Alanson J. Durfee, the manager of Durfee Furniture Company, figures as one of the representative citizens of Council Bluffs. He came here in 1892 and since that time has been an important factor in advancing its interests.

Mr. Durfee was born in Berlin, Wisconsin, in 1855, and received his first schooling in a log schoolhouse near his native city. His education was further extended by his attendance at other public schools and by his practical business experience. He always worked during the summer vacation in order to accumulate enough money to take him through his winter school term. At the age of eighteen years he was obliged to leave his books and devote his entire time to the various occupations in which be was later engaged. His operations have been very extensive, embracing several fields of labor, for he began to work when he was but nine years old. He has run a gristmill, a furniture factory, and between the age of fourteen and twenty-four he had charge of a cranberry ranch in Wisconsin, where be employed eight hundred hands. His wide sympathy and generous nature were large elements in his success in dealing with these men and in managing them successfully without their ever thinking that they were being managed.

In 1890 he left Wisconsin and took up his residence for eighteen months at Perry, Iowa. In 1892 he came to Council Bluffs, where he bought an interest in the furniture business in which be has since been engaged.

Mr. Durfee was married in 1878, in Aurora, Wisconsin, to Ida E. Chapen and their union has been blessed with three sons: Clifton O., Waite D. and Alanson G.

In his political relations Mr. Durfee has been a stalwart supporter of the Republican party and fraternally is associated with the Odd Follows. He has been the architect of his own fortune and all that he possesses has been acquired through his own efforts. He owes his present position to perseverance, hard work, mastery of the details of his business and determination to succeed. Being a man of strong individuality he has made a success of whatever he has undertaken and his operations have not been limited to one line of trade, but he has successfully conducted many and his able management made each a profitable investment.