 1880 from Minn newspaper

By the 1880 census, William is listed as an “oil producer,” meaning he owned an interest in at least one well. I’ve found an 1877 article mentioning that “Duffy and Hogan” had a well near Millerstown “showing promise.” Not enough detail to be sure it’s the same men, but it’s a possibility.

At this point in time, the only two siblings not living near William were John, who still lived in Lockport near their mother, and recently widowed Elizabeth, who probably had been living there shortly before the census was taken. Margaret, her husband Francis Duffy, and their two young children lived next door to James and Mary Hogan, who were caring for Willie Westerman, the son of Elizabeth Duffy Westerman. On the other side of the Hogans were William and Rebecca and their three children. James Hogan is also listed as an oil producer, and Francis Duffy as an oil pumper, meaning someone who worked on the well.

On December 31, 1883, Rebecca died of typhoid fever in Coleville*, Pennsylvania.

William brought her to Lockport to be buried near his parents, in the Duffy family plot in St Patrick’s cemetery. At thirty-seven, he was a widower with five children, the oldest of them eight years old.

William George Duffy and Catherine Mahoney Duffy

Two years later, in 1885, he married Catherine Mahoney. I have believed the couple had one child together, John Daniel Duffy, born in 1892, but this is a little uncertain — in the 1900 and 1910 censuses she stated that she had not borne any children. So he may have been adopted. I’m looking into that, and also trying to verify some of the previous information I had on Catherine.

By 1900, William was a foreman on the Eureka Oil Pipeline. The family had by then moved to Tyler County, West Virginia. The only two children still at home were William Jr. and John Daniel.

William was on a business trip to Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania in 1909 when he died of pneumonia on September 4, 1909. A notation on his death certificate states that he contracted the illness in Sistersville, West Virginia, his usual place of residence, and that his body was sent to Sistersville for burial. I have not yet located his grave.

Catherine remained in Tyler County for at least another year. I do not yet know her date or place of death.

*This may have been Coyleville, another oil town in Butler County. I’m looking into this possibility.

Sources include:

Giebelhaus, August W.. 1996. “THE EMERGENCE OF THE DISCIPLINE OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERING: AN INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON”. Icon 2. Temporary Publisher: 108–22. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23790403.

Mower County transcript. (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, December 01, 1880, Image 1Image provided by Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85025431/1880-12-01/ed-1/seq-1/

Regarding the establishment of Chicora: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pabutler/1895/95×43.htm

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.

Elizabeth Duffy (b 1844)

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.

armstrbg — 1876 map of Armstrong County. Parker City is at the top left corner.

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.

Butler County PA in 1858 Fairview and Buena Vista copy — 1858 map, before oil boom, showing Millerstown in Butler County in center of lower green section. Fairview is almost directly north of it.

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.

Elizabeth Duffy Scheffer

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

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.

Mary A. Duffy (b 1841)

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, 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

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.

John Duffy (b 1838)

Detail of 1851 Map of Lockport, showing Gooding Street. Lockport 1851 detail

Detail of 1851 Map of Lockport, showing Gooding Street.Glenwood was later established just below the railroad.

John Duffy was the eldest son of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon Duffy. He was born in Orleans County, New York in 1838.

By the 1840 census, the family had moved to Lockport, Niagara County, New York.

John attended school until at least the age of 12. The 1855 New York State census shows that he worked at farming (probably on the acreage his father was acquiring) at the age of 17. His father was then working as a laborer.

It is unclear if he served in the Civil War. There are records for a John Duffy from Niagara County who served in the Union Army, but I’m not sure it is this John Duffy — there was another John Duffy in Porter, Niagara County, New York, of about the same age. The gap in our John Duffy’s children’s birth dates indicate he may have been away from home during the years 1861-1864, although there may have been other reasons for this gap.

He married in about 1860, to Susannah Holland, the daughter of James and Ellen Holland, Irish immigrants. James was a stone cutter. Susannah was the oldest of their seven children.

Susannah and John Duffy had five children who survived to adulthood:

John Duffy Jr (b 1861)
Mary Elizabeth Duffy (b 1865)
James P Duffy (b 1871)
William G Duffy (b 1872)
Susan “Susie” Duffy (b 1877)

The 1865 census found the family at 70 Gooding St in Lockport. His occupation was “boatman on the Erie Canal.” This home was not far from his parents’ home on Glenwood near Lock Street. In the 1878 City Directory, it lists “hotel” along with “Canal locks” as his occupation. He is often listed in census records as a teamster, which meant someone who drives a team of horses or mules. Rafts and barges on the Erie Canal were pulled along the two path by such teams.

