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Title: Doris V. Huffman Family
Dates: 1890-1913
Collection Number: 2012-P-036
Quantity: 18 items
Abstract: Formal Huffman Family portraits taken in Jamestown (ND), Wheaton (MI), Chicago (IL), Ellendale (ND), Aberdeen (SD), and Oakes (ND). Scenic, business and team photographs taken in Devils Lake (ND), Jamestown (ND), Oakes (ND) and Ludden (ND).
Provenance: The collection was donated to the State Historical Society of North Dakota by Doris V. Huffman on October 26, 1993. Sharon Silengo processed the collection on May 29, 2012.
Property Rights: The State Historical Society of North Dakota owns the property rights to this collection.
Copyrights: Copyrights to materials in this collection remain with the donor, publisher, author, or author's heirs. Researchers should consult the 1976 Copyright Act, Public Law 94-553, Title 17, U.S. Code and an archivist at this repository if clarification of copyright requirements is needed.
Access: This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Citation: Researchers are requested to cite the collection title, collection number, and the State Historical Society of North Dakota in all footnote and bibliographic references.
Biographical Sketches:
Doris Virginia Dalin was born in Aberdeen South Dakota on April 25 1920 to Swan and Josephine Finsand Dalin. Her mother died soon after she was born, so she and her father Swan moved in with her grandparents (John F. and Greta D. Dalin) so they could care for her while he worked as a switchman for the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company. She graduated from Central High School in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1937. She attended Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa from 1939-1941.
Doris married Richard Earl Huffman, Jr. on July 29, 1941 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Richard Earl Huffman, Jr. was already working for his father at the R. E. Huffman Company (aka Huffman Typewriter Company and News Printing Company) which sold Business Machines and Office Equipment. In 1945, Doris’ father Swan was working as a mechanic for the R. E. Huffman Company. Richard started helping his father run R. E. Huffman Company in 1948 and officially became president of the R. E. Huffman Company in 1960, with his father R. Earl taking on the vice president position. Doris’s father, Swan died August 5, 1951.
In 1968 Doris Huffman was elected to the American Association of Workers for the Blind’s national board of directors (Daily Republic, Mitchell South Dakota 19 Jun 1968 Wed p21) Doris died September 9, 1996 and is buried in Riverside Memorial Park in Aberdeen, South Dakota.
Parts of this collection came from Ruth L. Schulstad Huffman, wife of James E. Huffman, son of Walter Daniel and Agnes Bennett Huffman. Colonel James Emery Huffman was born on February 14, 1896 in Ludden, North Dakota and at the time of his enlistment in Company G, 1st Infantry, North Dakota National Guard was employed as the deputy sheriff in Ellendale, North Dakota under direction of his father, Walter Daniel Huffman, the sheriff. He saw service on the Mexican border duty, was discharged in February 1917, and was called back into service in July 1917, serving overseas in France from December 14, 1917 to September 4, 1919. In 1920, he was working as an accountant for a pipeline in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He moved to Tampa, Florida to be close to his father and worked there as an accountant. There he married Ruth L. Schulstad in 1927, whom he met when they both lived in Ellendale, North Dakota.
Ruth’s father Oscar L. (wife Emma) worked as a real estate agent in Ellendale and in Florida where he also rented and later owned property. Oscar Schulstad’s family shows up in the 1920 US Census as living in both locations. James continued working as a public accountant, first in Tampa, Florida and in 1940 in New York for the Federal Government. He died on November 23, 1983 and is buried in Myrtle Hill Memorial Park, Tampa, Florida. Ruth L. Huffman died March 11, 1996.
