David Jefferson Kauffman was the father of Ezra and Rufus.  David was a farmer and moved from Mifflin County, Pennsylvania to Logan County Ohio in 1845.  He was living in McClain, Illinois when he married Elizabeth Yoder.  When his wife died in Illinois, he married Sarah Luckey and moved his family to Greeley on a colony ticket.  Rufus went with him and Ezra went to live with his grandparents in Ohio.

David lived in Greeley for seven years.  Then, with a covered wagon and a pair of mules and a pony, he went over the Oregon trail to Dayton, Washington Territory.  His daughter Lina was 14 years old when they went across the plain.  She and her brother Joash, 19 years old, took turns riding the pony.  Joash kept a diary of the trip.  They left in April and were three months on the trail.  The first night they got to Fort Collins and then spent the next in Laramie, Wyoming.  Mr. Kauffman had his wife and nine children in the wagon.  Four of the children were small.  From Washington he moved the family to California, but the children of the 2nd family , more grown, stayed in Washington.  He was living with his daughter Fannie when he died.