The Real James Durham
By
G. Edward Neal
Recycling family names like James, John, William, etc.,
is great but it does cause confusion among researchers,
particularly those who are not careful. This is sometimes
compounded by the necessity of record keepers such as
clerks to use the terms senior and junior to identify two
people with the same name. One has to be careful here
because it may not denote father and son and is sometimes
used for an uncle and a nephew, as is the case here, or
in some rare cases, people not related at all. Another
serious mistake, and perhaps the worse, often made in
genealogy is identifying the wrong ancestors.
DNA and Y-DNA in particular, has proven to be a very
useful tool in identifying related families and perhaps
more importantly, non-related families. I will cover the
origin of this Durham family in The Thomas Durham File
due to be publish in 2022, but briefly this analysis
covers three James Durham generations and begins in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia on the north fork of the
Tye river where Thomas Durham moved to with a John
Durham, who may have been his step-father, circa 1761.
******
The First James Durham
James Durham number one, was born in 1766 on
the north fork of the Tye river in Amherst County
Virginia. This area is on the eastern side of the Blue
Ridge Mountains and became Nelson County in 1807. James
was the son of Thomas Durham and the brother of David
Milton Durham and Isaac Durham, who were also born on the
north fork of the Tye river in 1768 and 1772
respectfully. We do not know who James Durham’s mother
was but his father Thomas re-married the widow Mary
Fitzgerald circa 1790. James married Catherine “Caty”
Fitzgerald, daughter of his stepmother Mary in 1793.
Mary Fitzgerald was also the mother of Bartlett
Fitzgerald who married Maskey Coleman, sister of Jane
Coleman who married David Milton Durham. James and Caty
were in their late twenties when they married and
although Caty had a daughter named Matilda “Tildy”
Fitzgerald when they married, they did not have any known
children of their own. James later owned land next to his
father Thomas on the north fork and he and Caty remained
in Amherst/Nelson County and died there circa 1833. The
identity of Caty Fitzgerald and her daughter Tildy has
also been misunderstood,
and I covered that mystery in “The Catherine and Matilda
Fitzgerald Brief” published as a pdf file in 2020. That
brief can also be found here in the nealmanor library.
James Durham's
father
Thomas Durham, is on the Amherst County Virginia tax list
in 1782, when the tax list began, and in 1787 James
Durham is added to the list, as a son of Thomas, when he
became 21. Beginning in 1820, the tax records for Nelson
County, which was previously Amherst County, show two
James Durhams. Records sometimes refer to the two James’
as Senior and Junior but the records also reveal the true
identity of the younger James Durham as being the son of
Milton Durham; enter James Durham number two
******.
The Second James Durham
James Durham number two was born in Amherst
County Virginia in 1798/99 on the north fork of the Tye
River. He was the son of David Milton Durham and Jane
Coleman. His parents moved to Casey County Kentucky when
he was an infant but James moved back to what was then
Nelson County, when he was probably a teenager. He most
likely lived with his Uncle James (James number one) and
Aunt Caty Fitzgerald Durham. He first appears on the 1820
tax list for Nelson County when he would have just turned
21 and would not have been on the list before that. So it
is difficult to tell when he actually returned to Nelson
County. What the tax records do tell us, as shown below,
is that one of these James Durham's was the son of Milton
Durham, aka David Milton Durham. On other tax
records, David Milton Durham was listed as “Davy” or
“Milton”, and a son of Thomas Durham.
James Durham
number two, married Lorinda Taylor in Nelson County on 12
February 1821. The marriage bond says James Durham Jr.
and L. Taylor with James Durham Sr. as providing
security. This record clearly confuses the issue but when
viewed in conjunction with other records it is clear Sr.
and Jr. refers to Uncle and Nephew in this case. Other
records also tell us that the L. Taylor was Lorinda
Taylor. James and Lorinda returned to Casey County
probably in 1827 since he is on the 1828 tax list for
Casey County and no longer on the Nelson County list. One
should also note that the death certificate for Isaac
W. Durham, gives his parents as James Durham and Lorinda Taylor as can be seen in Attachment A.
Children of James Durham and Lorinda Taylor:
1. Jane Coleman Durham born 1822, married her first
cousin James "Kentucky Jim" Durham son of Thomas Durham.
