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Below is a family biography included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.   These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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James Henderson Duff, M. D., died at his residence in Pittsburgh, Dec. 22, 1884. He was a native of Franklin township Westmoreland county, born in 1824, and was of Scotch-Irish descent. Both he and his father, John, were born on the farm where his grandfather, John Duff, had settled, shortly after the revolutionary war. Dr. Duff attended school near his father’s home, and finished his preparatory education under various private instructors, his brother, Rev. John Duff, one of the founders of Westminster College, being among the number. After the completion of his medical studies at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1848, he passed an examination for the United States navy, and began the practice of his profession at his native home, where he at once entered upon a large practice. He removed to Pittsburgh, South Side, in 1866, where he very soon acquired a large and lucrative practice, and took a front rank among her leading physicians. He was a strong abolitionist, and was among the first to offer his services to the government in the late civil war. He served for a time in the hospitals about Washington, and afterward organized a company of emergency-men, which he refused to leave for the colonelcy of a regiment, which was offered him. Dr. Duff was a man of large build and commanding appearance, modest and unassuming, of sound, deliberative judgment, and quiet but forcible dignity. He was the friend of all who knew him, and his professional skill, as well as his purse, were always ready to meet the case of the needy. In 1848 he married Susan T., daughter of Joseph and Mary Miller, of Newlinsburg, Westmoreland county. His family consisted of six children- Dr. John Milton Duff, a physician of Pittsburgh, and professor of obstetrics in the Western Pennsylvania Medical College; Anna M., deceased in 1883, married to Rev. J. C. Ely; Rev. Joseph M., pastor of Mansfield Presbyterian Church; Rev. Albert James, deceased in 1886, then pastor of Knoxville Presbyterian Church; Alfred William an attorney at the Pittsburgh bar, and Sue T., at home with her mother in Wilkinsburg.

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This family biography is one of 2,156 biographies included in the History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania published in 1889 by A. Warner & Co.

View additional Allegheny County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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