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BRADFORD K. DURFEE,
Member of the real estate and insurance firm of Warren
and Durfee, was born at Marshall, Michigan, on the
twenty-fifth of March, 1838. The history of the family
from which he is descended in this country dates back to
Thomas Durfee, who came from England and settled
at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1660. Nathan
Durfee, of the sixth generation in descent from
Thomas Durfee, was born at Fall River;
accompanied his father to Ohio when a small boy; grew up to
manhood in that state; and at Cleveland, Ohio, in 1837,
married Margaret Kirk, and the same year
removed to Marshall, Michigan. The subject of this sketch
was their oldest son. His home was at Marshall and
Battle Creek, Michigan, till 1857, in which year he came to
Decatur. For a time after coming to this state he
taught school. His father during the war of the
rebellion enlisted in an Ohio regiment, of which Mr.
Durfee’s uncle, B. R. Durfee, was colonel; and
while he was absent in the army Mr. Durfee had
charge of the farm. In 1863 he was employed by the firm of
Durfee and Warren to prepare the set of
abstracts of titles of Macon county. In 1865 he became
a member of the firm of Durfee, Warren and
Co., and has since been associated with John K.
Warren in the real estate and insurance business.
He was married in October, 1868, to Lucy W.
Hamilton, of Toledo, Ohio. He was brought up under
strong anti-slavery influences. His father was one of
the early abolitionists of Ohio. Mr. Durfee’s
sympathies were with the Republican party till 1872, when he
believed its policy to be detrimental to the best interests
of the country, and he has since acted with the Democratic
party. In 1878 he was elected as the regular
Democratic candidate to the Thirty-first General Assembly.
He served on the committees on appropriations, insurance,
banks and banking, and labor and manufactures; gave close
and constant attention to the business before the
legislature, and made an efficient member. In 1880 he
again received the Democratic nomination for representative,
the convention unanimously presenting him as the candidate
of the party.
Source: History of Macon County, Illinois,
Published 1880 - Page 147 |
