The Fay Family: An Irish Branch: John, Bernard, John Francis, John F., John F.
   
THE FAY FAMILY HOMEPAGE

GENEALOGIES
   
IRISH GUESTS
   
John and Ann Fay
and their descendants
   
Irish Guest directory
   
It started with an obituary:
   
JOHN F. FAY, 68, WAS 32 YEARS WITH THE VA
John F. Fay of Osterville, 68, retired member of the rating board of the Veterans Administration in Boston, died Friday in Falmouth Hospital after a long illness.
Mr. Fay retired in 1977 from the board, which is the insurance division of the Veterans Administration.
A graduate of Danbury Business College in Danbury, Conn., he owned an insurance agency in Danbury before World War II. During the war, Mr. Fay served in the US Army in the Pacific. After his discharge, he began a 32-year career at the Veterans Administration.
Mr. Fay was a member of the National Assn. of Retired Federal Employees and a communicant of Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Osterville.
He leaves his wife, Jane M. (Foy); two sons, Clifford J. Mead of Salem, N.H., and John F. Fay of Alexandria, Va.; a sister, Mary F. Lee of Miami Springs, Fla.; and three grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Osterville. Burial will be in the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne.
from The Boston Globe, October 9, 1983
   
The first thing that had to be done was to establish the exacts dates for John F. Fay. That was done by checking the Social Security lists and WWII enlistment material. The next step was to find him in the census documents of 1920 and 1930, in order to identify his father. As the obit states, the family is in Danbury, Fairfield County, Connecticut. The family first started in Danbury, and most of them remained there. This has made it relatively easy to follow this family. The 1920 census establishes that John born 1915 is a junior; and the WWI registration for John born 11/23/1880 establishes that his full name was John Francis Fay, and that his wife's name was Mary. John's older sister Mary married Bernard Lee; their birth and death dates were provided by the Social Security lists. They do not seem to have had children.
1910 -- Danbury Ward 4, Fairfield

John F Fay abt 1881
Mary Fay abt 1879
Mary Fay abt 1909
1920 -- Danbury Ward 4, Fairfield

John F Fay abt 1881
May Fay abt 1880
Mary Fay abt 1909
John F Fay Jr abt 1915
1930 -- Danbury, Fairfield

John F Fay abt 1883
Mary A Fay abt 1881
Mary J Fay abt 1910
John Fay abt 1916
   
John Francis, born November 1880, was still with his parents in 1900. Although the census page was damaaged and repaired with scotch tape which has darkened, still a little of the family entry can be read. John's name, and the 11/1880 date of birth, are clear. The names which are lost on the 1900 can be supplied from the 1910, which also confirms the full names of the parents.
   
1900
   
1910 -- Danbury Ward 4, Fairfield, CT
Bernard Fay Mary abt 1856
Mary Fay Bernard abt 1856
Anna Fay abt 1884
Bernard Fay Jr. abt 1890
Arline Fay abt 1895
   
Bernard and Mary had already set up housekeeping by the census of 1880. In 1870, however, Bernard is still at home. Note that Ann is said to be 40 [1830]. In 1880 she is 46 [1834], and in 1900, she is said to have been born in March of 1832.
1870 -- Danbury, Fairfield, CT
Ann Fay 40
Thomas Fay 22
Bernard Fay 15
John F. Fay 13
Ann E. Fay 12
Margaret Fay 8
   
In 1860, Ann is said to be 28 [1832]. We see her with husband and six children.
1860
   
The census of 1850 rounds out the story.
1850
   
John seems to be boarding. His children are with the Stones, and there is no sign of the children's mother. In 1860, John has a much younger wife, one who is really too young to have been the mother of Mary and Thomas; and we see a long gap in the birth of the children, from 1848 to 1855. I think that John was married twice. His first wife, the mother of Mary and Thomas, died between the birth of Thomas in 1848 and 1850. John left the children with a couple whom he knew; it is possible that his first wife and Margrett Stone were sisters, but that is a guess. John did remarry; Ann being his second wife. He married her probably around the first part of 1855, perhaps a little earlier; and Bernard was the first child born to John and Ann. Ann continued to have children until 1862. John must have died shortly after this.
   
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN FAY 
John Fay  b: 1826
...+Unknown 
......2  Mary Fay  b: 1846
......2  Thomas Fay  b: 1848
.........+Sarah E.  b: 1852
............3  Josephine Fay  b: 3/1876
............3  Edward Robert Fay b:  9/29/1877
...............+Mae  b: 1885
..................4  Edward Robert Fay, Jr.  b: 1911
..................4  Florence B. Fay  b: 1916
..................4  Elizabeth Fay  b: 1918
............3  John Nelson Fay b: 1/24/1880
............3  Anna S. Fay  b: 9/1881
...+Ann  b: 1830
......2  Bernard Fay  b: 9/1855
.........+Mary  b: 8/1855
............3  John Francis Fay  b: 11/23/1880
...............+Mary  b: 1881
..................4  Mary J. Fay  b: 7/19/1909  d: 1/20/1999
.....................+Bernard Lee  b: 6/8/1908  d: 6/1982
..................4  John Francis Fay, Jr. b:  6/13/1915 d: 10/7/1983
.....................+Jane Foy Mead
........................5   John Francis Fay  b: 1949
............3  Anna Fay  b: 1883
............3  Bernard B. Fay  b: 11/19/1889
............3  Arline Fay  b: 1894
...............+Unknown Wilson
..................4  Regina Wilson  b: 1918
..................4  Richard Wilson  b: 1922
......2  John Francis Fay  b: 1857 [last seen 1870]
......2  Ann E. Fay  b: 1858
......2  Ellen Fay  b: 1860
......2  Margaret Fay  b: 8/1961
.........+Unknown Rowan
............3  Thomas Francis Rowan  b: 4/7/1889
...............+Jennie
..................4  Viola Rowan  b: 1911
............3  Fay Rowan  b: 10/1890