As may be seen from the fan chart just above, half the Durfee ancestors are missing, thanks to there being no record of Susannah Borden's parents.

Concentrating on the male Durfee line, however, we begin with the family's original immigrant, Thomas Durfee (1643-1712), who arrived in New England in 1660.  Information about Thomas and his descendants have been drawn from a number of resources, but it is worth noting that William F. Reed wrote a book published in 1902 entitled The Descendants of Thomas Durfee of Portsmouth, R.I. (hereafter "Descendants,") which -- subject to the vagaries of 19th century genealogical research -- covers all the Durfee descendants, including our own line down to and including Hannah Durfee, who married John Fran. Sickels.  The book -- available in full text as a Google-scanned book -- presents another of those microcosms of American Colonial history.  Much of the history I provide below comes from that book.

After Thomas, our line includes Thomas Durfee II (1669-1729), Job Durfee (1710-1774), Gideon Durfee (1738-1814), Job Durfee II (1763-1813), and Hannah Durfee (1796-1827).

The Durfee name has been traced in England only three generations prior to immigrant Thomas, to a Job Durfey born in 1560.  (One must wonder about a family in which the name "Job" figures so prominently -- four times in our line, plus Job Durfee Sickels; ten Job Durfees listed on Ancestry.com -- did they witness or foresee some special degree of  suffering?)  Descendants seeks origin of the name "Durfee" and makes a persuasive argument that it is an Anglicization of the French, "d'Urfe," a family with a prominent and frequent role in French Medieval history -- one source says they were probably French Huguenot, which might explain their move to England.  (There is even a coat of arms.)  See also this article.

As noted, Thomas Durfee arrived in 1660 (Descendants says prior to 1664).  He may have arrived as a "redemptioner," which means he did not prepay his trans-Atlantic passage but was sold "by auction for the lowest term of years for which anyone would take them and pay the passage money."  He may have served his time in the household of Peter Tallman (see below), where he first would have met his future wife, Ann (Hill) Tallman.  He became a freeman in Portsmouth, RI, in 1673.  The following descriptions of his activities in Portsmouth come from Descendants:
 

Descendants fails to note something of slightly more salacious nature (possibly to avoid offending Victorian sensitivities):

'The recorded evidence of his appearing at the session of the Colonial General Assembly of Rhode Island, in October 1664, carries unmistakable proof of his presence in the Colony many months previous to that session.' .... Boyer describes the proof: 'In 1664 the 'insoelent carriadge of Thomas Durfee with the sayd [Peter] Tallmans wife' [Ann Hill] was brought to the attention of the Rhode Island General Assembly [citation omitted], and on 3 May 1665 Peter Tallman was given a divorce from his wife as she admitted she had had a child 'begotten by another man.'

....

[S]he [Tallman's wife] was sentenced to be `whipt at Portsmouth, receiving fifteene stripes; and after a week respite, to be whipt at Newport,' and to pay a fine of £10. The sentence was to have been carried out on 22 and 29 May 1665, but she escaped and was not again in custody until 1667, when she was captured by Anthony Emery, constable for Portsmouth, on her return to Rhode Island. On 1 May 1667 the Assembly remitted the fifteen lashes at Newport upon the discretion of the Governor and Council.

This was the same Peter Tallman who later sold Thomas some land in 1683.  The plot thickens.  Thomas did marry Tallman's ex-wife, Ann Hill, who had been married to Tallman for sixteen years and became Thomas's first wife (his second, mentioned in the Will above, was Deliverance Hall.)  Not only that, but Thomas's daughter Patience (by his second wife, Deliverance) married Benjamin Tallman, Peter's son, albeit fortunately by his second wife.  Nevertheless, there's a slight whiff of Peyton Place in 17th century Portsmouth.

Durfee's eldest son Robert, born in March 1665, was probably his by Ann while she was still married to Tallman.

See also this extensive discussion of Ann (Hill) (Tallman) Durfee, Thomas Durfee, and the history of their relationship.

Thomas Durfee II was born in 1669, in Portsmouth, RI.  Descendants discusses his wife, Ann Freeborn, and her family at length, as they were prominent in early Rhode Island history.  Ann's grandfather had been expelled from Massachusetts along with Roger Williams, for unacceptable religious beliefs.  Thus, those of us descending from the Durfees may claim part of the American heritage that led in time to the First Amendment's guarantees of religious freedom and separation of church and state.  (Descendants, pp. 24-25.) 

