 Joseph Finch Guffey was born December 29, 1870, at Guffey Station in Sewickley Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania to John and Barbaretta (Hough) Guffey.Guffey's Scots-Irish ancestors had owned land along the Youghiogheny River since the 1780s, and prospered when railroads were constructed there.His mother was of English ancestry (Hough is a common surname in Lancashire.)