public static TigerEdge fromDbf(DbaseFileReader.Row row) throws Exception
{
    return (TigerEdge) DbfParser.parseDbf(row, TigerEdge.class);
}
}

import org.geotools.data.shapefile.dbf.DbaseFileReader;

import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.reflect.Constructor;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;
import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
import java.lang.reflect.Type;

@Retention(value= RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@interface Column {
    int value() default -1;
}

public class DbfParser {
    public static Object parseDbf(DbaseFileReader.Row row, Class c) throws Exception
    {
        // http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8249173/what-is-the-difference-between-getdeclaredconstructors-and-getconstructors-in-th
        Constructor ctor = c.getDeclaredConstructor();
        ctor.setAccessible(true);
        Object answer = ctor.newInstance();
        Field[] allFields = c.getDeclaredFields();
        for (Field field : allFields) {
            if (Modifier.isPrivate(field.getModifiers())) {
                // without setting the fields to be accessible, there will be an error trying to get/set it
                field.setAccessible(true);
                Type t = field.getType();
                int column = field.getAnnotation(Column.class).value();
                Object o = row.read(column);
                if (t == String.class && o.getClass() == String.class)
                {
                    field.set(answer, o);
                }
                else if (t == long.class)
                {
                    if (o.getClass() == Long.class) {
                        field.setLong(answer, (long) o);
                    }
                    else if (o.getClass() == Double.class)
                    {
                        // normally o.class MUST be equal to Long.class
                        // but looks like due to a bug in DbaseFileReader
                        // 0 is misinterpreted as 0.0 and we need a special check
                        // to take care of it
                        field.setLong(answer, ((Double)o).longValue());
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        String message = String.format("unable to parse %s expected a long or double", o);
                        throw new IllegalArgumentException(message);
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    throw new IllegalStateException();
                }
            }
        }
        return answer;
    }
}