The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-06-29
HON, a, j. DCECR.
A Sketch of His Life and Character by
Friend.
"What is Death. father?


years, Or since the death of his beloved
wife, he has been so anxious to join
the partner of his earthly joys that
life has only been made bearable from
the fact that he could do good to those
around him, and the public in general,
by living.
Memorials would be but idle-use-
less, if they merely afforded opportu-
nifty for public expression of personal
sorrow at the loss of friend, however
great he might be in mind or deed.
they do more, in recounting the events
of useful life they contribute to the
formation of higher order of society.
Had the mind to think as we'll, and
the language to express my thoughts
as clearly as had my aged, deceased
| friend even in his later days land he
lived four score years. l could then,
without trembling. attempt to write
his obituary.
Born of good and loyal stock, son of
Major Dufur, who served with General
Andrew Jackson at the battle of New
Orleans-and after which famous gem
| eral he was named--boTn in New
Hampshire, reared among the noun
tains of Vermont-a state of which the
soil never composed royal province,
| and which was never governed as
territory of the United States until it
took upon itself the dignity of state
| hood-he nursed love of freedom
| with his mothers milk.
His father was soldier: he grew to
| manhood in troublous times. These
| facts might account for his being ag-
| gressive in argument, though he was
| seldom unnecessarily SO. Some con-
| sidered this aggressiveness fault. 1
would class it as one of the things that
| placed him above the ordinary mana
| virtue that made him leader among
men, for he never argued without first
satisfying his conscience that he was
right, and if so satisfied it mattered
not if he was alone in his opinion.
Born in New Hampshire in 1915 he
came to Vermont a child. In 1885 he
| immigrated to Wisconsin: two years
after (1S57) he was elected to a seat in
the Wisconsin legislature, and served
| his term with honor to himself and
| benefit to his state: but he had started
west and greater prospective honors
| could not stop his journey to the
shores of the Pacific. In 1899, with "a
wife and four small children, he boldly
set forth for Oregon to found home
for himself and family in the Wilder
| ness. He came at time when Oregon
| needed men of brains, as well as mus
| Gle, and in \. J. Dufur both were COM
| bined, and the same indomitable will
| and the energy that had enabled him to
obtain thorough education by the
fire light in a log cabin (for he never
had the benefit of o college education,
! though few graduates were his equal
in o knowledge of the classical authorS)
enabled him to go into the forest re-
gion, where Portland now stands. and
in what is now East Portland he liter
ally hewed out home.
The infant state was not long in rec
ognizing the ability of her new citizen,
and in the dark, gloomy days of 1852
just three years from the time he left
the legislature of Wisconsin-he was
a member of the house of representa-
tives of Oregon, where his experience
was invaluable among his associates.
His chosen vocation was farming, and
when his term had expired he returned
to his farm at Portland, but not to lose
sight of state and national affairs. He
was one of the organizers of the State
Agricultural Society, was editor of the
agricultural department OF the Port
land Bulletin, and was for years con-
nected with the old Willamette Farmer
as associate editor
In 1876, when the Centennial of
brated, he was again called from his
farm, and asked as commissioner of
Oregon to show the world gathered at
Philadelphia that Oregon had ceased
to be wilderness and that her mines,
forests, orchards, grain fields and fish
cries could compete with all the world.
That he did it well the records of i'm
migration will attest-none could have
done better. But why speak further
of his public recOrdl The history of
Oregon is the record of Grandpa Du-
fur.
Education to stand among the
learned, dignity to meet and win the
friendship of those in whom dignity
and education were allied, and with all
those social qualities that make man
respected by all, he did as much for
the welfare of his adopted state as one
man could accomplish, and, in recog-
milton of his work at the Centennial.
the people of Oregon presented him
with handsome mounted cane and an
elegant watch. made from the gold
specimens which he exhibited at Phil
adelphia. These tokens of good will
he priced above all his earthly belong
ings, for he sought not wealth but
honor.
His three sons-A. J. Dufur, jr..
mayor of the city of Dufur; E. B. Du-
fur, attorney-at-law of The Dalles, and
Hon. w. FL. II. Dufur and his
daughter Mrs. Arabella Slusher,
widow of the late Thos. II. Slusher, of
the United States land office-had re-
moved to Eastern Oregon and settled
on 15-mile creek in Wasco county in
1872. Feeling the approach of old age |
honors and joined his children, accom- |
panied by his aged wife, who died in
1890, Sustained and soothed" in the |
hour Of her departure by the presence |
of her beloved husband and children. |
The main interest of his declining |
years has been to advance the prosper
ity of the city which bears the family |
name, and no public meeting or good |
cause was complete without the snow
white beard and venerable, though |
smiling. countenance of Grandpa Du-
fur, beaming with goodwill from the
presiding officers chair.
He was precise in all his actions, and |
in none more so than in his prepara-
tions for death, selecting the pail
bearers from among those nearest and |
dearest to him. They were his three
sons, his two grandsons-Douglas and
George Dufur-and G. p. Balch. He |
also chose his friend, Squire A. J. |
Brigham to deliver his funeral sermon,
going so far as to select the text from
which the sermon should be preached. |
1t was:
II TIMOTHY ": I, 8.
I. 81 have fought a good fight,
have finished my course, I have kept
the faith"
8. "Henceforth there is laid up for
me crown of righteousness which
the Lord, the righteous judge, shall
give me at that day."
And that his mind was clear, and his
Judgment good to the last, all who lis
tened to the able and eloquent sermon
in which Mr.. Brigham paid his last
respects to his departed friend will at
test.
The bell that tolled the warming
that the funeral procession was NOV
ing from the residence of his daughter,
Mrs. Slusher, found every business
house in town closed and every person,
Did and young, either in the church,
awaiting the arrival of the remains. or
On the street marching with slow and
solemn step to the music of the Dufur
Cornet band, which lead the funeral
After the services in the
church the remains were accompanied
oy the members of his family to Port
and to ha laid haSidas those of his |