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The Durham - White
Connection
by
G. Edward Neal
This
is a synopsis of “The Thomas Durham File” by the same author,
which is expected to be published in some form in the near future.
This article, or synopsis is being released prior to that
publication to ensure that the information, which I consider to be
very important to the descendants of Thomas Durham, is not lost
should the publication not occur for whatever reason.
It may be that some will not accept the truth as presented
here or any truth that is not within the boundaries of what they
already believe. If so, then this should serve to spur more research
and questions geared toward uncovering additional facts that could
possibly change this truth. One should never, however, disregard one
truth without solid evidence to the contrary. Since this is a
synopsis it does not contain all facts or evidence that one would
normally hope to see but it is based on evidence presented in The
Thomas Durham File and one can also find supporting documents in
the article The Real James Durham by the same author. I
actually gave an obvious clue in that article that I expected would,
and should have, raised a lot of comments and questions from
researchers of this family. One can draw many conclusions from that
but in some ways it may explain why there are mistakes in this
genealogy, including the ultimate sin of identifying the wrong
ancestors.
While supported by genealogical evidence, the main conclusion
regarding the origins of Thomas Durham is based primarily on Y-DNA
tests that not everyone truly understands.
The complications of explaining DNA tests also make it
somewhat difficult for some to accept the findings of these tests.
While some DNA tests used in genealogy are or can be questionable,
Y-DNA tests can be absolutely reliable and considered indisputable.
Y-DNA may not necessarily tell you how someone is related, but if
two people have matching Y-DNA, they are related by blood. That’s a
100% fact. Using Y-DNA from a male descendant of David Milton
Durham, I have had regular and extensive SNP testing and analysis
done on the DNA and the results are quite clear regarding what
family the Y-DNA belongs to. And tests from known Durham relatives,
such as David Milton Durham’s brother Isaac Durham confirm it. As do
tests from descendants of a John Durham. There is also a known
Talley family in Hanover County Virginia with matching Y-DNA and
they are believed to have been White orphans adopted by a Talley
family. In addition to the Talley family, there is also a Thurman in
Hanover County with the same Y-DNA but, like Thomas Durham, we are
not sure of his exact origin within the White family. We do know,
however, from SNP testing that the Talley, Thurman and Durham
families represents different branches of the White family.
More Y-DNA
tests are obviously needed but what we know now is that Thomas
Durham's father was closely related to a Samuel White who was a
neighbor of James Durham Sr. Samuel White appears to have inherited
his land from a John White and the land was located in what is today
the general metropolitan area of Mechanicsville Virginia. There was
also another related John White family in the area as well as in
Fluvania and other surrounding counties.
The exact
relationship of the Virginia Whites to the New Jersey Whites is not
known but Thomas White, who was a carpenter, and his brother Peter
White arrived in Monmouth County New Jersey in the 1670s. Thomas
White lived in a village or area called Deal and it is thought that
Thomas White named it after his hometown in Deal, Kent County
England. Deal England is located where the North Sea and the English
Channel meet, eight miles north-east of Dover and would have been
geographically similar to New Jersey and New York where these Whites
settled. Thomas and Peter White may also of had a brother William
White.
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Thomas Durham, aka Thomas White, was
born circa 1740s perhaps in Hanover County Virginia or a nearby
county. Thomas was closely associated with a John Durham who was
also paternally a White. We do not know the ages of either but it
appears that John Durham may have been older than Thomas. We know
John Durham’s approximate age because we know from a
revolutionary pension application that his
son, Mastin Durham, was born in Hanover County in 1755. It seems
reasonable to then assume John Durham was born early 1730s. We also
know from tax records that Thomas Durham's first known son was born
1766 in Amherst County. Based on that we can assume that Thomas was
born perhaps in the 1740s. It was initially thought that Thomas
Durham was a son of John Durham but Y-DNA places them as closely
related, as Whites, but not as father and son. It also means they
would not have been brothers so were most likely cousins.
