John Fay was born May 23, 1894 to Bernard Fay and his wife, a daughter of Bartholomew Neville and his wife Margaret. All four of John's grandparents were born in Ireland; the Nevilles arriving in 1860 and 1861. Bartholomew seems to have been naturalized on November 22, 1860. The Fays probably arrived in the U.S. about the same time, although that is not known. But Bernard was born in 1865, and he was born in Ireland. The name of John Fay's mother is not known, for she died before the census of 1900, when we see Bernard as a widower with his small son, living in the house of the Neville grandparents.

Shortly after 1900, Bernard remarried, and with his second wife Elizabeth had three children by 1910. John is not living with that family in 1910; he would have been 16, and old enough to be on his own. It has not been possible to locate him, but a clue may be found in the information provided on his draft registration, namely, that he spent two and a half years in the U. S. Core of Engineers. He does not give a date; but by 1918, when he was registered for the draft in the First World War, he was no longer in the Engineers; he was a teamster.

Provided by Linda Fay Kaufman, using the census records of 1860, 1880, 1900 and 1910, and the WWI registration. The spelling of the various names found in tracing this family varies greatly (Neville vs. Nevils vs. Meville, for example), but the location (Mamaroneck/Larchmont) remains essentially the same.