Walter Daniel Huffman was born to Daniel and Josephine Hathaway Huffman on February 25, 1869 in Montgomery, Ohio. Walter moved to North Dakota between 1880 and 1900, married Agnes Bennett March 15, 1892. In 1900 he was a hotel keeper in Ludden Village, North Dakota, and later in Oakes, North Dakota. Agnes was born on April 27, 1867 to Hiram and Esther Bennett in New York. The Bennett family moved to Michigan around 1870 where Hiram worked in a cheese factory and later farmed. Walter and Agnes had four children: Joseph H. (1893-1920), Richard Earl (1894-1987), James Emery (1896-1983), Walter D., Jr. (1911-1969). Walter, Sr. was the Sheriff in Ellendale, North Dakota in 1920 with his son Joe as the deputy sheriff. Walter Sr. moved with his wife Agnes and Walter, Jr. to Clearwater, Florida where Walter, Sr. managed an apartment building and Walter, Jr. worked as the building janitor. His son, James and wife Ruth lived in one of the apartments in the building. In the 1940s, the two Walters and Agnes moved to Orange County, California. In 1936 he was managing the Plummer Cottages in Anaheim, California. Walter, Sr. passed away on September 15, 1949 and his wife Agnes died on February 11, 1953.
Walter Daniel Huffman, Jr. was born on September 25, 1911 in North Dakota. Walter, Jr. was attending school in 1920 in Ellendale, North Dakota, finishing 8 years of education. In 1930 he had moved to Florida with his parents and was working as a janitor in the apartment building they managed. He moved with them to Huntington Beach, California where he was listed as unable to work in 1940. He moved back to Florida and died in January 1969 in Tampa, Florida.
Joseph H. Huffman was born on November 19, 1893 in Ludden, North Dakota. He enlisted in Company L, 4th Infantry, South Dakota National Guard on April 23, 1914, performing Mexican border duty, discharged on February 14, 1917, was called to federal service and served overseas from December 13, 1917 to April 1919. He returned to Oakes, North Dakota where he died on April 19, 1920.
Richard Philo Huffman (1866-1915) and Marquetta (Margaretta) (06-01-1872-05-04-1942) had seven children: Elma H. Farah (04-01-1889-?), Hilda M. (1892-1976), Richard Earl Huffman, Sr. (1894-1987), Gwendolyn H. (1897-1985), Harold (1901-?), Ruth (1903-1984), Kathleen Huffman (09-01-1911-?).
Richard Earl Huffman, Sr. born on April 17, 1894 in Gardner, Hancock County, Ohio, to Richard Philo Huffman and Margaretta Bailey Huffman. On June 5th, 1917 when he registered for the World War I draft in Oakes, North Dakota, he was the sole support for his mother and sister, working for Western Union Telegraph Company. He married Ione Swartz Gilkey on September 15, 1917 in South Dakota. Richard, Sr. was working for the National Cash Register Company as a salesman in Aberdeen, South Dakota in 1922. He started the Huffman Typewriter Company, Inc. sometime between 1924 and 1928. By 1940 it had become the R. E. Huffman Company with his son Richard Earl Huffman working as a salesman, marketing L. C. Smith and Corona Typewriters, Marchant Calculating Machines, Victor and R. C. Allen Adding Machines, Edison-Dick Mimeographs, and Thomas A. Edison Dictating Machines. Richard, Jr. started sharing the business masthead with him in 1948, eventually becoming president in 1960 after the business was incorporated in August 29, 1959. Richard Sr. died February 17, 1987 in Palm Springs, California.
Ione Swartz Gilkey Huffman was born on October 20, 1895 in Spring Lake, Minnesota to Ephraim and Eva Swartz Gilkey. She and Richard, Sr. had 5 children: Dean (1918-1918), Richard Earl, Jr. (1919-), Glen (1921-1933), Mary E., and Phyllis. Ione died March 13, 1987 in Palm Springs, California.
Dean Huffman was born on July 12, 1918 and died the following month on August 9, 1918. He is buried in Riverside Memorial Park with his mother.
