Cornelius Toy (abt. 1830 - bef. 1900)

Born about 1830 in Ireland

Husband of Susan (Unknown) Patton — married 1852 in Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died before 1900 before about age 70 in Pennsylvania, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Pam Gow [send private message]

Biography

Cornelius was born about 1830. He passed away before 1900.

The popular consensus on Ancestry is that this Cornelius Toy is the spouse of Ellen Black. But I have documentation that refutes that theory. I will be adding a sister for William C Toy Sr that I have documentation for. Her name is Mary Toy and I have news clippings and death information that prove she is the sister of William Toy Sr.

Cornelius Toy who married Ellen Black died in April 1900 and his will lists 4 sons and a granddaughter besides his wife Ellen. Ellen (Black) Toy, died in May of 1900 and her will lists the same exact same heirs. The census records have only the 4 sons, no daughter Mary. Mary Toy, sister of William died in 1931. If she were the daughter of Cornelius and Ellen (Black) Toy, why was she not in their Wills as an heir? She is not because she is not their daughter. Also, William the son of Cornelius and Ellen (Black) Toy, Is listed as William James in his father's Will, and William J in his mother's Will. They named him, they ought to know.

William Toy Sr's death certificate says that his mother was a Patton, not a Black.

Mary Toy's death certificate says that the mother is unknown. It would appear that the parents of William and Mary died when William and Mary were very young so that they did not know exactly who their mother was. They clearly knew the name of their father. If they died between 1860 and 1870, this would explain why we can't find them in census records.

I have an idea who their parent's were. I found a news clipping in a library archive that is from Dec 27,1860, in Harrisburg, PA. The article says that a police officer found Cornelius Toy, his wife and their two children living in a room without fire, furniture or bed clothes. The children were being kept warm with a piece of old carpet. The article says that the parents had been drunk for several days and the children were suffering from cold and hunger. The parents went to prison. The children apparently were farmed out to local families.

In 1870, there is a William Toy, born in PA and parents of foreign birth, living in a house with multiple and apparently unrelated persons, in Norristown, Montgomery Co, PA. He is 13 years old, just about the age that William Toy Sr would be at that time. He is working in a Woolen Mill. In 1874, William's sister Mary married a Thomas Coulston in Norristown, Montgomery, PA. I'm betting that Mary and William are the two children from the article in Harrisburg, PA. Search as I might, I can't find any other Toys who appear to be siblings to William and Mary.

I have since found a couple of other news clippings about the Cornelius Toy Family and poor house records from Chester PA that have the Toy family there on more than one occasion.

Sources

• Death Certificate for son William C Toy SR [1]
• News clipping about the arrest of the Toy family for vagrancy and drunkeness [2]