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This post can best be understood in the context of the string of postings begun with that by Bev Brown Hargrove on 5DEC2001 (Diffey Genforum). A small Diffey/Diffee/Diffy family, apparently independent of the North Carolina family of the same name, existed in Ann Arundel, Frederick, and Baltimore counties, Maryland, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. One of them, Leah Diffey, married Robert Burgoon and thus became my great-great-great grandmother (I think I have the tenses wrong, here -- I would eventually become her GGGgrandson, better said).
I have attempted to assemble bits and pieces into a working hypothesis to explain the relationships among the Diffeys I have encountered in Maryland, Ohio (where Leah and Robert Burgoon moved), and Indiana (where other Diffeys/Diffees/Diffys appear).
Almost all the references to the surname in compendia like the LDS database involve the much more numerous North Carolina family and its many descendants throughout the South and Southwest ... Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, etc. I do NOT believe those folks have any New World connection to the Maryland family, nor do I believe that the Ohio or Indiana Diffeys did.
Here's a HYPOTHETICAL descendancy for the Maryland Diffeys:
1. One WILLIAM DIFFEE was married to UNKNOWN WOMAN in about 1729 in Frederick Co, MD. This almost couldn't be vaguer, and I give it a big question mark, but he'll do for now as father to ...
2. ALEXANDER 1 DIFFEY (abt 1750-after1810) + UNKNOWN WOMAN 2 (well documented in MD and Federal censuses between 1772 and 1810, with data supporting children shown below):
a. LEAH DIFFEY (abt1772-after1818) In the 1790 Federal census, Alexander is shown with two males over 16 and two females, and in 1783 and 1800, state/county censuses enumerate him in the same "hundred" where ROBERT BURGOON, Leah's future husband, lived. I will not enumerate their descendants, since they did not bear the name Diffey/Diffee.
b. ALEXANDER 2 DIFFEY (abt1773-24APR1869, Ellicott Mills, MD) I give this a 75% probability of being true, given location, name, etc. On 30MAY1804, in Baltimore Co, Al 2 married MARY LOW, whose sister, ELIZABETH LOW, married CHARLES BURGOON, brother of the Robert who married Leah Diffey, giving him another link to Alexander 1.
(1) VICTOR DIFFEY (4JUL1805-18OCT1888, Baltimore) His times and places seem correct, but I only suppose him to be Alexander 2's son. He married THEREA CHALP (there appears to be no such surname ... maybe SCHALP?) on 17MAY1827 in MD.
(a) ALEXANDER 3 DIFFEY (1828-17MAY1848), married MARY SPURRIER in Baltimore. His relationship to Victor is only postulated, but he's too young to be AL 2's son. I have no info on descendants, but Mary Spurrier Diffey died 23APR1907 in Baltimore.
(b) OWEN DIFFEY (dates unknown) married REBECCA POE on 18APR1864 in Ross Co, OH. Another researcher once told me that census data establish Owen as Victor's son, but I have not yet obtained those data.
Based on the Ross County, Ohio location, and assuming Rebecca Poe to be Owen's second wife, I surmise him to be the father of
-1- ALEXANDER A. DIFFEY/DIFFY (dates unknown), who married LAURA DOTY on 31DEC1874 in Ross Co, OH, and had
-a- LENA R. DIFFY, b. 3SEP1878, Ross Co, OH
-b- ??? MICHAEL DIFFY, who married MARY BREENE in Green Co, OH (which is but two counties away from Ross, toward Indiana)
(c) MATANDA DIFFEY (d. 31JUL1898, Oella, MD), who some sources show as Victor's daughter, and who married JOHN ROBINSON.
(2) MARY ELLEN DIFFEY (no dates) married DENNIS REYNOLDS, 30MAR1841, MD.
(3) JANE DIFFEY (no dates) married PATRICK GINNYMAN, 31DEC1836, Baltimore City.
c. ???? JEMIMAH DIFFEY (no dates) married WILLIAM STEVENS, 14APR1808, First Methodist Episcopal Church, Baltimore. But for age, location, and religious connection (some Burgoons remained Catholics, others became Methodists), I cannot definitely connect her with AL 1.
If Michael was part of this line, he moved farther west than his parents (Greene Co, OH versus Ross). Thus, the name's appearance in Indiana may be of interest:
-- Julia Ann Diffy marries John Marion McKinney, 10AUG1886, Clinton Co, IN.
5. Ida M. Diffy marries John Marion McKinney, 8OCT1892, Clinton Co, IN.
Can anyone comment on, critique, refute, or support anything I have hypothesized above? [ I am posting the identical message on the "DIFFEE" Genforum. ]
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