Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/370

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Beat on the U.S. supreme hencli teiulered liim by President Lincoln in 1865; declined the mis- sion to Austria offered liim by President Jolinson in 1807, and was mentioneil as a cjindidate for the vice-presidoncv in the Re[)ublican national con- vention of 18(38. He prepared for publication a translation of P. C. Roux's Essatj on (he JIi.'<tonj of France (I ltd the Immetliate Cduses of the llevolu- tion of 17S9, a volume of notes to the same, and left incomplete a Ilistonj of Seventeen Years; from 1S60 to the lietirinff of the Federal Arnui from Louisiana and South Carolina. He died in Scho- harie. X.Y, Marcli 20. IssT.

DURFEE, Bradford Matthew Chaloner, phi lanthropist, was born in Fall River, Mass., June 15, 1843; son of Ma j. Bradford and Mary (Brayton) Durfee. He was prepared for college in the Fall River liigh school and entered Yale, but left just before the close of his second year on account of ill health. He travelled abroad, 1865-08, engaged in business for a time, and sub- sequently spent a large part of -l Vrri ^^^^ time in

"I'S. irfc?^?, travel. He pre-

-«Hr|':||«| 'K|f J^ sented to Yale

l»^4-"I{«7!5^' '"Al college a large ^?" " ~*_^=^ and costly dor-

- .-., niitory, called "Durfee Hall.'" Yale conferred vipon him the degree of A.M. in 1871. In 1887 his mother, Mrs. Mary Brayton Young, presented to the city of Fall River the B. M. C. Durfee high school building as a memorial to her son. This building, commanding a prominent site overlooking an ex- tended territory, represented at the time it was built the largest single gift made to the cause of public education in America, its estimated cost being more than $500,000. Mr. Durfee died in Fall River, Mass., Sept. 13, 1872.

DURFEE, Job, jurist, was born in Tiverton, R.I., Sept. 20, 1790; .son of Tliomas and Mary (Louden) Durfee; and a descendant from Thomas Durfee who came from England about 1650 and settled on the isUmd of Rhode Island. Job's father was a .soldier of the Revolution, a member of the council of Governor Hancock, and chief justice of the court of common pleas of Newport county, 1820-29 Job was graduated with honor at Brown in 1813. He .studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1817. and was a representative in the general assembly, 1816-20. He was a representative in the 17th and 18th congresses, 1821-25. He was again a representa- tive in the general assemldy, 1826-29, and speaker, 1828-29. In 1833 he was again a state represent- ative; was associate judge of the supreme court of the state, 1833-35, and chief justice, 1835-47.

He received the degree of T..L.D. from Brown in 1845, and was a trustee, 1837—47. He was married in 1820 to Judith, daughter of Simeon Borden, and their son, Thomas Durfee, afterward chief justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island, prepared Complete ]Vork-s of Job Durfee, with a Memoir of His Life (1849). His memorable charge on treason, delivered to the grand jury at the time of the "Dorr War," was printed and widely circulated. He published: What Cheer, a poem (1832), and Panidea (1846). He died at Tiverton, R.I., July 26, 1847.

DURFEE, Nathaniel Briggs, representative, was born at Tiverton, R.I., Sept. 29, 1812; son of David and I'atience (Cook) Briggs Durfee; grandson of David Durfee and of Col. John Cook of Tiverton, R.I.; and a descendant of Thomas Durfee, one of the early settlers of Portsmouth, R.I. His mother was a widow when she married David Durfee, having been previously married to Nathaniel Briggs of Tiverton. Nathaniel was educated at Newport, R.I., and engaged in farm- ing in his native place. He was a member of the Rliode Island assembly for eleven years, and was a representative in the 34th and 35th congresses, 1855-59. He died at Tiverton, R.I., Nov. 9, 1872.

DURFEE, Thomas, jurist, was born in Tiver- ton, R.I., Feb. 6, 1826; son of Judge Job and Judith (Borden) Durfee; and grandson of Thomas Durfee and of Simeon Borden, both of them de- scendants of early settlers in Rhode Island. He was graduated at Brown university in 1846 and was admitted to the bar in 1848, settling in Providence. He was reporter of the supreme court of Rhode Island, 1849 53, and he served ii. the court of magis- trates of the city of Providence, 1854-60, one year as associate and five years as presiding magistrate In 1863 he was repre- sentative in the gen- eral assembly from Providence, and

speaker of the hou.se. In 1864 he was chairman of the Rhode Island delegation to the convention that nominated Aljraham Lincoln for President in 1864. In 1865 he was state .senator. On June 1, 1865, he was chosen as.sociate justice of the supreme court of Rhode Island and in 1875 was elected chief justice, retiring in 1891. In 1897 he was one of a commission of fifteen, appointed by the governor of Rhode Island, under a resolution of the general assembly, to revise the constitution