2. Catherine Durham born 1824
3. Serena Durham born
1830
4. Isaiah Durham born 1831 also served in the 8th
Ky Cav.
5. Lorinda Durham born 1833
6. Isaac W.
Durham born 1835 also served in the 8th Ky
Cav.
7. Malissa Frances Durham born 1837
8. John
Thomas Durham born 1841 m. Emily Wright
9. Sarah A.
Durham 1845
Please
note that James Durham and Lorinda Taylor had a daughter
named Jane Coleman Durham. How we know that is through
census records and family stories as will be seen later.
Jane married James “Kentucky
Jim” Durham who is our third James Durham.
******
The Third James Durham
James Durham number three,
aka
“Kentucky Jim”,
was the son of
Thomas Durham and Mary “Polly” Smith. He was born circa
1824 in Casey County Kentucky and moved with his parents
to Randolph County Missouri. James number three didn’t
like Missouri, or at least preferred Kentucky so he moved
back to Casey County and hence the nickname “Ky Jim”.
Much, if not all the confusion with James number three,
and his wife Jane Coleman Durham, who was also his first
cousin, has to do with misidentifying James number two as
James number three’s father, instead of James number two
actually being Jane Coleman Durham’s father. In other
words, James Durham number three, aka Ky Jim, was the son
of Thomas Durham and James’ wife Jane Coleman Durham was
the daughter of James Durham number two, who was a
brother to Thomas Durham. To hopefully clarify this a
bit, perhaps we need to first establish that James Durham
number three was the son of Thomas Durham.
What we know
about David Milton Durham’s son Thomas is that he was
born circa 1800 in Amherst/Nelson County Virginia. He
married Mary “Polly” Smith on 4 August 1823 in Casey
County Kentucky. Mary died between 1837 when her daughter
Paulina was born and 1847 when Thomas remarried Barbara
A. Brown in Randolph County Missouri on 20 August 1847.
Based primarily on census records, we know Thomas and
Mary had the following children:
1. James Durham born circa 1824
2. David M. Durham born 1830
3. Thomas Shelton Durham born 1832
4. Elizabeth Durham born 1834
5. Paulina Durham born 1836.
The key
to identifying James “Ky Jim” Durham as a son of Thomas
Durham is with Thomas’ son Thomas Shelton Durham. He was
listed as “insane” on the census records and lived most
of his life with his father and after his mother died,
with his step-mother Barbara A. Brown Durham. Thomas
Durham can be seen living with his step-mother Barbara
Durham during the 1860 and 1870 census records as can be
seen in Attachment A. Family history states that after
Thomas’ step-mother died, James “Ky Jim” went to Missouri
and brought his brother back to Kentucky to live with
him. There are two records to show that this family story
is absolutely true.
First,
the 1880 census for James Durham and his wife Jane, show
a Thomas Durham age 48 living with them and he is
identified as a “brother” to the head-of-household; James
Durham (Ky Jim). So, the Thomas S. Durham who was
previously living with Barbara Durham in Missouri, and
with Thomas Durham and Barbara before that, is now living
with James and Jane Durham in Casey County and is
identified as James’ brother.
Second, when
James Durham (Ky Jim) applied for a pension in 1887 for
his service in the 8th Kentucky Calvary, he
stated that he had a brother who was a state charge that
couldn’t be left alone for any extended period of time
and that he died last October. According to family
history, Thomas climbed into a potato box in October of
1886 and suffocated when he could not open the lid to get
out. A tragic story to be sure but it corroborates Ky
Jim’s story and family history.
What is
obviously clear and substantiated then, is that James “Ky
Jim” Durham had a brother named Thomas Durham. Since the
records clearly establish this Thomas as a son of Thomas
Durham, what then becomes fact is, Ky Jim and
Thomas are brothers and therefore both sons of Thomas
Durham and Mary Smith. More to the point, one can only
conclude that James “Ky Jim” Durham was a son of Thomas
Durham.
