Dade-Alachua County FlArchives Biographies.....DuPuis, John Gordon 1875 - 
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Author: B. F. Johnson (1909)

John Gordon Dupuis

    Of Huguenot and Welsh descent, Dr. John Gordon DuPuis, of Lemon City,
manifested in his early youth the sturdiness and independence of character
common to the two strains of blood in his make-up. This disposition to surmount
obstacles has marked his career and enabled him to make his own way in life,
educate himself and win success in his profession. Actively interested in the
development of his town and section, he is influential in the commercial and
industrial affairs of the community. Dr DuPuis is a native of Florida, born at
Newnansville, on September 22, 1875. On both sides of the family his people came
from South Carolina. His father was John Samuel DuPuis, a farmer by occupation
who married Mary Sidney Lowman. His paternal grandfather, David Spicer DuPuis,
of Huguenot extraction, settled at Nortonsville, S. C., where he married Mary
Olive Williams, a native of that State. He engaged in farming until 1855, when
he removed to Florida, located in Marion county, and lived in Marion county
until he was seventy-three years of age. Dr. DuPuis' maternal grandfather,
Samuel Lowman, was a native of South Carolina, descended from an early settler
who came from Wales. Samuel Lowman married Susan Elizabeth Sharp, also South
Carolina born, and they moved to Florida and located near Micanopy.

    The DuPuis family in France goes back to a very ancient period. The original
spelling in France was Dupuy, or DuPuy, the word "du" meaning "of the," and
"Puy" is the old French word meaning "mountain." The original progenitor,
therefore, must have been from a mountainous section of France. In the first
crusade appeared Hugues DuPuy, a French knight, with his sons Adolph, Romain and
Raymond; the father and his three sons accompanied Godfrey de Bouillon to
Palestine. About the year 1113 this Raymond DuPuy founded and became the first
grand master of the military order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem,
afterwards styled the Knights of Malta. This order, like the Knights Templar,
which was organized a few years later, acquired great power, immense wealth, and
for several centuries was a notable factor in Christendom. Raymond DuPuy's
coat-of-arms was a red lion, with blue tongue and claws, rampant in a field of
gold. In accordance with the custom of that time, he quartered his arms with
that of the Knights of St. John, a broad white cross of eight points on a field
of red. This combination, therefore, became the coat-of-arms of the DuPuy
family. From this old Raymond and his two brothers the numerous branches of the
DuPuy family have sprung. When the reformed religion began to gather strength in
France, the DuPuys went with the new faith. The Catholics termed them,
"Huguenots," meaning "Confederates" or "leaguers," and this was intended as a
term of reproach. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove these Huguenot
DuPuys into Germany and England, and thence many of them came to the United
States. About that time began the variation of the spelling of the name, as
occurred in many other names on the removal of the families to the United
States. We find, therefore, in the United States Dupuy, DuPuy, DuPuis, Depew and
Dupee. All these are of the same descent, notwithstanding the variation in the
names at present.

    The early movements of the family in America cannot all be traced
definitely. Nicholas and Francois Dupuy, Huguenot refugees from France, came to
New York when it was called New Amsterdam, after a short sojourn in Holland.
From the same source came John DuPuys, who settled in New York City. In 1691 the
records show that Elie and Jean DuPuys settled Oxford, Mass. Somewhat later the
records mention Sieur Dupuys, who settled in the land of the Onondagas near
Syracuse. He appears to have been the only Catholic of these first Colonists.
The most notable man of the first arrivals was Barthelemy Dupuy, who settled on
James river, in Virginia, in the year 1700. The South Carolina family possibly
comes from this old Barthelemy who settled in Virginia, because his descendants
increased enormously in numbers and are scattered all over the South. We find,
however, a mention made by John Lawson of South Carolina about 1695, of Elizabet
Dupuy having married Jacques Dugue. It appears likely that this Jacques and his
wife had come direct from France where he had married a Dupuy. Bartholomew, the
progenitor of the Virginia and most of the Southern families, was a very
enterprising man and gallant soldier. Entering the French army at the age of
eighteen he served foureten years and rose to be an officer of the guards of
King Louis XIV. He was much trusted by the king, and strenuous efforts were made
by the king himself, through his agents, to induce him to leave the Huguenots
and go back to the Catholic faith. These efforts were in vain. Priests and
soldiers then went after him with a view to visiting upon him the terrible
penalties that were prescribed for those who refused to recant. Having a few
hours' timely warning, dressing his young wife as a page, and both of them
mounted on splendid horses, they made for the frontier of Holland. After
desperate efforts, though hotly pursued by his persecutors, they crossed the
frontier and were saved. He spent fourteen years in Germany, a short space of
time in England, and in 1700 came to Virginia and settled in King William
county, upon lands which had been granted to the Huguenot refugees. His old
sword was preserved by his descendants until the Civil War, when during a raid
by Federal troops it was lost in the burning of the residence of Mrs. Julian
Ruffm, near Petersburg, in whose charge it had been left by Dr. John J. Dupuy,
now of Davidson College, N. C. In the Revolutionary War the old sword was worn
by Captain James P. Dupuy, of Nottoway county (a grandson of the old Huguenot)
who, with his two brothers, Captain John and Lieutenant Peter served in a
regiment of Virginia infantry.

