The Durfey Family of Venango County Pennsylvania

The Durfey family herein recorded spring from the Rhode Island family of Durfee. The first of record was Thomas, born 1643, died 1712. He was of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 1664, constable, 1687-88, licensed to run the ferry between Rhode Island and Bristol, August 2, 1698. In his will proved July 14, 1712, he devised lands, money and a negro slave named Jack. He married (first) ———, (second) Deliverance, widow of Abiel Tripp.

His children

1. Robert. Married Mary Sanford.
2. Richard. Married Ann Almy.
3. Thomas. Married Ann Freeborn.
4. William. Married (first) Ann ———, (second) Mary ———.
5. Ann. Married William Potter.
6. Benjamin. Of whom further.
7. Patience. Married, September 23, 1708, Benjamin Tallman.
8. Deliverance.

(II) Benjamin Durfee

Benjamin, son of Thomas and Deliverance Durfee, was born 1680, died January 6, 1754. He married Prudence Earl, born in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, 1681, died in Westport, Massachusetts, March 12, 1733, daughter of William Earl and granddaughter of Ralph Earl, the emigrant ancestor of the Earles of Groton, Connecticut. They lived in Tiverton and Newport, Rhode Island.

Children

1. James. Born August 28, 1701.
2. Ann. January 11, 1703.
3. Pope. January 7, 1705.
4. William. December 5, 1707.
5. Benjamin. January 5, 1709.
6. Mary. January 30, 1711.
7. Susanna. January 28, 1713.
8. Martha. July 15, 1719.
9. Thomas. Of whom further.

(III) Thomas (2) Durfey

Thomas (2) Durfey, youngest son of Benjamin Durfee, was born in Rhode Island, November 5, 1721. He married Abigail ———. Among his children was a son Joseph, of whom further. With this generation the family appears in Connecticut, and the name seems to be written both Durfee and Durfey.

(IV) Joseph Durfey

Joseph, son of Thomas (2) Durfey, was born in Connecticut. He married Lucy Barnes, of Preston, later of Griswold, Connecticut. He is buried with wife and mother in the cemetery two miles from Jewett City, Connecticut.

Children

1. Alice. Married Joseph Latham.
2. Joseph. Married (first) ———, (second) Lucy Burnham; children:
   1. John B.
   2. Charles H.
3. Benjamin. Of whom further.
4. Four daughters.

(V) Benjamin (2) Durfey

Benjamin (2), son of Joseph Durfey, was born in Connecticut, 1804, died May, 1876, at Greenville, New London county, Connecticut, now a part of the city of Norwich. He spent most of his life in New London county, which he represented in the state legislature. He was a close, personal friend of Governor Buckingham, of Connecticut, and was influential in public affairs. He was a manufacturer and in charge of a plant in New London county, operated by water power. After the formation of the Republican party he was affiliated with that organization, having previously been a Whig. He married (first) Ardelia Avery, (second) Harmony Kingsley, born in Brooklyn, Connecticut, January 14, 1817, died in Norwich, Connecticut, March 28, 1892, daughter of Jabez and Dolly (Averill) Kingsley (see Kingsley).

Children of first marriage

1. Joseph Prentice. Died in Brooklyn, New York; married Lucretia Thorp; their only child:
   1. William. Now engaged in the jewelry business in Brooklyn, New York.
2. Henry M. Deceased; was a veteran of the civil war; he married Lucy A. Grey and had:
   1. Harry. Born 1868, now residing in Norwich, Connecticut.
   2. Lucy. 1872, now residing in Norwich, Connecticut.

Children of second marriage

1. Charles Averill. Of whom further.
2. Susan Kingsley. Born 1839, became the second wife of Edward Luce and resides at Niantic, Connecticut.
3. Edward. Married Louise ———, and resides in Brooklyn, New York.
4. Frank B. Married Margaret Foster and both died in Norwich.
5. James Walter. Born 1852, died in Palestine, Texas, where he was manager of the International Hotel.

These children were all born in Norwich and are all deceased except Edward, of Brooklyn, and Susan K. Luce, of Niantic, Connecticut.

