William Henry Daffin, 1844 - 1902

by Brian Stevenson
last updated February, 2026

William Daffin’s life was bookended with tragedies: his father died when William was a small boy, and William met with a violent death far from his family and home.

But, in the mid-1870s, William Daffin must have felt that his life was quite pleasant. He was married, had a young son, and evidently had a good job. William became enthusiastic about microscopy as a hobby. He purchased a high quality microscope and numerous books on the topic. He ordered custom-printed labels for his microscope slides. Then his wife died, which apparently upended his plans for leisurely activity. Daffin sold his microscope and books. To the best of my knowledge, William H. Daffin’s involvement with microscopes ended in 1878.

Figure 1. Microscope slide by William H. Daffin, circa 1875. He lived for most of his life in the Frankford area of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Figure 2. William Daffin sold his microscope and some 50 books on microscopy in 1878. He owned a “Premier” binocular microscope with a substage condenser, which was a very good quality instrument. The Philadelphia retailer J.W. Queen was U.S. distributor for the microscopes of Henry Crouch of London. This advertisement appeared only once in “The American Journal of Microscopy”. The journal misprinted his address as “Lester”, instead of “Lesher”, so one hopes that he was successful with the sales.

William Daffin’s parents, Henry and Ann, emigrated from Derbyshire, England to Philadelphia around 1840. They were accompanied by a son, Thomas, who was born ca. 1833, and Ann’s parents, Hugh and Ann Boyd.

Our microscopist was born on May 5, 1844, in Philadelphia.

Henry Daffin died around 1849, when William was 4-5 years old. The 1850 national census shows that 17 year-old Thomas was probably the primary breadwinner, working as a “machinist”. Grandfather Hugh Boyd was working as a “carpenter”, even though he was 74 years-old.

In Philadelphia at that time, a widowed mother had no rights with respect to her children. Thus, young William was officially declared to be an “orphan”, and his life was overseen by a court. He was enrolled in Girard College, a Philadelphia school for "poor, white, male, orphans".

By the time he was a teenager, Girard College had arranged for William Daffin to be an apprentice with gunsmith John Krider (1813-1886). This position had a greater impact on Daffin than simply learning a trade, as Krider was an expert ornithologist and taxidermist. The second floor of Krider’s shop was a taxidermy studio. William Daffin became an enthusiastic birder and taxidermist later in his life,

The 1860 census recorded that William lived with his mother, brother Thomas, and Thomas’ wife and children. William was listed as being a “machinist’s apprentice”. That description suggests that William was learning machining skills beyond just those necessary to manufacture and repair guns. Indeed, William’s later work indicates that he learned a number of important skills, including how to keep books for a business.

William Daffin married Anna Gibson on February 1864. They had one child, Thomas, born in 1866.

The 1870 national census listed Daffin’s occupation as “clerk in an iron foundry”. That job probably evolved from the skills he acquired with Krider.

The 1877 City Directory of Philadelphia listed Daffin as being a book keeper.

It was around this time that William Daffin got deeply involved with microscopy as a hobby. As noted above and in Figure 2, he purchased a high-end microscope with accessories, and some four dozen books on microscopes and related topics. I have not found evidence of him being a member of any scientific organizations at that time. However, his brother was a member of the Franklin Institute, and John Krider was a member of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, both of which were premier scientific societies. They may have helped William recognize that a working man can be involved with interesting and valuable scientific exploration.

Wife Anna was dead by the time of the 1880 census. I have not located her death record. Judging from William’s 1878 advertisement, she probably passed away a short while before he had it published.

Finances appear to have become tight. The 1880 shows 14 year-old son Thomas working as a “rope maker”, rather than attending school. William had taken a position as an “agent”. He was listed as a “salesman” in the 1882 city directory. By 1884, William was back to being a “bookkeeper”, and appears to have remained in such a position until after the turn of the century.

He joined the American Ornithologists’ Union in 1892. His obituary in the Union’s journal, The Auk, states that William “was a taxidermist and had a collection of birds”.

Daffin re-married on June 1, 1898, to Carrie Cox. He was at home in time for the 1900 census, living with Carrie, her son from a previous marriage, and Carrie’s unmarried sister.

William Daffin “was murdered June 20, 1902, in the wilds of Dutch Guiana, at a placer mine on the Maroni River ten days journey by boat from Paramaribo”. He was evidently involved with that area’s gold rush, although he was then 58 years old.

Figure 3. Dry-mount of “Foraminifera from Mediterranean”, prepared ca. 1875 by W.H. Daffin (see Figure 1). Imaged with a 3.5x objective lens and C-mounted digital SLR camera on a Leitz Ortholux II microscope, with lighting from above.

Resources

Annual Report of the Board of Directors of the Girard College for Orphans (1859) Catalogue of apprentices

The Auk (1898) Members, “Daffin, W.H., 5000 Franklin St., Philadelphia, Pa. . . 1892”

The Auk (1952) William Henry Daffin, page 492

Journal of the Franklin Institute (1877) Members, “Daffin, Thomas, Phila Steel Works”

Philadelphia City Directory (1877) “Daffin William H., bookkpr, h 4723 Lesher, Fkd”, page 372

Philadelphia City Directory (1879) “Daffin William H., bookkeeper, h 4723 Lesher, Fkd”, page 401

Philadelphia City Directory (1882) “Daffin William H., salesman, h 2849 Mervine”, page 388

Philadelphia City Directory (1884) “Daffin William H., bookkeeper, h 2849 Mervine”, page 395

Philadelphia City Directory (1897) “Daffin Wm, bookkpr, h 5000 Franklin, Fkd”, page 451

US census and other records, accessed through ancestry.com

Zoologisches Adressbuch (1895) "Daffin (William H.) – Frankford, 3971 Frankford Avenue. Orn.”, Friedländler & Sohn, Berlin, page 459