Joseph Lucien Paul Peets

1922 Holyoke, Massachusetts – 1985 Jamaica Plain, MA

 

 

Continuation of tree (7th child of Fred Ferdinand Charles Peets/Laura Fontaine); all known surname descendants:

                    9             Joseph Lucien Paul Peets  b: 4 March 1922  Holyoke, Hampden, MA; d: March 1985  Jamaica Plain, Suffolk, MA

                                       +Lillian Malvina Dube  b: 24 April 1924  Holyoke, Hampden, MA; m: 4 August 1943  Holyoke, Hampden, MA  [William E./Alice ---]; d: 12 March 2002  Auburn, Cayuga, NY

                                 10       Alice Dora Peets  b: 2 September 1944  Manhattan, New York, NY; d: 20 March 2017  Auburn, Cayuga, NY

                                               +Chester Anthony Ogrodoski  b: 15 October 1941  East Stroudsburg, Monroe, PA; m: unknown [Chester/Isabelle Read]; d: 15 February 2018  Auburn, Cayuga, NY

                                             *2nd Husband of Alice Dora Peets:

                                               +Donald Eugene Henry  b: 24 October 1935  Lyons, Wayne, NY; m: unknown; d: 22 February 2006  Pennsylvania

 

 

Notes for Joseph Lucien Paul Peets:

Census

- 1940 New York, Bronx, New York:  Lucien Peets 18 laborer/ccc camp, living with family.

 

- 1950 Auburn, Cayuga, NY:  Lucien Peets 28 inmate (Auburn State Prison).

- 1950 Auburn, Cayuga, NY:  Widow Mable C. Deyo 58, son Victor E. Deyo 30, wife Lillian 25, Alice D. 5, Victor E. 3, William A. 2, son Harold J. Deyo 26, wife Carrie L. 23.

 

WWII Records:  Lucien Joseph Peets, res. 265 E. 78th St., NY, NY: b. 4 Mar 1922 Holyoke, MA; contact Mrs. Laura Peets (same address); 5' 2", 164 lbs., brown eyes & brown hair, dark complexion; 22 Dec 1941 NY, NY.

Also:  Lucien Joseph Peets, res. 465 E. 78th St., NY, NY: b. 4 Mar 1922 Holyoke, MA; contact father Fred Peets (same address); 5' 4", 150 lbs., brown eyes & brown hair, dark complexion; 21 Dec 1942 NY, NY.

 

Misc:

- 1944 Holyoke Directory:  Fred C. Peets (Laura D.) beater's helper CPMfgCo., h 633 S. Bridge; Lucien Peets in US Navy, r 633 S Bridge; Lucien Peets, loader 109 Winter, h (17) 395 Main

- 1945 Holyoke Directory:  Fred C. Peets (Laura D) beater's helper CPMfgCo, h 633 S Bridge; Henry O. Peets (Aleda M.) in US Navy, h (218) 395 Main; Lucien Peets, rem to NY

- Thursday, 10 December 1944, Holyoke, MA Transcript Telegram:  The non-support complaint, to which Lucien Peets, 22, of 275 Main St. pleaded not guilty in district court today, was dismissed by Judge Eugene A. Lynch.

- Monday, 26 March 1945, Holyoke, MA Transcript Telegram:  Lucien J. Peets, 23, of 593 South Bridge St., charged with being a fugitive from justice, submitted today to arrest by waiver and left this noon for New York city with Officer Edward G. Kennedy of the New York police force.  He will face a charge of first degree robbery which occurred last September.  Peets was arrested Saturday noon by local detectives on a warrant issued by New York police.  He was in district court last month for assaulting a local girl by slapping her face and was fined $20.

- Monday, 9 April 1945, Holyoke, MA Transcript Telegram:  Lucien Peets, 23, of 598 South Bridge St., who was arrested in Holyoke on March 24 for being a fugitive from justice, pleaded innocent today in the New York general sessions court to a charge of first-degree robbery.  He was arraigned before Judge Owen W. Bohan.  No date has been set for trial.  The Holyoker is accused of robbing Miss Aphrodite Artiopiades of $20 in her father's candy store on Third Ave. last Jan. 6.  Police claim he came into the store for cigarettes then returned a few minutes later with the stub of a Christmas tree with which he beat the 17-year-old girl after forcing her to strip in a rear room and escaped but lost his draft card in the store so was easily traced by New York police.  Peets was fined $25 in district court in February for assaulting a 12-year-old girl by slapping her face on the street.

- 1945 Sing Sing Prison Admittance:  Lucien Peets, sentenced 14 Jun 1945, received 15 Jun 1945 (assault 2nd degree - assaulted girl with tree branch and stole cash -$8- from cash register on 6 Jan 1945); term 5-10 years; eligible for parole 21 Aug 1948; b. 4 Mar 1922 Holyoke, MA; parents living, 5 brothers, 3 sisters, 6th born; married to Lillian 4 Aug 1943, 1 child; employed when arrested earning $45/week as helper on truck; committed crime as needed money.

