Biography of 	REDFERN, Samuel E., Washington, D. C., then Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by 	Mike Miller April 1998

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Louisiana:  Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions,
and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form (volume 3), pp. 353-354.  Edited
by Alcée Fortier, Lit.D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.

Redfern, Samuel Edward, commissioner of immigration, was born in
Washington, D. C., Oct. 14, 1865, the son of Joseph Redfern, a native of
Washington, D. C. , who lived and died there, and Josephine (Vivans)
Redfern, also a native of the same place.   Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Redfern had
3 children, namely:  Joseph Louis,  Samuel Edward, the subject of this
sketch, and Marie Clotilde Redfern.  Samuel E. Redfern spent his youth in
Washington, D. C., attending a private school and later spending 3 years at
Georgetown university in general scholastic work.  At the close of his 3
years' university work he went to Chicago in 1880 and engaged in the grain,
stock and brockerage business, in which he continued for 10 years, and
then, in 1890, he returned to Washington, D. C., and entered the real
estate business with his father, which business engaged his attention until
1898, when he retired to accept the position of chief clerk of the
Nicaraguan Canal Commission, which position he held as long as this
commission was in existence.  This commission was merged into the Isthmian
Canal Commission, charged with investigating all routes across the isthmus,
and this later was succeeded by other commissions as the subject took on
different aspects.  Mr Redfern remained with these various commissions
until 1905, at which time he was transferred to New Orleans as purchasing
agent for the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Panama R. R.  He continued
in this position until 1909, when the army took charge of building the
canal and an army officer was appointed purchasing agent in his place.  For
some time there had been an appropriation to build an immigration station
at New Orleans, and when Mr. Redfern was relieved of his duties in
connection with the Panama Canal, it was thought by many that he was the
proper person to carry the immigration station project through to
completion.  Accordingly, in 1909, he was appointed commissioner of
immigration and has held that office to the present time (1913).  Mr.
Redfern is a member of the Roman Catholic church and of the Metropolitan
club, Washington, D. C.  In 1899 he married Miss Marie Holcombe Moore,
daughter of Dr. Thomas J. and Cornelia (Landis) Moore, of Hollidaysburg, Pa.