Fred H. MacDurfee & Family
Frederick Harrison MacDurfee (1869-1941)
Walpole, NH
Sometime in the late 1920s, Fred H. MacDurfee, a recent widower, moved with his family into their new home at 11 Merchant Street in North Walpole, NH. As head of household, Fred H. McDurfee was a 59-year old Black man who worked as a hostler for the Rutland Railroad. Fred’s 24 year old son Joseph [Arthur] also worked as a hostler for the railroad while his sons Walter [John] (27) and Calvin (20) worked odd jobs.
Also living with the family in 1930 was Fred’s granddaughter Eva MacDurfee, a 14-year old student at the time of the 1930 census. Future documentation would indicate that Eva’s mother Grace MacDurphy had died following complications from tuberculosis soon after Eva’s birth.
Frederick Harrison MacDurfee was born on March 25, 1869 to James and Mary (Geraugh) MacDurphy of Ferrisburgh, VT. Fred’s father James was originally from St. Albans, VT, and worked as a trapper. His mother Mary was originally from Quebec and was white. Fred’s grandparents, Wooster/Worcester MacDurphy and wife, were said to have escaped enslavement at some point during the early-to-mid 19th century and resettled in Swanton, VT.
At age 22, Fred MacDurphy married 19-year old white teenager Eva Tredo on December 15, 1889 in Newburyport, MA. Fred was there working as a laborer and Eva as a domestic servant at the time. Following their marriage, the couple moved to her parents’ community of Vergennes, VT where Fred worked as a farmer. They had five children between 1890 and 1900 but only three survived.
In 1905, the MacDurphy family had relocated to Essex, NY. Fred worked as a day laborer. Eva was home with their children: Grace M. (11), Bessie E. (10), Arthur J. (4), and Evelyn (2). Within five years, the family moved back to Ferrisburgh, VT, after finding it difficult to obtain work as a laborer. The family had grown to include four more children: John, Jennie, Calvin, and Julia (b.1911). By the time Julia was born, her eldest sibling Bessie was working as a bookkeeper for a private family. Daughter Julia died at the age of 5 on September 13, 1917 of broncho-pneumonia caused by whooping cough.
Ten years following the death of their daughter Julia, Eva (Tredo) MacDurphy died of the same sickness at the age of 53 in 1927. Eva was buried in the Barber Cemetery in Charlotte, Chittenden County, Vermont. Another daughter, Jennie (McDurphy) Ennis died two years later at the age of 23 in June 1929.
In June 1932, Fred H. MacDurphy remarried at the age of 63, after living five years as a widower. Fred married 25-year old Black divorcee Emma Williams of Franklin, NH. The couple continued to live in Walpole with his family. Two and a half months after the wedding, Fred’s 16-year old grandaughter Eva McDurfee died Sept. 12, 1932 while trying to rescue a young girl, Melvina Laventure, who had fallen into the Connecticut River just below the falls at Bellows Falls, VT. Both girls drowned.
Two years following Eva McDurphy’s death, Fred’s son John McDurphy died suddenly after drinking a cup of coffee while working at the Gilsum mica mines. An autopsy revealed that the 24 year old died of natural causes. He left a wife and two children behind in North Walpole, NH.
Fred’s marriage to Emma (Williams) MacDurphy only lasted a few years. Fred MacDurphy put a notice in the Keene Sentinel newspaper in August 1936 indicating that his wife Emma had run away and he would not be responsible for her bills. She filed for divorce on October 15, 1938 after relocating to Manchester, NH, citing ‘extreme cruelty.’ Emma also listed two children affected by the abuse but their names were omitted from the document.
Fred Harrison MacDurphy continued to live at 11 Merchant Street in Walpole with his sons Arthur and Calvin into the 1940s. The 1940 census identifies all of the MacDurphy family as mulatto and jobless. Calvin’s World War II draft registration card provides additional details about his appearance; he was described a 5’8”, 185 pounds, brown eyes, black hair and a dark complexion.
Frederick Harrison McDurphy died Sept 30, 1941 in Walpole, NH of coronary thrombosis; chronic myoendocarditis. He was buried in Barber Cemetery in Charlotte, VT. Following his death, his two sons Arthur and Calvin McDurphy continued to live together but in a new home on Church Street in North Walpole. Calvin worked as a junk dealer; Arthur had no work.
Calvin S. MacDurphy died on January 28, 1952 in Wetmoreland, NH at the age of 46 years. He was buried in Bellows Falls, VT.
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY
FREDERICK HARRISON MACDURPHY was born March 25, 1869 in Ferrisburgh, VT, to JAMES MACDURPHY and MARY GERAUGH. On December 15, 1889, he married EVA TREDO (1873-1927) in Newburyport, MA. They had: Grace M. (1894), Bessie E. (1895), Arthur J. (1901), and Evelyn (1903), John (1903), Jennie (1906), Calvin (1909), and Julia (1911). Fred married 2nd EMMA WILLIAMS (b.1907). He died in Walpole, NH, on Sept. 30, 1941.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Aldrich, George. Walpole as it was and as it is. (1880), p.47— Archives.org
Bellows Falls City Directory, 1937- Ancestry.com
Brattleboro Daily Reformer, Brattleboro, VT, 12 Dept 1932, pg. 1- Chronicling America, Library of Congress
Find-a-Grave.com
Keene Sentinel newspaper 12 September 1932, p.5
Keene Sentinel newspaper 19 August 1936, p5.
Keene Sentinel 24 Sept 1975, p3
Keene Sentinel 21 May 1934, p,3
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, 1889 - Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, 1941, 1950 - Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Divorces, 1938 - Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, 1932 - Ancestry.com
New York Census, 1905 - Ancestry.com
Vermont Town Records, 1813, 1820-1823 - Ancestry.com
Vermont Vital Records, Deaths, 1881, 1917 - Ancestry.com
U.S. Federal Census, 1790, 1820, 1830, 1840, 1900, 1910, 1930, 1940, 1950 - Ancetry.com
World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942