Category: Generation 3

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)
|
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)
|
John Duffy (b 1838) + Susanna Holland (b 1838)
|
John Duffy Jr. (b 1862) + Margaret Mahar (b 1865)

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.