Deedy.com Blog

Every so often an email is sent to me after someone comes across this blog. Usually I can figure out if the person contacting me is a relation or not. But this latest query has me a bit befuddled. While Deedy is a very uncommon last name, it is not 100% unique to my family. The following email arrived today from England:

Hello

I love your website, so much work has gone in to it, it is a pleasure to see.

My paternal grandmother was Norah/Noreen Deedy from Dingle in County Kerry Ireland. She was one of four daughters of ? Deedy, a fisherman from Dingle. My grandmother emigrated to Boston and worked there in service to a wealthy Jewish family for something like 12 years, she married Gerald/Gerry Sheehan in Boston and returned to Ireland in the early/mid 1930s, she never returned to Boston. She lived the rest of her life in Coombaha, Co Kerry, Ireland.

If you have any knowledge of my Grandmother or her relatives I would love to find out more about her.

Kind regards

R. G.
Oxford UK

If any of the above sounds familiar or if you are researching any Deedy's from Dingle please let me know and I will connect you with R.G. from Oxford to discuss...

Labels: Unknown_Deedys

While combing various databases for information about my relatives, I recently stumbled across the following three documents about an Edward Deedy of Worcester who was erroneously placed on a bureau of investigation (precursor to the FBI) watch list in 1917.

The first two documents contain a letter notifying the bureau of investigation that an Edward Deedy was recently fired from his job as night watchman due to his political views. The second letter is a memo from the chief of the Boston bureau of investigation who basically dispatches an agent to go look into the matter.

You can click on any of these images to view larger.


The last document is the most fascinating. It is the agents report of his investigation and the result.

At first I thought these documents were about my Great-Grandfather Edward B. Deedy of Worcester. However, I have been able to rule him out. I found another Edward (also goes by the name Edmund) Deedy living in Worcester at the same time as my Great-Grandfather and living in the address listed in the documents. So this is an example of an Unknown-Deedy and an interesting little peek into the life of an innocent man caught up in a government investigation.

Labels: Unknown_Deedys

This blurb was found in the October 5, 1940 New York Times. Not sure where/if this boxing Deedy fits on the family tree...

Labels: Unknown_Deedys

While trolling the internet I found this query on geneology.com:

Looking for decendents of Paul Hall and Ellen Deedy arrived in Boston Ma Circa late 1840's They had a son named James P.Hall (b:1850) of Cambridge, Ma he was a Police LT. He married, Matilda (Murruy?) Hall. They had 5 Children?,, Dr James Hall DMD, Matilda, Charles J.Hall,Teddy,Helen?. any info would be great.
- Mark Letourneau

If this Ellen Deedy was from Firies, County Kerry Ireland then we may have found another branch on the family tree...

Labels: Unknown_Deedys

One of the great things about being a "Deedy" is the uniqueness of the last name. I have been digging around in some musty archives to see if I can find Newspaper and Magazine articles with the name Deedy referenced. Here is what I have found so far:


Hopefully you can read the above. It says Capt. Deedy arrived in New York from Lisbon. I guess this was big enough news to make the local paper "Boston Post Boy" on April 6, 1761. You read that right - there was a Capt. Deedy in 1761! Who he was or if he is related I have no idea.

We jump ahead 100 years to find the next mention. This time it is Jerry Deady (again, not sure if related - some family stories report Deedy was originally spelled Deady) of Stockbridge, MA who was mentioned in the Pittsfield Sun on October 9, 1862. Apparently he took 2nd place for best assortment of garden vegetables :)

Labels: Unknown_Deedys