According to Cutler's "History of the State of Kansas," the following were the first settlers in what is today Maple Hill Township: Henry Fauerbach, John Winkler and John H. Durham, all of whom came in 1868.
In at least one case, I know that date to be inaccurate. Henry Fauerbach was a teamster who drove oxen pulling wagons heavy with supplies all the way west to California. In an interview made during his lifetime, he states that he first visited the Maple Hill vicinity in 1858, a date later repeated by his daughter Charlotte "Lottie" (Fauerbach) Clark on her 90th birthday in Paxico, Kansas. Perhaps the 1868 date is when Fauerbach first entered a land claim with the United States Government.
At any rate, I have no reason to doubt that John H. Durham first settled in the eastern portion of Maple Hill Township in 1868. His father, Jeremiah Durham was an early resident of Topeka, Kansas where he was associated with several businesses, but perhaps the longest as an agricultural implement dealer.
This illustration is from the 1885 Atlas of Wabaunsee County, Kansas and represents the northeastern portion of Maple Hill Township. The 160 acre farm of John H. Durham is found in between those of Robert McClelland and Charles H. Geiger.
Just as an aside, John H. Durham was the first owner of this farm, which was purchased by Horace Greely Adams, Sr. in 1888 and became the nucleus of his cattle empire. Other owners of the farm have been Mr. and Mrs. George Hunterfund, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kemble, and currently the farm is owned by Wabaunsee County Commissioner James Suber and his wife Jeannette.
The earliest mention of John H. Durham in Wabaunsee County newspapers comes in the Maple Hill News Items of 1872: "September 25, 1872 - At
the meeting of the Wabaunsee County Agricultural Society Fair in Newbury, the
following persons were elected officers of the society beginning January 1,
1873: J. M. Bisby, President, Wabaunsee
City; John Durham, Vice President, Maple Hill; W. W. Cone, Secretary, Dover;
Harvey Loomis, Executive Committee, Dover; A. Sellers, Alma, Joseph Fields, Wilmington,
Eugene Bourassa, Maple Hill, Enoch Platt, Wabaunsee, and R. J. Stephenson,
Newbury, members of the Executive Committee."
Also in the September 25, 1872 Maple Hill News Items was this information: "Mr.
John Durham of Maple Hill, was elected Treasurer of the Mill Creek Valley and
Council Grove Railway. Offices are now
open for purchase of stock at Alma and Maple Hill."
I haven't done any research into the history of the Mill Creek Valley and Council Grove Railway, but when this article was written, there was a virtual hysteria of railroad talk in Wabaunsee County. The Potawatomi Indians had been removed from the area by an 1870 treaty and the United States Congress was about to designate
much of the land in their reservations as railroad land. These railroad lands were in the form of grants to railroads that built lines through Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma in an effort to reach the West Coast.
Railroads sold every other section of land at from $2.50 to $7.00 per acre, and the proceeds were used to fund the building of railroads. These funds were used extensively by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in building their line from Atchison, Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico and eventually on west to Los Angeles, California. John H. Durham was only one of hundreds of enterprising men who hoped to make huge profits from railroad stock sales.
John H. Durham was descended from a prominent old Virginia family with English roots. Many of his direct ancestors fought on the American side in the Revolution and were handsomely rewarded. One of the most prominent was his great grandfather, John Durham, Sr. Durham Sr. was born in Stafford County, Virginia in 1742 and died in Mercer County, Kentucky in 1817. John Durham, Sr. was also prominent in the development of the Methodist Church west of the Alleghany Mountains. At www.ancestry.com you will find "The Durham Family Tree," which I have just completed. It begins in the early 1600s and continues through the 1950s when the last of John and Minerva Durham's children died.
This is a portrait of John Durham, Sr. in the possession of a descendant.
This plaque is proudly displayed at the headquarters of the Kentucky Conference of Methodist Churches in Danville, Kentucky.
John Harlan Durham was born at Brown, Montgomery County, Indiana on November 22, 1833 the eldest child of Jeremiah Briscoe and Minerva Pain (Walker) Durham. Jeremiah and Minerva Durham were both born in Kentucky, he in 1806 and she in 1807. They were married in Kentucky and removed to Montgomery County, Indiana prior to the 1830 U. S. Census.
In a Harlan Family Genealogy book, Jeremiah B. Durham says that he and his family removed from Indiana to Topeka, Kansas in 1868.
The Maple Hill News Items for August 20, 1873 report this news: "Township officials for Maple
Hill are: Moses Thompson, Trustee;
[Samuel] S. Wakley, Clerk; and J. H. Durham, Treasurer." John Durham had lived in the county only six years but he was already becoming a leader and politically active.
The Maple Hill News Items of January 13, 1875 include this article: "Mr. J. H. Durham of Maple
Hill, was in Alma to seek aid for the destitute of his township. He says the number is greater than imagined. News Items for February 12, 1875 further state: "The
destitute families in the area have been greatly aided by out township relief
committee, consisting of Mr. J. H. Durham and Mr. S. S. Blyton."