- Tuesday, 21 August 1956, Springfield Union (MA)Lucien J. Peets, 34, of Springfield, was given six months in the House of Correction, Pittsfield, today after he was charged with unauthorized use of an automobile.  Peets had given himself up to Chicopee police after allegedly taking a car in Monterey this past week end.

- Friday, 1 February 1957, Springfield Union (MA):  As a two-week spree of violence and robbery continued to unfold with new evidence pointing ever more menacingly at Lucien Peets, 34, the possibility developed last night that he might be the same "Lucien Peets" who figured in circumstances surrounding the three-year-old murder of Mildred Hosmer in a North End rooming house.  Within two days after the brutal killing in a north Main St. tenement house, a 25-year-old Puerto Rican waiter, Santos Rodriguez, was charged with murder and subsequently found guilty by a Superior Court jury.  He was sentenced to life imprisonment at Walpole State Prison.  Walter J. Swift, attorney for Rodriguez, pointed out last night the name "Lucien Peets" was brought up at the murder trial in December, 1954.  Swift said testimony had been given that Peets was the last person seen with Mrs. Hosmer prior to the discovery of her body in a room on the fourth floor of the building at Main and Franklin Sts. (photo of Lucien Peets)  At the time of the trial, Peets could not be produced at Superior Court because he had been sent back to New York State Prison at Auburn, N.Y., on a charge of violation of probation.  When the connection between Peets and the Hosmer case was first mentioned last night, it appeared impossible, since Peets, according to records in New York state, served time in Sing Sing and Auburn until February, 1956, two years after the murder.  Apparently, however, Peets was free on parole at the time of the Hosmer murder, and was sent back to Auburn some time between the murder and the trial of Rodriguez.  Swift said last night, "Unless there are two 'Lucien Peets' wanted in New York state at the time of the trial here, the man now being held by Springfield police in connection with recent assaults on women here is the last person that Mildred Hosmer was seen alive with after leaving a North End cafe on Jan. 25, 1954, the night she was murdered." Meanwhile, police uncovered bloodstained clothing and a small black .38 calibre revolver which they said bore mute testimony to the savagery shown by Peets in attacking his women victims.  Police said the gun was smashed in the bone-cracking assault Jan. 20 on Gertrude Van Dyne in an elevator in her rooming house at 2176 Main St.  Miss Van Dyne was taken to Mercy Hospital with a compound fracture of an arm and severe head injuries.  Peets is charged in that case with assault with intent to commit rape.  Similar charge has already been brought against him along with two counts of assault and robbery in other cases.  After appearing in District Court yesterday for the second time of the day, Peets was sent to the county jail on York St.  He was held in lieu of $30,000 bail, and that is expected to be increased today when he appears in District Court on another robbery count.  Peets left Hampden County Jail Jan. 8 after serving a term for an automobile theft in Holyoke.  Peets was quoted by a policeman yesterday as saying, "I'm glad you caught me.  I might have done something serious."  The latest assault and attempted robbery attributed to Peets occurred in the hallway of the home of Mrs. Della Hewey at 1297 Main St. Wednesday night.  Mrs. Hewey was taken to Wesson Memorial Hospital by police with her upper lip cut completely through and a tooth knocked out.  Police said Peets grabbed Mrs. Hewey, ordered her to produce her wallet, and viciously attacked her when she reported having only 50 cents.  Yesterday afternoon Peets was brought before District Court Judge Thomas J. O'Malley on a charge of assault with intent to rape Gertrude Clark, 45, of 131 Tenth St. who said she was attacked by Peets Jan. 13.  The former convict also is charged with assaulting and robbing Eugenia Hodgins of Hotel Victoria Jan. 29.  Police said Peets attacked her in a downtown alley, left her semiconscious, and took her watch.  Peets was cornered early yesterday by Sgt. Laurence Corcoran and Patrolman James Duffy of the Crime Prevention Bureau.  Last night Corcoran and Duffy located the revolver, which was broken in the attack in the North End elevator, and the bloodstained clothing.