The address is listed 383 Gooding in the 1887 directory, although it’s not clear if this was a move or a matter of the city renumbering street addresses.

Susannah died in about 1893; John died on December 12, 1895.

I’ve learned more about the circumstances of his death since I first posted this. The Buffalo Evening News carried the following story on page 41 of its December 12, 1895 issue:

Bite Was Fatal: John Duffy of Lockport Dies of Blood Poisoning at the General Hospital — He Was Bitten in A Free Fight.

“John Duffy, whose home is at Lockport, died at the General Hospital this morning from blood poisoning. Duffy was a teamster. Ten weeks ago he got into a fight with several men at Lockport. One bit part of his first finger off and Duffy did not think it worthwhile to see a physician.

“He bandaged up the stump and blood poisoning set in. Three weeks ago he was sent to the General Hospital here. He was given careful nursing but died this morning.

“Coroner Tucker called the attention of the Coroner of Lockport to the case. The body was shipped home today and the Lockport police will investigate the case. Duffy was 57 years old and a widower.”

You can see this story here.

Locks on Erie Canal in Lockport, U.S. Government aerial photo taken in 1961 222525pr

Locks on Erie Canal in Lockport, U.S. Government aerial photo taken in 1961

Erie Canal in Lockport 2016, looking in the opposite direction of the photo above.

Sources include:

“United States Census, 1840” Lockport, Niagara, New York, Roll 311, Page 63 Image 131; FHL Film 0017199

“United States Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCBV-ZZB : accessed 12 May 2016), John Duffy in household of Patrick Duffy, Lockport, Niagara, New York, United States; citing family 834, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

“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, 1892,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MQ37-LNG : accessed 12 May 2016), John Duffy, 1892; citing Lockport City, Ward 02, E.D. 02, county offices, New York; FHL microfilm 878,329.

Images:

Callan, Bernard, M Dripps, and Augustus Kollner. Map of the village of Lockport, Niagara Co., N.Y. New York: M. Dripps, 1851. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2010593267. (Accessed May 11, 2016.)

Historic American Engineering Record, Creator, Holland Land Company, Thomas Evershed, Nathan S Roberts, Larry Lee, Thomas Behrens, Dana Lockett, et al., Lowe, Jet, photographer. New York State Barge Canal, Lockport Locks, Richmond Avenue, Lockport, Niagara County, NY. Documentation Compiled After, 1968. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/ny1209. (Accessed May 11, 2016.)

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.

Elizabeth Dillon (b 1818)

Elizabeth Dillon was born in Ireland in about 1818. This date of birth is based on census records and information on her gravestone. She came to the U.S. sometime before 1938. We are not sure whether she met her husband, Patrick Duffy, in Ireland or the U.S..

After the birth of their first son, John, the Duffys moved to Lockport and stayed there all their lives.

Patrick and Elizabeth Duffy had nine children, three of whom died in infancy and one who died as a young child. You can read their names and ages here.

The other five survived to adulthood:

John Duffy (b 1838)

Mary A. Duffy (b 1841)

Elizabeth Duffy (b 1844)

William George Duffy (b 1846)

Margaret J. Duffy (b 1850)

After her husband Patrick died in 1879, her widowed daughter Elizabeth Duffy Westerman and Elizabeth’s daughter, Mary Westerman moved with her at 277 Glenwood in Lockport.

William Westerman, a son of Elizabeth Westerman Duffy, was living with his aunt Mary Duffy Hogan in Fairview, Pennsylvania in 1880, but returned to Lockport before his death in 1885.

When her daughter Elizabeth remarried in 1888, Elizabeth Dillon Duffy moved with her daughter and granddaughter to the Northern Hotel at 297 Gooding, owned by her new son-in-law, Charles Scheffer.

Elizabeth Dillon died on March 3, 1895. She is buried in St Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Lockport.

The obituary below, from the Lockport Union, misstated her first name, perhaps mixing it up with her daughter’s name, and misspelled her son-in-law’s name.

Lockport Union notice of Elizabeth Dillon Duffy’s death.

Among others, sources for this post include:

“United States Census, 1840” Lockport, Niagara, New York, Roll 311, Page 63 Image 131; FHL Film 0017199

“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,” Lockport, Niagara County, New York, Supervision District 11, Enumeration District, 197. Image number 467. page 39, lines 44-46; census taken 14 June 1870. (Accessed 8 May 2016) http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1880usfedcen&h=4462571&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

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.

