Talk:James Duffy

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Are any of these "our" James Duffy? Deb 21:34 29 May 2003 (UTC)

Well, I'll give you a hint: he's not famous for managing a football team. :) Tannin

Ah, I take it you haven't been reading the WikiEN-l mailing list today, Deb. "Our" James Duffy has found out that the mailing list messages are freely accessible to the general public, and is now denying that he is really named James Duffy at all. ;) -- Oliver P. 21:41 29 May 2003 (UTC)

I very rarely read it, 'cos it's so depressing, but I'm off to have a look now. He sounds more interesting than K Kay Shearin, anyhow. Deb 21:43 29 May 2003 (UTC)

Sapper Duffy/Duffey[edit]

As in my edit comment, the eventual spelling of James Duffy (sapper) may be James Duffey. A lake named after him uses the -ey spelling, and his colleagues used the spellings interchangeably, with slight prefernce with the -y. If there's a better disambig for that - "engineer"? - please change it acoordingly; I'll write him up a bit in the next day or two....I placed him after the Jameses before the Jamie and the Jims....Skookum1 (talk) 05:06, 28 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Seeking advice on which spelling to use; here's a bio-quote from the British Columbia Geographical Names Information System page on Duffey Lake:

"On his one mile to one inch strip map (PABC Call No. 8500 A61), Duffy names the long lake between his camps 4 and 5 as Lake Melvin. We do not know whom Duffy was honouring, and the lake was actually named "L Duffey" on the map of British Columbia completed...[September 1863]... by his colleagues in New Westminster. (Duffy's "Lake Melvin" was accomodated by a later Surveyor General who named a small Melvin Lake...about 5 miles east of Duffey Lake). We have not traced Duffy's movements for the remainder of 1860, but he was back on the Harrison-Lillooet trail early in 1861. The British Colonist reported 18 January 1861 that he had been found frozen to death in the snow on the first, or long portage between the head of Harrison Lake and Lillooet Lake. With some difficulty his body was returned to New Westminster, where he was escorted to his grave by the whole detachment of Royal Engineers on Sunday 19 January 1861. Duffy's name has been recorded 3 ways: Governor Douglas used "Duffie" in his diary (Despatch #13, 9 October 1860, Douglas to Newcastle, Colonial Secretary in London); Royal Army records in England show "James Duffy" enlisted 2 October 1848 and was assigned Regimental Number 2146 - his was the only death in the Columbia Detachment in 1861, recorded as 9 January; Duffy and his colleagues used [the spellings] Duffy and Duffey almost indiscriminately - there was a slight preference for "Duffy", though it is recorded "Lake Duffey" on the last RE map of British Columbia. The Geographic Board of Canada has adopted "Duffey", possibly to distinguish it from the Duffy Creek and Lake south of Kamloops..." (R.C. Harris, "Sapper Duffy's Exploration Cayoosh Creek to Lilloett Lake, 1860", printed in British Columbia Historical News, Vol 14, No.2; copy received February 1981, file P.1.65 #2).

I'll maybe also field this through the British Army workgroup/project.Skookum1 (talk) 16:18, 28 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]