Thomas Durham and John Durham were
then closely related paternally, both having a White father, and
they were also closely associated with each other in life. The
papers of Alexander Brown show that John Durham, Mastin Durham and
Thomas Durham entered “old Amherst” between 1761 and 1776. Old
Amherst was a reference to that part of Amherst County Virginia that
later became Nelson County. Deeds show that John Durham, Thomas
Durham and James Durham (Thomas’ son) lived on the north fork of the
Tye River in the area of Amherst that later became Nelson County.
John Durham later moved on to Burke County North Carolina where he
died in 1803. Thomas Durham stayed in Amherst County where he died
circa 1797.
Exactly how John Durham, whose father
was a White, became a Durham is not known but it is thought that
perhaps he was born out of wedlock to an Eleanor Durham, daughter of
James Durham Sr. and Elizabeth of Hanover County. He may very well
have been adopted also but if so, it would most likely have been by
the James Durham Sr. family of Hanover. The information on John
Durham is based on Y-DNA tests and the records of St. Paul’s parish
in Hanover County. It is my hypothesis that Thomas White became a
Durham through his association with John Durham, perhaps through
adoption or simply by association. John and Thomas were related as
Whites but exactly what that relationship was is not known but what
is known, is based on available documented facts and Y-DNA tests
which are indisputable.
While we cannot be sure if
John Durham and Thomas Durham were Durham by blood or not, it is
fairly certain that they acquired the name Durham from the Hanover
County Virginia Durham family of James Durham Sr. who lived in the
area of New Kent County that became Hanover in 1720. James may have
been the son of a John Durham who arrived in Virginia from Great
Britain in 1658 and whose passage was paid for by a James Maddison.
John
Durham the immigrant lived in the area of New Kent Country that
became King and Queen County in 1791. The Parish records of St.
Peters show that James Durham Sr. and his wife Elizabeth were the
parents of Susannah and James Durham Jr. who were baptized 1698 and
1703 respectively. The records of St. Paul’s Parish also indicate
that James Durham Sr. and Elizabeth also had a son Abraham and a
daughter Eleanor. Some of the descendants of James Durham Sr.,
specifically an Abraham Durham and a Samuel Davis Durham, who were
probably sons of Jacob Durham (son of Abraham Sr.), later moved to
Greene/Oconee Counties Georgia and elsewhere, and their YDNA line is
often referred to as J2.
It has been wrongly thought, including
by this author, that this line of Durhams were of Albemarle County,
but this is totally incorrect. There was a David Durham of Albemarle
County that I will address a little later that may or may not have
been related. What the records show, and more specifically the tax
records
and deeds, is that Thomas Durham lived in Amherst County.
The tax records of Amherst County Virginia.
show that Thomas Durham had a son James Durham who was
born circa 1766, a son sometimes referred to as Davy and sometimes
as Milton Durham who was born circa 1768 and a son Isaac Durham born
circa 1772. References to Davy and Milton were obviously to David
Milton Durham who used both David and Milton interchangeably. Tax
records also indicate that Thomas Durham may of had at least two
other children but if so, they either died young or were females we
have not been able to identify. I believe they may have died young.
These records, the Alexander Brown
papers, deeds, tax records etc., all serve to place John Durham and
his son Mastin Durham, and Thomas Durham together in Amherst County
and living near each other. Thomas Durham was without question
connected to John Durham somehow beyond them being related as
Whites. John Durham and his children, including his son Mastin did
move on to North Carolina but Thomas remained in Amherst County. The
tax records of Amherst County clearly identify Thomas Durham’s three
sons, which in turn allows the connection to the Casey County
Kentucky Durhams.
The first Durham born generation of
this unique Durham line:
Children of Thomas (White) Durham and his first
wife whose name is not known. Thomas’ second wife was Mary
Fitzgerald, a widow of James Fitzgerald Sr.