    The old Huguenot left many children and in 1790 there were at least one
dozen families in Virginia of his descendants, besides other families which had
gone South.

    In the thirteenth century the family added to the coat-of-arms adopted by
the old crusader, lion supporters with a ducal crown for a crest and the motto:
"Agere et pati forte virtute non gen ere vita."

    The records at various times during the centuries show all of the spellings
above mentioned but there is no question about the common descent of these
various families.

    Dr. DuPuis was reared on a farm and as a boy had only such educational
advantages as were offered by the country public schools. Even at an early age,
however, he was full of ambition and energy, and by privately prosecuting his
studies, he was so far advanced that when only fifteen years old he secured a
position as teacher which he filled ably and acceptably. He attended training
and normal schools during the vacation season, and was thoroughly equipped when
nineteen years of age for a successful and enlarged career as a teacher.

    He had saved his earnings, however, with a view to attending medical
college, and so he entered the Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville, Ky.,
where he took the full course and was graduated June 30, 1898, with the degree
of M.D. In October of the same year he actively began the practice of medicine
and surgery at Lemon City, Fla. He met with a gratifying degree of success from
the start, and has not only won an enviable place in his profession, but has
accumulated a competence which he has invested in commercial and agricultural
enterprises. He is interested in the Lemon City Drug Store and is Treasurer of
the Biscayne Bay Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association. He is a member of the
State Protective Growers Association. He is a Democrat and for eight years has
been a steward in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. For four years he has
been Superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School. He was superintendent of the
Lemon City public schools from 1901 to 1904. During 1907 he was President of the
Dade County Medical Association. He is also a member of the Florida State
Medical Association, of the Southern States Medical Association and of the
American Medical Association. Outside of professional works, Dr. DuPuis has
found his most helpful reading in biographies of the nation's leading men and
women. He has made a special study of the cause and prevention of and the cure
of those suffering from carcinoma. He has found it profitable to place business
ahead of pleasure always. He believes that the best interests of the State and
the country at large will be served by more thoroughly educating our boys and
girls; and by having a more thorough understanding or a simplification of the
statutes and then a strict enforcement of the same. He believes that education,
the fostering of the agricultural interests and home government are the
important public questions demanding attention in the interest of the happiness
and prosperity of the people.

    Dr. DuPuis was married January 18, 1899, to Katherine Elizabeth Beyer, a
daughter of J. Ulrich Beyer and Katherine Beyer of Paducah, Ky. They have one
son, John Gordon DuPuis, Jr.

    Dr. DuPuis is one of those enterprising progressive men to whose efforts the
rapid growth and development of Florida's material interests are due.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

FLORIDA EDITION
MAKERS OF AMERICA
AN HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL WORK BY AN ABLE CORPS OF WRITERS
VOL. III.
Published under the patronage of 
The Florida Historical Society, Jacksonville, Florida

ADVISORY BOARD:
HON. W. D.  BLOXHAM
COL. FRANK HARRIS
HON. R. W. DAVIS
SEN. H. H. McCREARY
HON. F. P. FLEMING
W. F. STOVALL
C. A. CHOATE, SECRETARY

1909
A. B. CALDWELL
ATLANTA, GA.

COPYRIGHT 1909
B. F. JOHNSON

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