Patrick Duffy (b 1812)

Patrick* Duffy was born in Ireland in about 1812. This date is based on census answers and the inscription on the memorial at his gravesite, which states that he was 67 when he died in 1879.

He married Elizabeth Dillon, who was also born in Ireland.

Duffy Family Memorial Monument and Gravestones, located in St Patrick’s Cemetery, Lockport, New York

Close up Patrick and Elizabeth Duffy — Detail of Duffy Family Monument, Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon Duffy.

We are not yet sure whether they married in Ireland or the U.S., but they were probably married around 1837, since their first child, John, was born in 1838.

That John was born in New York tells us that the Duffys came to the U.S. by at least 1838, and perhaps earlier. The Duffys first settled in Orleans County, New York, but soon moved to Lockport, Niagara County, New York, where the couple would spend the rest of their lives.

Patrick Duffy and his family are listed in the 1840 federal census in Lockport, Niagara County, New York. At that time, no name other than the head of household was listed, but judging by the ages of the other household members, the family consisted of Patrick, Elizabeth, and John.

In the 1850 federal census, Patrick’s occupation is listed as “lab[orer].” He owned land worth $500 and could read and write.

The family had grown — the children listed are John, Mary, Elizabeth and William. By the end of that year another child, Margaret, was born.

From the inscriptions shown below memorial monument/gravestone in St Patrick’s Cemetery in Lockport that other children — Joseph, George, Sarah, and Elizabeth — were born to the couple but did not survive childhood. It is most likely that this infant Elizabeth was born before the surviving daughter of that name.

closeup children's names — Children of Patrick and Elizabeth Duffy who did not survive infancy or early childhood.

So the five surviving children were:

John Duffy (b 1838)

Mary A. Duffy (b 1841)

Elizabeth Duffy (b 1844)

William George Duffy (b 1846)

Margaret J. Duffy (b 1850)

The 1855 state census shows that Orleans County was the birthplace of John Duffy, which is how we know Patrick, Elizabeth, and John lived there at one point. All the other children were born in Lockport.

Patrick is also listed as a laborer in this census. At 15, John was farming the home land.

In the 1860 federal census, his occupation is listed as “drayman.” Historically, this was a person who owned a low wagon without sides. Drays were drawn by horses or mules, and used for transporting goods to and from a port. Lockport, on the Erie Canal, would have had plenty of work for a drayman.

By that year, his son John had married and moved away to his own home.

In 1860 Patrick’s land was worth $1000 and his personal property worth $300. In the 1865 New York State Census, he was working as a laborer — probably still as a drayman.

An 1868 Lockport City Directory lists his occupation as “junk dealer.” The directory says that he lives on Glenwood near Lock Street.

By 1870, when he was 58, he was listed in the census as a farmer. His land was worth $3000, his personal property $500. Only his wife, Elizabeth, and their two youngest daughters lived at home.

The 1871 Lockport City Directory lists his occupation as “peddler.” As in previous records, the family home was on Glenwood.

On August 13, 1879, Patrick died in Lockport. He was 67 years old. His cause of death is listed as “soft of the brain” in a mortality census for New York state. This is probably a shortened version of “softening of the brain,” or encephalomalacia. One online source for archaic medical terms, Old Disease Names by Sylvain Cazalet, says “softening of the brain” was the “result of stroke or hemorrhage in the brain, with an end result of the tissue softening in that area.” The attending physician was Dr. Gallagher. The death record indicates that he had been a resident of the county for 42 years. The brief time in Orleans County was probably added in to that number.

Patrick Duffy is buried in St. Patrick’s Catholic Cemetery in Lockport, New York.

*Although some family histories list him as William Patrick Duffy, in census and other records he is simply known as Pat or Patrick Duffy.

Among others, sources for this post include:

“United States Census, 1840” Lockport, Niagara, New York, Roll 311, Page 63 Image 131; FHL Film 0017199

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

“U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885” 1880, Enumeration District 197, Line 24. (Accessed 7 May 2016)

Please note that information posted on this site may change as new sources are discovered.

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.

Duffy Family History

Notes on the History of Patrick Duffy and Elizabeth Dillon Duffy and Their Descendants

Author: Jan Burke

Mary Elizabeth Duffy (b 1865)

John Duffy Jr (b 1861)

Margaret J Duffy (b 1850)

William George Duffy (b 1846)

Elizabeth Duffy (b 1844)

Mary A. Duffy (b 1841)

John Duffy (b 1838)

Elizabeth Dillon (b 1818)

Patrick Duffy (b 1812)

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