Aid was needed because of the nearly total devastation caused by the Great Grasshopper Plague of August 1874. This map will show the extent of the invasion, which was caused by an extraordinarily wet year and perfect conditions for grasshopper eggs to hatch.
If Kansas Pioneers through they had found Ethiopia, they were soon brought to their knees by this invasion of millions and millions of grasshoppers. Kansas and Wabaunsee County newspapers are replete with horrific stories. The grasshoppers ate anything that was green, tree leafs, crops, grasses, and also anything that had salt such as horse harness, broom and rake handles. Nothing was spared and pioneer residents found themselves without cash crops or the necessary feed for live stock. Aid came primarily from East Coast churches and also through the national Grange, but in general, it was too little too late for many who gave up and moved East or West.
This is an illustration published by the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. It shows the futility farmers felt by the grasshopper invasion.
This illustration shows a farm family raking up and burning piles of grasshoppers. The devastation at Maple Hill, was no less severe than in any other location from North Dakota to the Texas Panhandle.
If families survived the Great Grasshopper Plague, there were better years ahead. Crops over the next five years were good and growing conditions were excellent. The Kansas Agricultural Census of 1880 reports the follow for the farm of John H. Durham:
Total Acerage: 160 of which 138 were in some way used for crop and hay production.
There were 30 acres of "good hay" which was being mown and stacked for feed.
Durham had planted 7 acres of oats which produced a yield of 200 bushels, all used to feel livestock. The family had one acre of garden and additional acre of potatoes, with the one acre yielding 30 bushels of potatoes. There was one acre of tobacco which produced #100 pounds, most of which was sold. There was 65 acres of corn, which yielded 2500 bushels. Shelled corn sold for 43 cents per bushel in 1880, which yielded a profit of $1,075.00. Mr. Durham had a buggy team, four Percheron work horses, seven milk cows (which produced #300 of butter) six steers, eight pigs, and 25 laying hens. The land, with improvements and livestock, was valued at $4,440.00. All in all, the farm provided a modest income for Mr. Durham, who likely would not have survived the financial losses of the Great Grasshopper Plague without the help of his father, who was a successful Topeka businessman.
At the time John Durham lived at Maple Hill, his family consisted of his wife Mary Ellen (Imes) Durham, and ten children: Merritt (1870), Lillie (1871), Albert (1873), Celia (1876), Mary (1878), John W. (1879), Sarah (1881), Dora (1883), Thomas W. (1885) and Eva (1887).
I find no mention of the family in Maple Hill News Items between 1875 and 1884, when the following was reported: "May 4 – A cyclone destroyed the tenant house on J. H. Durham’s Ranch on Sunday evening. The house was occupied by Mr. Durham's tenant family, the H. M. Listers. Everything was lost." There is no mention that Mr. Durham's residence or farm buildings were damaged.
Then in the spring of 1888, there are two articles stating that John H. Durham is leaving the Maple Hill Community.
March 15, 1888 – Mr.
John Durham has rented his farm and left for a better climate. His health is poorly.
May 10, 1888 - Mr.
H. G. Adams has purchased the farm of John H. Durham.
If John H. Durham did settle on the farm in 1868, as Cutler suggests, he lived in Maple Hill Township for twenty years, leaving a record of exemplary citizenship.
I have no direct evidence of where the John H. Durham family went when they left Maple Hill, however I believe that they may have lived for some time with his elderly mother in Topeka, Kansas. His father died in 1882 and his mother in 1889. Both are buried in Topeka, Kansas.
Unfortunately, the 1890 U. S. Census was destroyed by fire. That census would have provided a great deal of information. The next time we find John H. Durham on a census is the 1892 Washington Territorial Census. John Durham and his entire family, including a new child Ethel, are residents of Bothell, King County, Washington Territory. Evidence of the timing of their move from Kansas to Washington can be found in that an eleventh child has been born, a daughter Ethel born in Kansas in 1890.
John Durham is listed as a general farmer, living on a farm he owns, valued at $3,000.
John Durham and his family remained in the King County/Seattle area for the remainder of their lives. John H. Durham died on October 15, 1927 and is buried in Woodinville, King County, Washington. His wife Mary Ellen (Imes) Durham died February 14, 1941 at the age of 96, and is also buried in Woodinville, King County, Washington. I can find no evidence that any of the children ever lived in Kansas. I have completed their family genealogy and it would appear that all of them lived in Washington State most of their lives, excluding military service.
(Note: I have not been able to find any photographs of John Harlan Durham. If any readers can furnish one, I will gladly add it to this blog post. Thanks!!)
Eva Durham did live in Kansas and came out to Washington on the Oregon Trail. She was my grandmother. She married George Feldhausen and they had four girls. Mary Ellen, Margaret, Joanne, and Georgia. Eva, George, and all four girls died in Washington State
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