- Monday, 8 April 1957, Berkshire Eagle (MA):  D.A. Requests quick pardon for Rodriguez - Boston - Hampden County Dist. Atty. Stephen A. Moynahan today called upon Gov. Foster Furcolo to grant a quick pardon to Santos Rodriguez, 28, Puerto Rican waiter who is serving a life term for a murder he did not commit.  The two officials conferred at the State House.  Lucien Peets, 34, Springfield ex-convict, has confessed to the 1954 pillow smothering of Mrs. Mildred Hosmer, 43, in a Springfield rooming house.  Peets was sentenced last week to 18-20 years for manslaughter.  "I think a pardon for Rodriguez is the quickest way to get him freed," Moynahan said.  Moynahan said the way to asking for a new trial is closed because the law limits petitions for new trials to one year after the date of sentencing.  Rodriguez was sentenced in December, 1954.  "If all the involved agencies cooperate, Rodriguez could be freed this week," Moynahan said.  Moynahan said if it is possible, he will ask that the pardon recommendation of the governor contain a statement on Rodriguez' innocence.  Under the law, when a governor recommends a pardon, reports are required from the attorney general, the district attorney, the police chief where the offense took place, and the advisory board of pardons.  The council, whose approval is required, must conduct a hearing before acting.

- Thursday, 27 June 1957, Berkshire Eagle (MA):  Boston - Lucien Peets, 34, of Springfield, whose murder confession last February freed wrongly convicted Santos Rodriguez from a life term, has appealed for a reduction in sentence.  Peets was sentenced to 18-20 years for manslaughter in the death of Mrs. Mildred Hosmer of Springfield.  Peets also asked that an additional five to seven years sentence for robbery be allowed to run concurrently with the manslaughter term.  Santos Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican busboy, was convicted of the killing in 1954 and sentenced to life imprisonment.  Rodriguez spent nearly three years in jail before Peets confessed to the slaying.

- Friday, 12 September 1975, The Springfield Union (Springfield, MA):  A 53-year-old Holyoke man was sentenced to 12 to 15 years for rape in Hampden County Superior Court Thursday.  Lucien L. Peets of 256 Pine St. was found guilty of a rape that allegedly took place in a Holyoke apartment in December, 1974.  Peets was also found guilty of assault and battery and of larceny under $100.  He received no sentence on those charges from Judge Robert J. Hallisey.  Peets had previously served 15 years in prison for manslaughter after he had confessed to slaying Mildred G. Hosmer on Jan. 25, 1954, in a rooming house in Springfield's North End.  Until Peets confessed in 1957, another man, Santos Rodriguez, had been held for Mrs. Hosmer's slaying.  Peets will serve his sentence in the state correctional institution at Walpole.

 

Notes for Lillian Malvina Dube:

- Lillian married Victor E. Deyo in 1949 in Holyoke, MA.

Obituary:  The Post-Standard (Syracuse, NY), Thursday, 14 March 2002:  Lillian Dube Deyo, 77, of 149 Genesee St., Auburn, died Tuesday.  She was born in Holyoke, Mass.  She had worked at Chicopee (Mass.) School District.  She was a member of the Moose Lodge in Auburn and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1975 Auxiliary.  Her husband, Victor E., died in 1970.  Survivors: Three daughters, Alice Henry of Pennsylvania, Corrine Lane of Auburn and Judith LaFaver of Cicero; three sons, Victor E. Jr. of Auburn, William A. of Florida and Daniel of Tennessee; four sisters, Phyllis Vareas of Massachusetts, Patsy Dube of New York City, Margaret Rittenberry of Kentucky and Alice Kiesznowski of Alexandria Bay; 18 grandchildren; several great-grandchildren.  Services: 9 a.m. Friday at Heieck-Pelc Funeral Home.  Burial, St. Joseph's Cemetery, Fleming.  Calling hours, 6 to 8 p.m. today at the funeral home, 42 E. Genesee St., Auburn.

 

Obituary for the daughter:

Alice Peets:  The Citizen (Auburn, NY), Wednesday, 22 March 2017:  (photo)  Auburn - Alice D. Henry, 72, of Auburn, died Monday, March 20, 2017 at home with her family by her side.  Ms. Henry was born in New York City, the daughter of the late Victor and Lillian Deyo.  Alice lived most of her life in the Auburn area.  She was a self-employed home health aide for many years.  Ms. Henry is survived by her children, Gene Henry and his fiancee, Judy McCoole, of Auburn, Michael Post, of Texas, Sandra Vivenzio (Lance), Ginger and Christy Ogrodski, all of Auburn; brothers, Victor, William, and Danny Deyo; sisters, Corrine Lane and Judy LaFever; grandchildren, Corey, Missy, Aaron, Sandy, Cody, and Tracy; great-grandchildren, Blake, Torri, Lexus, and Kyristin; her companion, David Wolfe; several nieces and nephews.  Ms. Henry's memorial service will be conducted at 9:30 a.m. Friday, March 24, 2017 in St. Alphonsus Church.  Family and friends are invited to call from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the Heieck-Pelc Funeral Home, Auburn.

 

 

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Items in RED have been verified against parish register entries. 

- Some births in RED sourced from newspaper birth announcements. 

- Massachusetts births/marriages/deaths in RED also from online state registers.

 

Last updated:  12 January 2023.