Leona Deyo age 2 courtesy SUNY Plattsburgh Special Collections-1
Deyo

Eli Deyo 1850-1924

[written by Wilfred Frank Deyo circa 1982]

Eli Deyo was born in Lacolle, Province of Quebec, Canada around the year 1850 according to a copy of the marriage certificate issued to him by the Town of Alburg, Vermont when he married Miranda BABBA in Alburg, Vermont on January 6, 1875. He gave his age then as 23. Also according to this marriage certificate this was the second marriage for Eli DEYO and the first for Miranda Babba. The writer has had no success in trying to learn more about Eli’s first marriage-whether it took place in Canada or the United States. Research will continue in an attempt to learn more about this event.

The United States “Special Census of 1896” for the Town of Altona, Clinton County, New York indicates that Eli Deyo was married to a 2nd wife by the name of Flora Babbia. It is not known at this time if this is an error or whether when Miranda Babba/Babbin died Eli married her sister or other relative names Flora Babbin.

Should the “Special Census of 1896 records be correct in showing Eli Deyo being married to two different women at those times by the name of BABBIN then it means that at that point in time Eli Deyo had been married three times. The name Babbin as recorded in New York State has to be in error as the name was correctly known and spelled as BABBA in Alburg, Vermont. Miranda Babba was born in Alburg, Vermont around the year 1853, the daughter of George And Liza Babba. It is not known(if in fact the record is correct) where Eli Deyo married Flora Babbin, Perhaps New York State.

Later records indicate that Eli Deyo must have become a widower again following the special census of 1896 in Altona, New York and subsequently married a widow by the name of Philomina (LaFountain) Derry. She had four daughters by her previous husband. It is also believed that, she was born in Malone, New York on April 18, 1859.

Eli Deyo died in Springfield, Massachusetts on January 16,1924 at the age of 72 years, 9 months and 1 day. He is buried in the St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hampden, Massachusetts.

Wilfred Deyo History (document converted from the original text scan with minor edits and spelling corrections by Mark F. Rabideau on 20 February 2010)

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