Now that
we know that James number three, aka Ky Jim, was the son
of Thomas Durham, the next question involving the
identity of his wife Jane C. Durham and the 1870 census
becomes much easier
to answer. Actually, we have already answered the
question of who Jane C. Durham’s father was in describing
James number two above, so it might be useful for the
reader to review that before continuing. When you look at
the 1870 census for James Durham and Jane Durham you see
that they have a James Durham age 74, living with them.
The question then, at least for some, is was this James
the father of James as some have concluded? Or perhaps
the father of Jane? Now that we know that James’ father
was Thomas, this James was obviously Jane C. Durham’s
father and the one family history says Jane put in an old
folk’s home.
1870 Casey County Census
1880 Casey County Census
So, we know from
family stories that Jane and her sisters, Serena and
Lorinda, took care of their parents when they got old.
Jane became terminally ill and bed ridden, however, and
could no longer care for her father (James No. 2) and when she could
not get her sisters to take him, she put him in an “old
folks” home where he can be seen living in the 1880
census shown above. He is listed as being a pauper and
sick with old age. In addition to the census records
verifying this story, Ky Jim also said in his pension
application mentioned above, that his wife was blind and
has been confined to her bed for over two years. So, the
family stories appear to be true and as this story goes,
James’ daughter Lorinda did
take her father in and cared for him before he died
sometime after the 1880 census was taken.
Children of James “Kentucky Jim” Durham and Jane Coleman
Durham:
1. Fortinatus or Fortune Addison
2. John Coleman
Durham m. Rachel Black and second to Martha Washington
Durham (a cousin)
3. Mary Catherine Durham m. Benjamin
Franklin Durham (a cousin) and second to Zachary Taylor Durham
(a cousin)
4. Matilda A.
Durham
According to Edgar
Raney, a descendant of James’ granddaughter Sallie Jane
Durham Raney, the Durham Cemetery was established by
“old” James Durham when his son Fortune Addison died as a
youngster under 10. According to the same source, James
Daniel Coleman was the second person to be buried in this
cemetery. Old James Durham would be Kentucky Jim Durham
and the cemetery would be the one on upper Calvary Ridge
Road which is not far from two other Durham Cemeteries
on Calvary Ridge Road located ¼ of a mile from the Mt.
Olive church and store. It is my understanding that this
cemetery may not have a name other than “Durham” and if
so, it seems to me it should be named the James Durham
Cemetery.
******
CONCLUSION
The information and analysis presented here clearly
establishes and creates a preponderance of evidence for
the following:
1. The James Durham who was born
circa 1798, and was a son of David Milton Durham and Jane
Coleman, married Lorinda Taylor in Nelson County Virginia
in 1821.
2. Jane Coleman Durham who was born
circa 1822 in Virginia was the daughter of James Durham
and Lorinda Taylor. She married James “Ky Jim” Durham.
3. James “Ky Jim” Durham was the son
of Thomas Durham, son of David Milton Durham and Jane
Coleman.
Other issues can be added to this
list but these are the three primary issues of interest.
******
ATTACHMENT A
1850 Randolph County
Missouri Census showing Thomas Durham's son Shelton
age 19, who was Ky Jim's brother. Other records show
Shelton as Thomas S. Durham.
1860 Randolph County Missouri Census
– shows Thomas Durham’s children by Barbara A. Brown and
then Thomas’ son Thomas S. Durham by his first wife Mary
Smith. It also states that Thomas S. Durham is “insane”
which probably meant he was retarded or perhaps autistic.
Difficult to determine what was meant by insane but
Thomas obviously had mental issues and was a patient of
the state or as his brother James said, “was a state
charge”.
1870 Randolph County Missouri Census
1880 Casey County Kentucky Census
******
Death certificate of Isaac W. Durham showing his
parents as James Durham and Lorinda Taylor.
