Résumé

Principal, Rufus H. Dorn, Architect, Port Henry, NY.

Principal, Rufus H. Dorn, Architect, Rochester, NY.

Principal, Rufus H. Dorn, Architect, Saratoga Springs, NY.

Principal, Rufus H. Dorn, Building Contractor, Los Angeles, CA, 1892. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1892; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 20; FHL Roll Number: 976929, accessed 08/24/2023.)

Relocation

Rufus Herrick Dorn was born in Florida, Montgomery County, NY, in 1830, and practiced architecture in at least three cities in that state--Port Henry, Rochester and Saratoga Springs--before relocating to Los Angeles, CA, by about 1886. (His obituary in the Los Angeles Times of 02/07/1911, indicated that he had been born in Amsterdam, NY, which is to the north of Florida, across the Mohawk River).

The architect settled in Port Henry, NY, a town in the east-central part of the state bordering Lake Champlain, by 1871.

Rufus Dorn lived at 1121 Maple Avenue in Los Angeles in 1892, along with Maria and Frederick. His son William Wallace Dorn resided at 811 San Julian Street in Los Angeles. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1892; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 20; FHL Roll Number: 976929, accessed 08/24/2023.)

In 1910, Rufus lived with his daughter Mary E. Dorn Slocum and her husband Albert G. Slocum (born c. 1856 in NY) at 152 North Winona Boulevard in Los Angeles. Albert Slocum had been a business partner of Fred Dorn in the 1880s. The household also included Mary and Albert's two children Mary Louise Slocum Tuck born 02/22/1889 in CA-d. 05/19/1979 in San Mateo County, CA) and Herrick Gardiner Slocum (born 07/17/1898 in Los Angeles, CA). (Mary and Albert's had two older children, Leigh Wallace Slocum (born 01/13/1881 in Rochester, NY) and Lawrence Dorn Slocum (born 03/06/1887 in Rochester, NY-d. 06/27/1908 in Los Angeles, CA)

Rufus H. Dorn died at Mary's residence in Hollywood, and was buried with his wife Maria Louise Rice in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA.

Parents

His mother was Hester Bunn (born 12/29/1798-d. 02/18/1880). She married James Dorn (born 04/13/1801-d. 09/29/1889 in Florida, Montgomery County, NY) on 01/11/1821.

Together, they had nice children: Ann Eliza Dorn (born 1822), Jane Caroline Dorn (born 1824), George Warnock Dorn (born 1825) Minerva Dorn (born 1826), William Bunn Dorn, Rufus Dorn, Almira Dorn (born 1832), Mary Adeline Dorn Staley, and Sarah Louise Dorn (born 1836). (See History of the Bunn Family of America, James Alfred Ellis, ed., [Chicago: Romanzo Norton Bunn, 1928], pp. 62-63.)

Spouse

He wed Maria Louise Rice (born 05/13/1831 in Montreal, QC, Canada-d. 01/09/1901 in Los Angeles, CA)

Maria's parents were Appleton Rice (born 09/21/1797 in Petersham, MA-d. 1862 in NY) and Mary Meacham (born 04/10/1805 in Argenteuil, QC, Canada-d. 07/24/1855 in Moriah, NY).

Children

He and Maria had at least four children: Mary Elva Dorn Slocum (born 09/11/1857 in Port Henry, NY-d. 08/29/1939 in Los Angeles County, CA), Charles Herrick Dorn (born 07/31/1860 in Port Henry, NY-d. 09/08/1939 in Los Angeles County, CA), William Wallace Dorn (born 12/02/1862 in Port Henry, NY-d. 03/21/1937 in Los Angeles County, CA) and Frederick Rice Dorn (born 06/13/1866 in Port Henry, NY-d. 05/19/1934 in Redlands, CA).

Frederick R. Dorn would become a successful architect in Los Angeles.

Biographical Notes

Rufus H. Dorn was also an inventor who received various patents between 1871 and 1884. as per the US Patent Office List of Patents published on 06/06/1871, Dorn created a new design for a circular cutter, Patent #115,587, (See The Smithsonian Institution.gov., Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1871-1872, p. 426.) He patented a boot-crimping machine on 01/30/1872, Patent # 123,158, while living in Port Henry, NY. (See "List of Patents," American Artisan, vol. 14, 02/07/1872, p. 86.) The same year he also devised a novel design for a wood dado plane, assigned Patent #129,010, granted on 07/16/1872. (See The Smithsonian Institution.gov., Annual report of the Commissioner of Patents for the year 1872, p. 52.) The tool collector's periodical, The Gristmill, said of this now rare plane in 2005: "Rufus H. Dorn's patented, July 16, 1872, was for a swing out cutter on a wood dado plane to cut dados of different widths. Late in 1872, Stanley Rule and Level Co. purchased Dorn's patent and designed a cast iron dado plane with an adjustable fence and Dorn's swing out cutter behind a main skewed cutter1. The swing out cutter may have worked for a very small change in dado width, but was not stiff enough to take a big cut. Stanley attempted to stiffen the swing out cutter with a brass supporting stop that could be slid up behind it for added support. It still wasn't very successful. After making a very small number of the Dorn's dado planes they 26 The Gristmill Lot 421 Dorn's patented dado plane replaced it with Traut's No. 46 dado plane, which came with 10 cutters of different widths." (See John G. Wells, "Piper, Dorn and Holley were the talk of the show at Brown's 26th," The Gristmill, 09/2005, no. 120, p. 26.)

Rufus Dorn also received Patent #304,081 (1884) for a blind-hinge. This patent was granted while he dwelled in Rochester, NY. (See United States Patent Office, Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, 08/26/1884, p. 756.)

As per Los Angeles County voter registration records of 1892, Rufus Herrick Dorn stood 5-feet, 5-and-1/2-inches tall and was Caucasian with a "dark" complexion. His eyes were listed as blue and hair brown, and the voter document indicated that he had a "scar on left index finger." (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation California State Library; Sacramento, California; Great Registers, 1892; Collection Number: 4-2A; CSL Roll Number: 20; FHL Roll Number: 976929, accessed 08/24/2023.)