(Anne's father was Gideon Freeborn (1639-1720).  Gideon's great-granddaughter Susannah Freeborn (1755-1829) married Gideon Durfee (1755-1828), who was also Gideon's great-grandson because of his daughter Anne's marriage to Thomas Durfee II -- Gideon (1755-1828), son of Job (1733-1810), son of Gideon (1704-1766), son of Thomas II.  Just another example in our lineage of families combining, separating, and then recombining.)

Thomas II was a member of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1707, 1709 and 1713.

References to Thomas Durfee II in Descendants (otherwise nothing of significance found in my research):
 

As noted in the Will, Job Durfee was considered a minor at the time his father died, although he was eighteen (Thomas prepared his will only 1-1/2 months before his death).

Job became a freeman of Portsmouth in May 1731. He bought land (from Joseph Cook, lot No. 19 in the six score acre lots on Stafford Road, Tiverton) and built a house which was still standing in 1916 and had been lived in by descendants at least until then. He was deputy to the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1761, 1762 and 1764.

Above is a late 19th century photograph of the house Job built in Tiverton. 

You can see relationship of Portsmouth and Tiverton on this map:

Of Job Descendants has this:

Two notes regarding the Will:  first, it shows a considerable increase in property in only three generations in Portsmouth, RI; and, second, Job was still a slave owner, although he decreed, "I will and order that my negro man named Dominie, be a free man Immediately after my Decease."  Finally, after three generations, this abhorrent practice came to an end within the Durfee family.

Interestingly,

Perhaps no New England colony or state profited more from the unpaid labor of blacks than Rhode Island: Following the Revolution, scholars estimate, slave traders in the tiny Ocean State controlled between two-thirds and 90 percent of America’s trade in enslaved Africans. On the rolling farms of Narragansett, nearly one-third of the population was black — a proportion not much different from Southern plantations.

(Read the entire article -- it will be time well-spent in expanding your appreciation of the largely unappreciated subject of slavery in the North.)

(Yet another Job Durfee, this one my 2d cousin, 5x removed, gained some fame as a jurist in Rhode Island -- after a political career which included a couple of terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, he became first an associate justice and then -- 1835-1847 -- chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court.  From Wikipedia:  "As chief justice, he presided over the trial of the last person executed in Rhode Island, John Gordon.")

Job's third child, Gideon, is shown on Revolutionary War rolls as a Private in Col. Christopher Olney's Rhode Island Regiment, from October 8 to November 7, 1781, which is confirmed by the DAR database.  According to the DAR, he served in the Tiverton Alarm, explained thus:

By the year 1780, the dangers of occupied Rhode Island by the British still existed. On July 27th, a group of militia from Easton was summoned to aid the French in driving away a rumored 8,000 British men. When the company arrived, however, the British had sailed away, so the militia was dismissed. Much to everyone's alarm, the British returned and everyone was immediately called back, including two more Easton companies, one of them being under the command of Captain Seth Pratt. .... Though the British were present, it soon became evident that no attack was to be made. Approximately a week later, the militia marched home "covered with dust but not with glory". This Rhode Island expedition became known as the Tiverton Alarm.

To paraphrase another source:  This month's service with no enemy in sight makes Gideon a Revolutionary War soldier, and entitles his descendants to join the SAR or DAR. Thus, cheaply was the honor earned by many of those descendants who pride themselves on the patriotism of their ancestors.

However, the dates of his service (in 1781) don't appear to match the dates of the Tiverton Alarm (1780).

More detail is found in Descendants:

Other sources:

• "Palmyra New York," Compiled by the Woman's Society of the Western Presbyterian Church (1907):

Gideon and Edward Durfee of Tiverton, Rhode Island, came on foot from Albany. Fast on them followed-mostly in bateaux-twelve others of the Durfee family. The advent of Gideon Durfee was most opportune. He payed in coin for his 1,600 acres, thus enabling Swift to meet his indebtedness to the Phelps and Gorham company, and to secure a warranty deed of the town.
....

Palmyra held her first town meeting and elected her first officers at the house of Gideon Durfee, in April, 1796.
....

In 1796 Louis Philippe of France stopped on his return from Niagara at the log tavern opened by Gideon Durfee where the George Townsend house now stands.
....