Richard Earl Huffman, Jr. was born in 1919 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. He attended Northern State Teachers College in Aberdeen during 1938-1942. He married Doris Dalin on July 29, 1941 in Aberdeen. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 6, 1942 at Fort Snelling. Returning from his enlistment he resumed working for his father at R. E. Huffman Company, eventually becoming president of the corporation in 1960. His last known residence is Aberdeen in 2002.
Mary Evelyn Huffman was born June 19, 1923 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She obtained a bachelor of arts degree in recreational services from the University of South Dakota in Vermillion in 1945. She was an active member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. In 1945, she moved to Los Angeles and worked in the recreational-physical education field. She married Warner Lee Hamlen, Jr. of Hollywood. They lived in California, Michigan, Texas and Illinois before moving to Walnut Creek in 1973. She was a homemaker, working part-time as a school teacher and for the Republican Party. In 1989, she moved to Rossmoor, a retirement community in Walnut Creek. She died April 13, 2001 in Walnut Creek, California.
Phyllis J. Huffman was born April 1, 1925 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She graduated in 1953, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center At Dallas Texas as a Pediatric Specialist. She died April 2, 2002 in Walnut Creek, California.
Seth Beals Cook was born in New York in January 1846. In 1880 he was living in Lyons, Michigan with his wife Annie and son Bernard and an unnamed one month old baby girl. This was the same town that Hiram, Esther and Aggie Bennett (later wife of Walter D. Huffman) lived. He moved to Ludden, North Dakota where his son, Seth A. Cook, was born in September 6, 1887. In 1900 he was living in Portland, Oregon with his wife Annie and sons Bernhard A. and Seth A. Cook and working as a junk dealer. Seth B. Cook died February 12, 1926 in Milwaukie, Oregon.
PHOTOGRAPHS INVENTORY
2012-036-01 Duck hunting in North Dakota
2012-036-02 After a blizzard, Devils Lake (ND) April 3, 1906 Halftone postcard by H. L. Woehler, Buffalo (NY)
2012-036-03 Office and Lobby Gladstone Hotel Jamestown (ND) October 13, 1907 Halftone postcard
2012-036-04 Joe Huffman, son of Walter D. Huffman, 1893-1920. Photo by C L Judd Jamestown (ND)
2012-036-05 Joe Huffman, son of Walter D. Huffman and Aggie Bennett Huffman. Photo by A. Carlson, Wheaton (MI)
2012-036-06 Seth Cook, mother's (Agnes Bennett Huffman) uncle. Photo by E. H. Foster, Jamestown (DT)
2012-036-07 Agnes Bennett Huffman, Grace Helms and Kate Helms
2012-036-08 Hiram E. and Esther Bennett, Aggie Bennett Huffman's parents. Photo by Mathias Matousek, Chicago (IL)
2012-036-09 Walter Daniel Huffman, Sheriff, Dickey County (ND)
2012-036-10 Walter Daniel Huffman born 1869 died 1949 Oakes (ND)
2012-036-11 R Earl Huffman Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Oakes or Ludden (ND) 1915
2012-036-12 Huffman family Oakes ND Photo by W H and L E Watts Oakes (ND)
2012-036-13 Walter D Huffman Oakes ND 1889 Photo by Wm Canfield Oakes (ND)
2012-036-14 Bert Cook Agnes Bennett Huffman's Uncle Photo by John W. Byam Ellendale (ND)
2012-036-15-01 Agnes Bennett Huffman in Hotel Dining Room Photo by Lewella E. Watts and Welch Oakes (ND)
2012-036-15-02 Agnes Bennett Huffman in Hotel Dining Room Photo by Lewella E. Watts and Welch Oakes (ND)
2012-036-16 Agnes Bennett Huffman 1889 Photo by Miller and Van Buskirk (John Q. Miller, Charles Van Buskirk) Aberdeen (DT)
2012-036-17 Earl Huffman and Oakes High School Track Team Oakes (ND) 1910-1913
2012-036-18 Huffman Family Oakes (ND) 1912 Photocopy of original with names of family members
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