Duff, Margaret A. Allen
Passed: 1900-12-25
Age: 86
Source:
Death Notice:
Obituary Date: 1901-01-05
Information: THE LATE MRS. MARGARET A. DUFF - Mt. Tell, W. Va. Jan. 5, 1901 - Mrs. Margaret A. Duff died at her home at Mt. Tell, at 9:30 o'clock p.m. December 25, 1900. For a few days she had been an intense sufferer from the right side and stomach, which ended fatally. Blessed with the love of home and friends, a true, kind and gentle spirit has peacefully passed through the portals of the unknown. She was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, June 12, 1814. Her father, Robert F. Allen, was born in Scotland. He brought with him to Virginia, those native refinements in which he had been reared and the quickening he received in his native country instilled in his posterity, high aims and aspirations of the geneology of his mother Betsy (Brown) Allen. Sufficient information has been gotten, to establish the fact that for generations the Browns have been noted for their intellectual ability and love of learning. So deeply rooted in the human mind is the conviction that talent is transmitted, that the presence of it in an individual is at once a signal of a search for its origin in her ancestry The discerning reader will not fail to perceive in the descent of the Scotch-Irish as her characteristics will be delineated the high strung, the nervous temperament, the hot blood, the high lady like instincts peculiar to the real Scotch nobleness. She was the second child, the eldest, W. S. Allen, who helped to drive the Creek Indians out of Alabama, died Oct. 17, 1900, at Bridgeport, Alabama, at the age of 89. Her parents moved from Culpepper county to Amherst C.H., Va., when she was only 8 months of age, where she was married January 1831, to John H. Duff. To them fourteen children have been born: Glen H., J. Irvin, Daniel F. Benj. L., Isaac F., Chas. E., Mary F., Albert L., Perry T., Robert H., John H., William S., Margaret A. and Nancy E. All grew to maturity, save J. Irvin. She also has over 120 grand children and great grandchildren. In 1837 they moved in wagons to Ohio, where they resided upon a farm and subsequently moved near Shawneytown, Illinois where they purchased a 160 acre farm. After suffering two years from chills and fever they abandoned their farm for which they never received any value. In the spring of 1844, while on their way back to Virginia, they chanced to reach the home of Mr. Hiram Faber, of the Left Hand Fork of Poca, known then as the Forest, who had recently moved from Augusta county, Virginia, persuaded him to settle in this ""new country"". After a few days recreation, Mr. Duff, accompanied by Mr. Faber, started in an easternly direction through the primeval forest to look out an elevated location, after a few hours travel they came to the top of a hill of which they had view of for quite a distance. On this hill viewing the surrounding scenery they discovered on its eastern slope a little patch of cleared ground, on which a little rude hut had been built. They named this elevation Mount Tell, which has ever borne this same name. They preceeded to this little cabin and found it inhabited by William Parsons, so familiarly known by the name of ""Old Devil Bill"" Mr. Duff contracted and bought the improvement for 8 bushels of corn to be paid at gathering. In April they moved to their new purchase in poor circumstances, where the wild animals abounded and not a road to travel. Her husband died September 8, 1867, leaving her to care for seven infant children, among them, Perry T., who was an invalid and suffered twenty long years with necrosis of the bones before his death. Her weary feet and brain are at rest. She had a wonderful memory and strong in mind and purpose to her journey's end. Integrity crowns her life. She was borne to the family graveyard where the funeral services were conducted by Rev. James K. Fisher in the presence of a large assembly of relatives and friends. She was laid to rest between two of her sons, in the silent city of the dead. (poem follows) A. Friend