1. James Durham b. 1766 m. Catherine
Fitzgerald
2. David Milton Durham b. 1768 m. Jane
Coleman
3. Isaac Durham b. 1772 m. Judith
Oglesby
The Amherst County marriage records
show that James Durham, Thomas’ son, married in 1793 to a Catherine
Fitzgerald whose mother was named Mary Durham on the record. My
analysis of the record is that Thomas Durham’s first wife, and
mother of his children James, David Milton and Isaac, died and
Thomas remarried the widow Mary Fitzgerald who was also the mother
of a Bartlett Fitzgerald et al. Mary is believed to have been the
widow of James Fitzgerald Sr. of Orange County Virginia who died
circa 1789.
The tax records seem to indicate that
Thomas Durham, aka Thomas White, died in Amherst County circa 1797.
His children, 1. James Durham remained in Amherst/Nelson County, 2.
David Milton Durham moved to Casey County Kentucky circa 1803 and 3.
Isaac Durham moved first to Christian County Kentucky then to
Hamilton County Illinois.
We can also connect the Casey County
Kentucky Durham’s with the Amherst/Nelson County Virginia Durham’s
through David Milton Durham’s son James. As I outlined in a separate
article titled “The Real James
Durham”, James Durham returned to
Nelson County Virginia from Casey County when he was young and
probably a teenager. He married in Nelson County a Lorinda Taylor
and later returned to Casey County circa 1828. The Casey County
death record of their son Isaac W. Durham shows his parents as James
Durham and Lorinda Taylor. Lorinda Taylor has somehow been
erroneously mis-identified as Lorinda Warner and James has been
mixed up with other James’ as clearly shown in
“The Real James Durham”.
As previously mentioned, there was a
David Durham in Albemarle County Virginia that may have been related
to John Durham and Thomas Durham but if so, there is no evidence to
prove it. This David did buy 250 acres of land from John Durham in
Albemarle County but that doesn’t prove a relationship. We do know
from Y-DNA tests, however, that this David Durham was paternally a
Kirby. We also know from the processioning records of Hanover County
that a William Kirby processioned and later owned the land of James
Durham Sr. Therefore, the Durham’s and Kirby’s of Hanover County
were closely associated and probably related in some way.
As
previously stated, I believe Thomas Durham became a Durham through
John Durham. When viewing the ages of John Durham’s children, it is
obvious that he had two wives. So, one hypothesis is that his first
wife was a widow White with a child named Thomas. John Durham and
his first wife then, the widow White, also had Mastin Durham and
possibly one other child before dying. Her son Thomas White then,
would be a half-brother to Mastin Durham and as such became Thomas
Durham. It may also be, however, that Thomas White was an orphan,
and/or an illegitimate child, that was adopted or simply taken in by
his White relative, John Durham. We most likely will never know
Thomas Durham’s full story but what we do know is that his father
was a White and that he somehow became Thomas Durham and
subsequently became the progenitor of a unique Durham line. His
story then, as much as we know it, needs to be told so it can take
its rightful place in history.
To briefly summarize what the above
states based on documented evidence:
Thomas Durham of Amherst County
Virginia was the father of James Durham, David Milton Durham and
Isaac Durham. Y-DNA clearly establishes that Thomas Durham’s father
was a White and that Durham was his adopted or perhaps maternal
name. Thomas’ son James Durham did not have any children but if you
are a descendant of David Milton Durham or his brother Isaac Durham,
your surname under normal circumstances, should have been White and
not Durham.
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The
following are examples taken from the Amherst County Virginia Tax
lists showing Thomas Durham and his three sons. The 1790 list shows
Thomas with his two oldest sons James and Milton, with 1790 being
the first year Milton is listed. Please note that David Milton
Durham is listed as Milton sometimes and Davy or David at other
times. The 1791 list shows James being taxed and living on his own.
The 1793 example shows Thomas’ two youngest sons, David and Isaac
with Isaac being listed for the first time which means he turned 21
in 1793 prior to 10 March or in 1792 after 10 March. The name is
more likely to be spelled Durrum in the early tax records and Durham
in later years.
1790
1791
1793
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