San Joaquin County Biographies
Ref: Page 1315
Transcribed by: Linda Diane Jackson 11/22/2009
WILLIAM R. DUFF
Associated with the street car service of Stockton for more than thirty years, William R. Duff, now superintendent of the car barns of the Stockton Electric Railway, has aided materially in the expansion and growth of this vital factor of transportation. A native of Illinois, he was born in Henry County, July 4, 1865, a son of James and Elizabeth (Leggett) Duff. The latter passed away when he was a small child and at the age of fourteen he started out for himself, working on farms, and this he continued until 1891, when he was twenty-five years old. On coming to California he settled at Stockton and entered the employ of the Stockton Street Railway Company, later the Stockton Electric Railway, as track section man, and then for four months drove a mule car. At that time there were but two lines in the city—the San Joaquin and the Main and El Dorado. After spending some time in the car shops as a repair man, Mr. Duff then took up his duties at the horse car stables, and when electrification was accomplished he was one of the first to operate the new cars, both as motorman and conductor. Again taking up repair work in the shops, he became night foreman, and his competent service gained him the promotion to the position he now occupies, that of superintendent of the car barns. When Mr. Duff started with the company there were seven mule cars, and now there are twenty-five large electric cars in operation daily, so that he has had a large part in helping modernize Stockton's transportation facilities during his long years of faithful service, and is now the company's oldest employee.
Mr. Duff's marriage which occurred in Illinois on November 12, 1890, united him with Miss Rebecca Tuttle, also a native of Illinois, whose father, John Tuttle, was a '49er, crossing the plains in an ox-team train. He later returned to his Illinois home but made three subsequent trips to visit his daughter in California. Mr. and Mrs. Duff have two sons, both of whom served their country during the World War. William James was at the Goat Island Naval Training Station and is now a pattern maker; he married Hazel Coffelt and they have a daughter, Lois Vivian. Walter Vernon is a fireman with the Southern Pacific Railroad. He was also in the U.S. Navy, first on the Independence and later on the Louisville, making a number of trips to France during the war. Mr. Duff is prominent in the ranks of the Odd Fellows, having joined Truth Lodge, No. 55, over twenty-nine years ago.
History of
SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY
CALIFORNIA
With A
Biographical Review
of
The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been
Identified with Its Growth and Development
from the Early Days to the Present
HISTORY BY
George H. Tinkham
HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
1923
San Joaquin County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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