Edward Paul Duffy
(1855-1933)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:
1. Mary J. Cadman

Edward Paul Duffy 1 2 3 4

  • Born: 13 Feb 1855, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 1 2
  • Marriage (1): Mary J. Cadman on 7 May 1885 in Washington, District of Columbia, DC, USA 1 2
  • Died: 13 Feb 1933, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD at age 78 2 3
  • Buried: 15 Feb 1933, Baltimore: Saint Peters Cemetery, Baltimore, MD, USA 3

   FamilySearch ID: L2J8-52W.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Census in 1870 in Elliott, Dorchester, MD, USA. 5 The 1870 census recorded in Ellicott 2nd election district: Elizabeth Duffy, seamstress, 44, living with son Edward, printer, 17, and her mother Elizabeth McNulty, 69. The ladies were born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and Edward in Maryland.

2. Military on 30 Sep 1879 in New York, New York, NY: Enlisted in U.S. Navy. 6 Edward Paul Duffy
Rating: Lands
General service
Previous service: 3rd C Boy 1 year
Usual residence: Baltmore, MD
Age: 23 6 months
Occupation: painter
Grey eyes, dark brown hair, fair complex, 5' 3", scar over right eye.

3. Census in 1880 in Elliott, Dorchester, MD, USA. 7 The 1880 census recorded Elizabeth Duffy, 48, living with son Edward P. Duffy, printer, 25, and her mother, Elizabeth McNully, 75. The ladies were born in Canada and Edward in Maryland.

4. Census in 1900 in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. 1 The 1900 census recorded at 1915 Guilford Avenue: Edward P. Duffy, news reporter, 45, born Feb 1855, living with wife Mary, 44, Feb 1856; Mary E., 14, Feb 1886; Edwena P., 12, Apr 1888; and mother Elizabeth F. Duffy, widow, 70, Mar 1830. Elizabeth had given birth to only one child by 1900 and she and her mother were born in Nova Scotia, her father in Ireland. Mary had given birth to 2 children and had been married for 15 years. She was born in District of Columbia, her father in England and mother in Ireland. Edward, his father, and his children were born in Maryland.

5. S. S. Brookline sailing from Port Antonia, Jamaica, arriving Baltimore, MD 12 Aug 1901 on 12 Aug 1901 in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. 8 Edward Durry, 45, reporter, citizen of USA, destination Baltimore and wife E. Duffy.

6. Newspaper: Baltimore Sun: obituary of Edward Paul Duffy, 14 Feb 1933, Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. 2 "ADMIRAL" DUFFY CROSSES THE BAR
-----
Veteran Marine Reporter
Was Oldest Member Of The Sun Staff
-----

Edward Paul Duffy, veteran reporter of The Sun, died yesterday on his seventy-eight birthday at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Henry J. Messier, 2715 Woodsdale avenue. He had been in failing health for several months and confined to the Messier home since January 13th.

Funeral services will be held at his home at 8.30 A. M. tomorrow, followed by requiem high mass in St. Dominic's Catholic Church, Hamilton. Burial will be in St. Peter's Cemetery.

Known As Admiral

Known as the Admiral not only to his office companions but to thousands of Baltlmoreans and a host of men Appeals and the Council committee who follow the sea, Mr. Duffy one of the oldest active reporters and at the time of his death, he was the oldest member on The Sun reportorial staff.

On January 1, 1932, the Admiral achieved his life's ambition, having completed a half century with the paper. His service began in the days of Arunah S. Abell, who founded The Sun in 1837 and died in 1888.

The Admiral, as far as is known, was the father fo the first newspaper ever published on a ship of any nation, the sheet making its first appearance on the Trenton, of the United States Navy, while Mr. Duffy was a member of the crew. He also started the marine news section of The Sun.

