My Genealogy Hound

JAMES DUFF, farmer, post office White Ash, was born near his present residence Sept. 30, 1815. His grandfather, John Duff, came from Ireland at the commencement of the Revolution, and joined the American army. At the battle of Brandywine his whiskers were cut off by a bullet. At the close of the Revolution he bought land in Westmoreland county, Pa., where he dwelt for some time, and where his son James, father of our subject, was born. Before the beginning of this century he moved to Penn township, where he died about 1822. James, his son, bought the adjoining farm, married Catherine Fisher, a native of Ireland, and died in March, 1854, aged seventy-two years; his widow died in 1868. Five of their children grew to maturity: Mary (McGahey), now a resident of Leavenworth, Kan.; Isabel, Catherine (Turner), in Wilkinsburg; James and Ann; two sons, John and William, died in infancy. James has always lived on the same farm; has served as supervisor, collector, school director and justice of the peace. Although receiving but a limited education in the subscription schools, he has made his way in life and is a useful citizen. He was formerly a whig and abolitionist, and is a republican. In 1841 he married Betsey McClurken, who was born in Plum township, and they have two children: Catharine Ann (Mrs. John Sampson) and Cyrus B. Mrs. Duff’s parents, S. B. and Betsey (Speer) McClurken, were of Scotch and Irish descent, respectively. Mr. Duff’s family are connected with the Hebron U. P. Church.