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.
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.
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