Scrapbook Cherished

Among the Admiral's cherished possessions was a scrapbook containing stories of vessels he had known, adventure yarns concerning his seamen friends, including Ransford D. Bucknam, master of the steamer Joseph L. Colby, who became Imperial Naval Aide-de-Camp to Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey; photographs of new and obsolete ships; obituary notices of friends; sea songs; descriptions of improvements to Baltimore's port and waterfront, and autographs of many officers of ships making Baltimore a port of call.

The son of the late Hugh Duffy, contractor of this city, and Mrs. Elizabeth Furlong Duffy, who was a woman from Nova Scotia, Mr. Duffy was born in Baltimore. His father died when Mr. Duffy was 5 years old and with his mother he went to Ellicott City to live. At an early age he found employment in one of the old-time printing shops of the town.

Before he was 15 years old, he heard the call of the sea and ships. He first entered the merchant service and then went into the navy.

While attached to the Trenton the young sailor met Miss Mary Jane Cadman, daughter of Walter Cadman, a secretary to Jefferson Davis during the Civil War.

Reminiscenses were exchanged, romance started and they were married on May 7, 1885. Mrs. Duffy died on November 17, 1925.

Before Duffy completed his service on the Trenton, Mr. Abell wrote him that a position awaited him on his return home. He accepted, joining The Sun's regular staff on January 1, 1882.

After working for a while on general news, Mr. Duffy began writing stories gathered along the waterfront and his marine column followed. In 1907, when the Admiral celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary with The Sun, the A. S. Abell Company, publisher of the paper, presented him with a gold watch attached was a chain, in the form of a ship's cable and a charm designed like a steering wheel within which was a compass.

Were Cherished Gifts

The watch and the Admiral's log, including the first copies of the Trenton Herald, were his cherished possessions. "I don't want another watch when I celebrate my fiftieth anniversary with the paper," he once told another reporter. "All I want is to have inscribed a note that I ended fifty years here."

At the luncheon given in his honor when he celebrated his golden anniversary with The Sun he received a second watch, the gift of The A. S. Abell Company. At the luncheon were executives of the organization, old employes and friends of Mr. Duffy who formerly were associated with him in newspaper work, all of whom listened attentively as he told of his early days.

Leaves Two Daughters

Following the death of his wife, the Admiral moved from his home, 1915 Guilford avenue, a rendezvous for sea captains and their friends, to the home of Mrs. Messier. Besides Mrs. Messier, he is survived by another daughter, Mrs. Edwina Mills, of England, and a granddaughter," Miss Jane Margaret Beecher, a student in a convent school outside London.


Edward married Mary J. Cadman on 7 May 1885 in Washington, District of Columbia, DC, USA.1 2 (Mary J. Cadman was born in Dec 1856 in Washington, District of Columbia, DC, USA 1 and died on 17 Nov 1925 in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 2.)


Sources


1 1900 United States Census, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3KF-F5X Edward P Duffy, Precinct 11 Baltimore city Ward 12, Baltimore, Maryland, United States; citing sheet 10B, family 192.

2 Baltimore Sun (Baltimore, MD), 14 Feb 1933, page 3. Obituary of Edward Paul Duffy.

3 Find A Grave, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/155803829.

4 FamilySearch.org, District of Columbia, Marriages, 1830-1921, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F71G-7LW Edward P. Duffy and Mary J. Cadman, 07 May 1885; citing Washington, District Of Columbia, reference p. 209; FHL microfilm 2,107,968.

5 1870 United States Census, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MN3F-YRZ Elizabeth Duffy, Maryland, United States; citing p. 69, family 429.

6 FamilySearch.org, United States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous, 1855-1891, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XG9R-62W Edward Paul Duffy, Oct 1879; citing p. 390, volume 79.

7 1880 United States Census, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MNQP-Z26 Elizabeth Duffy, Ellicott City, Howard, Maryland, United States; citing enumeration district ED 102, sheet 336B.

8 FamilySearch.org, Maryland, Baltimore Passenger Lists, 1820-1948 (NARA microfilm publications M255, M596, and T844 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL film 821,572), https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2CS6-K99 Edward Duffy, 1901; citing Immigration, Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, United States.



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