(VI) Charles Averill Durfey

Charles Averill, son of Benjamin (2) Durfey, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, April 19, 1836, died May, 1896. He was educated in the Norwich schools, and later learned the trade of blacksmith. During the civil war he was employed in the manufacture of firearms by the government in the armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1865 he came to western Pennsylvania as superintendent of the Prescott and Seymour Oil Companies, making his headquarters in Venango county for twelve years. He then changed his field of operations to McKean county, settling in Bradford, where he resided until his death. He acquired personal oil and real estate interests that are now owned and under the management of his son, Frank E. Durfey. In 1877 Mr. Durfey was appointed state oil inspector, a position he held until his death. He built the Durfey block in Bradford, and otherwise aided in the upbuilding of that city. He was a Democrat and served in the Bradford city council and on the school board. He was a deacon of the Congregational church, of which his wife was also a member. He married, in 1864, Elizabeth V. Bowles, who died in 1872, aged twenty-three years. She was a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Moore) Bowles, and granddaughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Bowles, of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Children

1. Frank Edward. Of whom further.
2. Gertrude S. Born August 20, 1872, at Titusville, Pennsylvania; married (first) in 1893, Charles Rudd; no issue; married (second) in 1901, John G. Hart, of New York City; no issue; she died May 19, 1905.

(VII) Frank Edward Durfey

Frank Edward, only son of Charles Averill Durfey, was born at Miller farm between Oil City and Titusville, Venango county, Pennsylvania, March 20, 1869. He lost his mother when he was but three years of age, and was reared under the kindly care of his paternal grandparents. He was educated at Norwich, Connecticut, and is a graduate of the high school of that city, class of 1886, later for one year attending Norwich Free Academy. He began business life with the Standard Oil Company at Lima, Ohio. From there he went to Cygnet, Ohio, and Whiting, Indiana, engaged in the construction of oil tanks for the company. He left Whiting in 1892 and came to Bradford, entering the employ of the Erie Railroad Company as fireman, continuing until the death of his father in 1896. Since then he has been in charge of the extensive oil and real estate interests which he inherited. He is a Democrat and for four years was a member of Bradford select council and now is a member of the board of water commissioners. He is past master of the local lodge, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, having previously filled every subordinate office. His clubs are the Bradford, Edgewood and Gun, all of Bradford. In religious faith he is a Congregationalist.

The Kingsley Line

Harmony (Kingsley) Durfey was a descendant of John Kingsley, born in Hampshire, England, who descended from Randulphus de Kyngesleigh, of Chester, England, 1120. Arms: “Vert a cross engrailed ermine.” Crest: “In a ducal coronet gules a goat’s head argent.” John Kingsley (also Kyngesley and Kinsley), according to Savage, was of “Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1635, came probably with some friends of Mather, and was here before him. At any rate was one of the seven pillars on formation of the new church for him, August 23, 1636, and was the last survivor. He removed to Rehoboth after 1648, when he was in office and in 1658, there lived and suffered the Indian hostilities, in which in a letter of supplication for relief under date of May 5, 1676, a most sad picture is given (see Trumbull Colonial Records, vol. ii, p. 445). His will of November 2, 1677, mentions only three children: Edward, Enos and Freedom.” A John Kingsley (supposedly the same John) died in Rehoboth, January 6, 1678, and Mary his wife on the 14th of the same month, 1673. They had besides the children mentioned in the will: Eldad, born 1638; Renewal, born March 19, 1644. Another daughter married John French, of Northampton, and perhaps another married Timothy Jones, from Massachusetts. A branch of the family settled in Connecticut, where Jabez, of the fifth generation, served in the war of the revolution. He resided in Canterbury, Connecticut. In 1832 his name is borne on the revolutionary pension rolls as residing in Windham county, Connecticut. He married Dolly Averill, of Griswold, Connecticut. After their marriage they resided in Brooklyn, Connecticut, where Harmony Kingsley, their daughter, was born January 14, 1817, died March 28, 1892. Harmony Kingsley became the second wife of Benjamin Durfey (see Durfey V).

Source

Jordan, J. W. 1840-1921. (1913). Genealogical and personal history of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania. New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co.

This genealogy is based upon the source cited above. Only the structure and formatting have been changed for clearer presentation; the genealogical and biographical content has been preserved.