Ascension County Louisiana Archives Obituaries.....Duffel, Frederick - March 30, 1890 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Mary K. Creamer marykcreamer.00@gmail.com September 18, 2022, 10:54 pm source: The Donaldsonville Chief. (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, April 05, 1890, page 2 FREDERICK DUFFEL. - It has been a long time since this community sustained such a shock as that occasioned last Sunday by the tidings received from New Orleans by telephone that Frederick Duffel was dead. The news spread like wildfire and carried the deepest regret into every household, for few citizens of this town or parish can be said to hold as high a place in the affections and esteem of all classes of our people as that occupied by this lamented gentleman. Barely two days after the death of his estimable wife, whose sudden demise on the 22nd of March was chronicled in last issue, of the Chief, he was prostrated by an attack of pneumonia similar in its symptoms and character to that which had terminated the life of Mrs. Duffel. His warm friend Dr. C.H. Tebault of New Orleans was summoned to his bedside, and on Saturday morning last the patient was conveyed to the city via the Texas and Pacific railway and to the residence of Dr. Tebault, who desired to give him constant personal attention. Medical skill and the most careful nursing were of no avail, however, for at 10:30 A.M. last Sunday, twenty-four hours after his arrival in New Orleans, the sufferer breathed his last, and his noble spirit winged its flight through the dark valley of the shadow of death to the bright regions of eternal happiness which religion teaches us are the portion of those whose earthly lives are pure, upright and spotless like Frederick Duffel's. The body was brought to Donaldsonville on Sunday evening's train and escorted to the Duffel residence by a large concourse of people, including the Sons of Veterans, members of Phoenix Fire Co., and other organizations. The funeral took place Monday forenoon, leaving the residence at 11 o'clock, and the imposing character of the affair would have impressed the veriest (sic) stranger with the conviction that one of the community's brightest lights had been extinguished. The obsequies were conducted in military fashion, the bands being part of the Sons of Veterans and that command leading the mournful procession to the church and cemetery. Carriages containing the children and nearest relatives of the deceased, then came the Phoenix Brass Band, playing dirges, members of the Army of Northern Virginia, Ascension Branch Sugar Planter's Association of La., honorary members of the fire companies, active members of Phoenix Steam Fire Co. No. 1 and Ascension Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1 in uniform, and a long line of people on foot and in vehicles. Several hundred persons, representing all classes of the population, thronged the sidewalks, and the large assembly filled the spacious Catholic church to overflowing during the solemn services conducted by Rev. Father Cartisser. The stores and other places of business were closed until the parting salute fired by the Sons of Veterans with their field piece announced that the mortal remains of the gallant soldier and stainless citizen had been laid to rest in a compartment of the imposing Landry mausoleum, alongside those of the beloved wife who had preceded him but eight days before. The death of Frederick Duffel is indeed a public bereavement and calamity, but its saddest consequence is seen in the condition of the four young children who, within the short space of scarcely more than a week, have been deprived of the loving companionship, care and guidance of two devoted and affectionate parents. The loss they have sustained is truly irreparable and excites the profound pity and regret of all sympathetic hearts. Everything that lies within the power of faithful friends and kindred to succor these unfortunate orphans will doubtless be done, but no adequate compensation for their great misfortune can be found this side of Heaven. Frederick Duffel was born on the 4th of October, 1837, at the residence of his grandfather, Judge Edward Duffel, on Woodstock plantation, in this parish. His father was the late Albert Duffel, formerly Judge of the Fourth Judicial District and afterwards one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. His paternal grandfather was Parish Judge of Ascension eighteen years; his great grandfather, also named Edward Duffel, a Revolutionary soldier who died in Virginia, and his great great grandfather was Barnabas Duffel, who came from Londonderry, Ireland, to Philadelphia, early in 1700. His mother was Louise Landry, sister of R. Prosper Landry, our Parish Treasurer, and daughter of the late Valery Landry, owner when he died of the well known Sovenir plantation three miles above Donaldsonville. Her great grandfather was Joseph Landry, a refugee from Canada and Commandant of the District of Acadia under the Spanish and French regimes in this State. The subject of this sketch received his early education in the old Donaldsonville College, and finished his academical (sic) course at Villanova College, Villanova, Pa., where he was a schoolmate of Messrs. Bernard Lemann, Camille Mollere, the late C.B. Israel and others well known in this community. He studied law at the University of Louisiana, graduating with distinction in 1860, and practiced his profession in Donaldsonville until May, 1861, when he entered the Confederate services as a private in Capt. Francis T. Nicholl's company, the Phoenix Guards, afterwards Company K of the Eighth Louisiana Volunteers. By his gallantry and faithful performance of duty he earned a Lieutenant's epaulettes and fought with "Stonewall" Jackson's immortal "foot cavalry" until captured with the whole Louisiana Brigade at Rappahanock Bridge in October, 1863. He and his brother officers were sent to Johnson's Island, where Lieut. Duffel remained a prisoner until the close of the war, being the last but one (Capt. Gusman of the Baton Rouge Fencibles) to take the oath and leave the Island. His indomitable yet unassuming bravery as a soldier was the admiration of all his comrades, and Sergt. J.E. St. Martin, who served with him, said to the writer of this sketch the other day, "Fred. was the coolest man under fire I ever saw." Lieut. Duffel's father died during the first year of the war and his brother Leonce met a soldier's death in Virginia, hence when the released prisoner returned to his ruined home in Ascension the whole care of his widowed mother and her younger children fell upon his shoulders. How faithfully he fulfilled the onerous trust need not be told in this community. To the mother and other members of the family who preceded him to the tomb he was a constant provider, and up to the hour of his own death the widowed sister and her fatherless children who still reside in this benefactor, in him their best friend and [page fold]. He resumed the practice of [page fold] Donaldsonville immediately after his return from the war and continued it for the remainder of his life, attaining an enviable position at the bar and evincing and unswerving integrity, devotion to duty and faithful observance of every trust that were inseparable traits of his character in all things and at all times. He was first married in 1865 to Miss Lydia Williams, invalid daughter of the late Col. Henry Williams, at one time Surveyor General of Louisiana, who lived but but eighteen months after the marriage. On the 12th of February, 1872, he led to the altar Miss Clemence Comes, whose sad death on the 22nd ultimo has already been recorded in these columns. Mr. Duffel occupied at various time, numerous positions of public trust, including Town Attorney, Alderman, Mayor, Notary Public, Parish Attorney, member and President pro tem of the Police Jury. He always evinced an active interest in political matters as a consistent yet conservative Democrat, and had served as a member, president and secretary of the parish committee and member of the State central committee of his party. He was a prominent and useful member of the post bellum organization of the Cannoneers of Donaldson, the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia, Phoenix Steam Fire Co. No. 1 and Ascension Branch Sugar Planter's Association of La., and an honorary member of Association of La., and an honorary member of Ascension Hook and Ladder Co. No. 1, Sons of Veterans C.S.A. and other organizations. He was reared in the Catholic religion and the Roman Catholic Congregation of Ascension contained no more devout and faithful member or regular attendant at mass than he. He had served as a church warden and at the time of his death was recording secretary of the building association organized to aid in carrying on the work of erecting a new Catholic church in this town. Limited space will not permit the fur [page crease] the honorable career and feeble tribute to the exalted character of Frederick Duffel. Columns might be consumed in an attempt to adequately portray his virtues and chronicle all his good deeds, but the task calls for a more competent pen than ours. Additional Comments: NOTE: www.findagrave.com memorial # 200402610 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/ascension/obits/d/duffel8570gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/lafiles/ File size: 9.7 Kb