Wednesday, September 28, 2011

James Joyce - born September 28, 1866 - When and where did he die?

James Joyce, son of William and Julia (Hyland) Joyce, was born in West Brookfield on September 28, 1866.  He was enumerated in West Brookfield a the time of the 1920 census, and was probably the unnamed brother, aged 63, enumerated with Elizabeth Joyce in 1930.  The August 3, 1941 obituary of his nephew, William Edward Joyce, found in the Springfield Sunday Union and Republican, page 14A, named James and his sister Elizabeth as surviving relatives living in West Brookfield.

Please leave a comment, or contact me privately, if you have additional information about James, or the Joyce family of West Brookfield.

Jerome P. Ducy/Ducey - born Sept. 28, 1862

West Brookfield Vital Records show the birth, Sept. 28, 1862, of Jeremiah Ducy, son of James, Shoemaker, & Mary Martin, both born Ireland.  He was the seventh child in a family of eleven children.  He is called Jerome in the 1870 census in West Brookfield, and also in 1880, when at age 17, he was working in a boot shop.  After the death of his father James in 1890, Jerome, along with his mother and sisters moved to Worcester.  Jerome's mother Mary died in Worcester in 1899, and he continued to live there with his sisters.  The 1900 census taker enunmerated the family on Bancroft St.  Jerome, enumerated as Patrick, was working as a shoe stitcher.  Patrick and his sisters Mary, Martha, and Agnes lived on 20 Stoneland Rd. in 1910.  Patrick was employed in a shop as a machinist.

Sadly Jerome Patrick Ducy died of Lobar Pneumonia on April 27, 1913.  The record of his death included the following information: Patrick J. Ducey of Worcester, born West Brookfield, son of James and Mary (Gilmartin) both born Ireland, died at 20 Stoneland Rd. on 27 April 1913, of Lobar Pneumonia,, and was buried Apr. 29, 1913 in Sacred Heart Cemetery,  West Brookfield.  He was a stitcher for Warren Leather Goods.

A notice in the Springfield Daily Republican of April 30, 1913 read, "The body of Jerome P. Ducey, a former resident of West Brookfield, was taken there for burial yesterday morning for burial in Sacred Heart cemetery."  The notice also stated that he was born in West Brookfield.  Siblings who survived him were named as Frank [John Francis] Ducey of San Francisco, James Ducey of Brockton, and sisters Mrs. Kate Fitzpatrick, and the misses Mary, Marie, Mattie, and Agnes Ducey, all of Worcester.

[There were two families in West Brookfield with the name of Ducey or Ducy.  These families seem to have been unrelated.  The family of James Ducy, which included Jerome Patrick, most often spelled the name DUCY.  The family of John Ducey, most often spelled the name DUCEY. ]

More information about these and other West Brookfield families may be found at
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=wb2006&id=I1626