---

Daniel Durham

Daniel Durham, born in Virginia in 1801, came to Vigo County with his brother William in 1822. In emigrating westward, he had first located in Tennessee and then in Kentucky. He had brought with him forty or fifty slaves, but conversion to Quakerism caused him to free them all. Not only that, but he bought a large tract of land in Kentucky, raised on it a big crop, and then turned it all over to the freed slaves to enable them to live until able to become self-supporting. When he came to Vigo County he was accompanied by a few of his former slaves. One of them, a girl, died and was buried in the family plot on the Lyman Durham farm. One was Si Lewis, who settled in Knox County and became the owner of 1,300 to 1,400 acres of land near Carlisle. The name of another was Armistead Stewart. Daniel Durham settled about a mile and a half south of the village, but he owned land from near Honey Creek up to Hulman street and from the river to Seventh Street. He owned the Chestnut property and nearly all the land down that way. Daniel was the father of John, Thomas, William, Daniel Robert, and David, and their generations are still represented in the county.

SOURCE: excerpt from GREATER TERRE HAUTE AND VIGO COUNTY. p56