Jabez Durfee
Jabez Durfee, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Jabez Durfee/Durfey
1828-1884
Biographical Sketch
Early Life: Moving Westward from Upstate New York
Jabez Durfee/Durfey (1828-1883) was born to Edmund Durfee and Lainey Pickle in Williamstown, Oswego County in upstate New York adjacent Lake Ontario. His father’s people were from Newport, Rhode Island; his mother’s were mostly German who settled in Montgomery County, New York.
Durfee’s family were early supporters of Joseph Smith and they moved to Kirtland, Ohio in the early 1830s. In common with many early Mormons he experienced the expulsions from western Missouri and, later, western Illinois. In the late 1840s, he was in Iowa Territory.
Immigration to Utah
He immigrated to Utah in 1850. The same year, he married Celestia Curtis in Great Salt Lake City. She was the daughter of Enos Curtis and Ruth Franklin and the sister of Ezra Houghton Curtis, all originally from Pennsylvania.
To Cedar City and the Ironworks
The Durfees joined the new settlement in Cedar City in the Iron Mission. He engaged in farming and also contributed labor to the iron works storehouse. He owned lots in Cedar City.
The Cedar City land records for 1854 note that "Jabaz Deirfee" owned a lot in Plat A, the new (and temporary) location of the settlement. It was two homes removed from that of Samuel Pollock and seven removed from John M. Higbee's. He is not listed as a record owner of property in Plat B, the new and final location of the settlement nearer the foothills and southeast of Plat A. Presumably, however, he had a lot and crude home in Plat B as well.
In 1856, Durfee was credited for providing labor and material (roof shingles) to the roof of the ironworks's storehouse. His brother-in-law, Ezra H. Curtis, was also a member of the new settlement.
Iron Military District: Private Jabez Durfee, Company E, Isaac Haight's 2nd Battalion
In September 1857, Durfee, 29, was a private in the First Platoon in Company E. The platoon officers were 2nd Lieutenant Ezra Curtis (his brother-in-law) and Sergeant Samuel Pollock. Their platoon was attached to Company E under Captain Elias Morris. E Company was one of two companies in Major Isaac C. Haight's 2nd Battalion.
Early that month, Durfee was summoned to join a detachment bound for Mountain Meadows. According to John D. Lee, Durfee was in the military council on Thursday, September 10.
At the time of the massacre on Friday, September 11, it is probable that Durfee was among the Cedar City guard unit who marched alongside the emigrant men as they tramped northward from their wagon circle. As the massacre commenced, the duty of the guards was to wheel and fire on the emigrant men, quickly dispatching them. Yet during the actual massacre, reactions varied among the guards. Some shrank from their duty, others fired over the heads of their victims, while others still undertook their bloody duty with zeal. Within minutes, members of the Cedar City unit had killed all but three of the emigrant men. However, whether Durfee was in this guard unit and if so, how he acted during the massacre will probably never be known with any certainty.
Relocating to Aurora in Sevier County
In the 1875, Durfee's brother-in law Ezra Curtis founded Willow Bend (now Aurora), Sevier County, on the northern end of what is now state highway 89. Soon, Jabez Durfee and his family followed the Curtises to Willow Bend. Durfee worked as a farmer, fruit grower, carpenter and handyman. He is credited with devising a better design for their farm implements that improved their furrowing in the early years.
Jabez and Celestia Curtis Durfee eventually had ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood and married.
Final Years
In 1881, Durfee was appointed the first Mormon bishop of Willow Bend (Aurora) and served there until 1883. He died in 1884 at the age of fifty-six. He was survived by his wife, Celestia Curtis Durfee, and their children.
References
Bishop, A History of Sevier County, 86; FamilySearch.org; Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 851; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 232, 379; Lee Trial transcripts; Murphy, A History of Wayne County, 129, 236; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 331, 354, 495; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C, 257; Warnock, Thru the Years: A Centennial History of Sevier County, 109, 112 (photo), 119-20; Warnock & Warnock, Sevier Stake Memories, 22, 415.
For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.
External Links
For additional information on Jabez Durfee, see:
- http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
- Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/
Further information and confirmation needed. Please comment below or contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.