The first meeting house in the village-erected in 1811 on land given by General Swift for a Union church - was built almost entirely by the Presbyterians, who occupied it until 1832. This same building was used as a town hall. It was of wood, painted white with green blinds, and was burned in 1838. Around it, in true New England way, was the church yard-now the "old cemetery." Here lie John Swift and Zebulon Williams with many another early comer. This was not the first burying ground in the town, for that was on the farm of Gideon Durfee, east of the village, recently purchased by Mr. Mitchell of Mrs. Hiram Clark. Here rests Gideon Durfee.

Gideon and his sons came to Palmyra only two years after the founding of the community.

• From "Reminiscences of Stephen Durfee":

The Durfee family, who have been named, were from Tiverton, Rhode Island. In the summer of 1790, Gideon and Edward came first to Farmington, and Gideon returning in the fall, represented the country so favorably, that the whole family resolved upon emigration. Gideon, with Isaac Springer, came back in the winter of '90, '91, with an ox sled, consuming 17½ days in the journey. Gideon purchased of John Swift his choice of 1600 acres. He located it on what was long known as "Durfee Street," a short distance below Palmyra, securing a large amount of the flats on the Ganargwa. Being soon re-joined by his brother Edward, the brothers and Springer built a cabin, and clearing six acres, and without the use of a plough, planted it to corn. The brothers returned to Rhode Island, and brought out their brothers, Pardon and Job, with their families, coming in a batteaux, and landing at their new home in the wilderness, almost destitute of food. They were rejoiced on their arrival to find their corn fit for roasting, a forwardness they have never since known. It served them the two-fold purposes of food, and confidence in the soil and climate. The six acres yielded 50 bushels to the acre, a quantity that served their own wants and over-stocked the market, as there were few consumers. The remainder of the large family came out in the winter of '91, '2. They had a large crop, some of which was marketed at Schenectady, probably the first that ever reached that market from as far west as Palmyra. Otherwise prosperous, sickness soon laid a heavy hand upon the household, 17 out of 22 being prostrated at one time with fevers. Their first bread was made from pounded corn; their first grinding was procured at Wilder's mill, and occasionally at The Friend's mill, Jerusalem.

The descendants of the Pioneer and Patriarch, Gideon Durfee, were 11 sons and daughters , 96 grand-children, and the whole number are now over 200. The daughters became the wives of the Pioneers, Welcome Herendeen of Farmington, Weaver Osborne, Humphrey Sherman and William Wilcox, of Palmyra. The only surviving son, is Stephen Durfee, of Palmyra, aged 75 years; and the only surviving daughter, is Ruth Wilcox, aged 76 years… .

Further material at that source regarding economics in early years of the region.

• His gravestone, a modern one placed by the DAR:

Gideon, his wife Anna, and five of their children are buried in the Gideon Durfee Cemetery in Wayne County, NY.

Job Durfee II was the last of our Durfees born in Tiverton, Rhode Island.  He followed his father, Gideon, to Palmyra, apparently shortly after Gideon's initial trip there.  The only thing found in Descendants reads:  "Mr. Durfee came from Tiverton, R.I., to Palmyra, N.Y., in 1791, and purchased, March 7, 1792, 300 acres of land, at 75 cents per acre."

Interestingly, one of Job's brothers, Lemuel (1759-1829), had business dealings with Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church:

In 1820, the [Joseph Smith] family contracted to pay for a 100-acre farm just outside Palmyra in Manchester Township. The Smith family first built a log home, then in 1822, under the supervision of Joseph Smith's oldest brother Alvin, they began building a larger frame house. Alvin died in November 1823, possibly as a result of being given calomel for "bilious fever", and the house remained uncompleted for a year. By this time Joseph Smith, Sr. may have partially abdicated family leadership to Alvin, and in 1825, the Smiths were unable to make their mortgage payments. When their creditor foreclosed, the family persuaded a local Quaker, Lemuel Durfee, to buy the farm and rent it to them. Nevertheless, in 1829, the Smiths and five of their children moved back into the log house, with Hyrum Smith and his wife.

That was two years after the Mormon Church founder was first directed to the location of the golden plates that play such a central role in Mormon mythology.  Another source:  "The plates of the Mormon Bible were said to have been dug up on a hillside in Manchester, Ontario Co., a little S. of the Palmyra line. The Smiths were money diggers, and had previously been digging in this locality for gold."

Job's daughter Hannah Durfee merits no mention in Descendants.  She of course married John Fran. Sickels and was Job Durfee Sickels's mother.

Finally, see the map at "The Allure of Western New York" for a record of the concentration of my families' ancestors in the 19th century.

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