Cumberland County, Maine - Edward Duddy
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Biography
Edward Duddy
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 596-597


Edward Duddy, assistant yard-master of the Grand Trunk Railway at Portland and
at the present time .a member of the City Board of Aldermen, representing Ward
2, was born at Westbrook, now Deering, Cumberland County, Me., on December 15,
1847, son of Richard J. and Ann (Owen) Duddy.

For centuries the ancestral home of the Duddy family was at Londonderry,
Ireland; and there on May 18, 1812, Richard J. Duddy was born. On attaining his
majority he set out for America, and after his arrival here took up the peddling
of dry and fancy goods, following that occupation with good success for a
quarter of a century. He then engaged in the grocery business in the city of
Portland , until 1857, when he retired, shortly after accepting a position as
agent of the Richardson Wharf Company. He was employed in that capacity for
upward of twenty years before he retired from active participation in business.
The subsequent six years were quietly spent; and in April, 1887, he set out for
the Emerald Isle with a view to gratifying a strong desire to see the place of
his nativity once more. He was, however, permitted to enjoy but a brief sojourn
there; for on June 19 of that year, after a short illness, he died in the
vicinity of his old home. His body was returned to Portland for burial. His
wife, Ann Owen, was born in Ireland in 1818. At six years of age she came to
this country in company with her parents, who settled in Portland, where. at
that early period there were not more than a dozen of her nationality; and at
the time of her death, on May 10, 1890, she was the oldest Portland resident of
Irish descent. As a school girl she had the pleasure of marching after General
Lafayette, and her children still have the cap she wore upon that occasion. She
was one of the first to be confirmed in the first Catholic church erected in the
city; . and her father, John Owen, was among the first to join that communion.
Her union with Richard J. Duddy was blessed by the birth of eight children, five
of whom lived to attain years of discretion, and three are still living, namely:
the Rev. John Duddy, the first native of Portland ever ordained to the Catholic
ministry in that city, and now residing in Somersworth, N.H.; Edward; and
Patrick F., of Portland.

Edward Duddy acquired a good practical education in the public schools; and on
October 14, 1864, when not quite seventeen, he entered the employ of the Grand
Trunk Railway Company as an office boy. He soon worked his way up to the
position of a switchman in the yard, and four years later became assistant yard-
master, in which capacity he has served since 1869; and there are now few who
have been connected with that branch of the railway service longer than he has.
In addition to the duties connected with his employment, he has found time for
certain real estate transactions; and, as a result of the combined income from
both sources, he now owns ten city houses and a number of building lots.

On August 29, 1875, he was joined in marriage with Miss Mary Toomey, a daughter
of Matthew Toomey, of Portland. They have had eight children, two of whom died
in infancy. The living are: Richard J., a carpenter and contractor of Portland;
Margaret; David W. Edward N.; John; and Mary Eulalie.

Like his father, Mr. Duddy is an advocate of Democratic principles, and has been
prominently connected with the party, being for a number of years a member of
the city Democratic Committee. In 1878 and 1879 he was a member of the Common
Council from Ward 2, and in 1895 he was elected Alderman for the same ward. He
has served as one of the assessors of new buildings, also as one of the
appraisers of unimproved real estate, and on the Committee on Public
Instruction. Mr. Duddy and his family are members of the Catholic Cathedral
Parish, of which he is sexton. They reside at 229 Congress Street in the
substantial brick house which he purchased several years ago, it being the one
that his father erected in 1866.