The History of the Durham family

by G. Edward Neal

Thomas Durham

Thomas Durham (David Milton,Thomas,John) was born in 1800 in Casey Co., Kentucky. He was the son of David Milton Durham and Jane Coleman. Thomas first married Mary [Polly] Smith on August 4, 1823 in Casey Co. Mary was born in 1818 in Kentucky and died between 1837 when her daughter Paulina was born and 1847 when Thomas remarried. Thomas moved to Randolph Co., Missouri sometime after his wife Polly died. He married Barbara A. Brown in Randolph Co. on August 20, 1847. Barbara was born circa 1818 in Kentucky.

Thomas and Barbara lived in  Macon Co., Missouri but after Thomas died circa 1856, Barbara moved back to Randolph Co. According to family history, they lived near or on the Randolph, Macon Co. line so if the line was moved at some point, she may not have moved at all.

Thomas Durham and Mary [Polly] Smith had the following children:

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  1. James Durham was born in Casey Co., Kentucky in 1824. He married his 1st cousin Jane Coleman Durham, daughter of James Durham (David Milton,Thomas,John) and Lorinda Taylor. Lorinda's name was sometimes seen as Dorinda in various records but she had a daughter named Lorinda so I am assuming she was named after her mother. 

    James moved to Randolph Co., Missouri several times, where most of the Durhams had moved to, including his father, but always returned to Kentucky which is why he was nicknamed, Kentucky Jim. He served in the 8th Kentucky Volunteer Calvary Regiment (Union) during the Civil War and later applied for a pension for his service in 1887.

   James' brother Thomas was retarded and when his parents died, James went to Missouri and brought him back to Kentucky to live with him. In his pension application James stated that he was unable to meet the Pension Commission's requirements due to sickness and death in his family. He further stated that he had a brother who was a state charge and that he could not leave him alone except for a short time and that he died last October. He also stated that he was financially embarrassed and that his wife is blind and has been confined to her bed for over two years. According to family history, James' brother Thomas climbed into a potato box and could not get the lid open to get out and subsequently suffocated.

    Jane's father James Durham (b. 1798) is living with her and Kentucky Jim during the 1870 census for Casey County. According to family stories, Jane and her sisters Serena and Lorinda took care of their parents when they got old. When their father was staying with Jane, however, she became ill and could no longer care for him. She could not get her sisters to take him so he was put in an old folks home or "paupers home". As the story goes, Lorinda went and got him before he died sometime after the 1900 census was taken.   

    In the Casey Co., Ky 1900 census James "Kentucky Jim"  is living with his granddaughter Sallie J. Raney, daughter of his son John Coleman Durham. James is 75 and listed as a widow.

     James "Kentucky Jim" Durham and Jane Coleman Durham's children:

1. John Coleman Durham

2. Mary Catherine Durham was born March 16, 1853 in Randolph Co., Missouri. Mary married her 1st cousin Benjamin Franklin Durham , son of Coleman Durham II and Nancy Lucretia Durham, also 1st cousins.

     Mary and Benjamin eventually divorced and Mary married another first cousin, Zackary Taylor Durham and lived in Adair County Missouri where she died on December 25, 1935 at the age of 82.   

3. Matilda A. Durham

2. David M. Durham

1. Mary Frances Durham

2. William Thomas Durham

3. Sarah Catherine Durham

4. Margaret E. Durham

3. Thomas Shelton Durham was born in 1832 in Casey Co., Kentucky. He was listed as "insane" on the census records which means he was most likely retarded. He lived most of his life with his father and stepmother until sometime prior to 1880 when he was living with his brother James. Family history states that James "Kentucky Jim" Durham brought his brother Thomas back to Kentucky when Thomas' parents died. Thomas was living with his stepmother Barbara in 1870 so it seems likely that Barbara died prior to 1880 and that is when Kentucky Jim went to Missouri to get him.

     According to family history, Thomas climbed into a potato box and then could not get the lid open and subsequently suffocated in October of 1886.

4. Elizabeth Durham

5. Paulina Durham

Thomas Durham and Barbara A. Brown had the following children:

6. Reubin C. Durham

7. Minerva E. Durham

8. Charles W. Durham

9. Peter F. R. Durham