DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some men leave a mark on a place — and then there's Jack Durham, who left about seventeen marks just in his own household alone. John J.
Durham, known to pretty much everyone as Jack, started life in Larkinsville, Alabama. But Texas called, the way Texas does, and by 1857 he was in Coryell County. By 1860, he'd made his way to Hamilton, and Hamilton, it turns out, had no idea what was coming.
He taught school there — so the man had patience, that much is clear. Then he started acquiring land. A lot of land.
And when it came time to expand his interests, Jack Durham didn't exactly reach for his wallet the way most men do. He traded two hundred head of cattle for C. C.
Bumgartner's Store and Hotel. Two hundred cattle. For a store and a hotel.
You have to admire a man who conducts commerce at that scale and with that kind of flair. But Jack wasn't done building Hamilton. He helped found Hamilton College in 1884 and stayed on to help direct it through 1889.
Education, land, commerce — he was threading himself through the fabric of that town stitch by stitch. Then came 1907, and here's where Jack Durham the institution-builder really showed his hand. He was one of five men who each reached into their pockets and pulled out five thousand dollars — five thousand apiece — to help locate the Stephenville North and South Texas Railway line through Hamilton.
That's the kind of civic commitment that makes a town sit up straight. On the personal side, Jack married twice — first to Elizabeth McCutcheon, and then to Mrs. Docia Mae Price Frost.
And between those two chapters of his life, John J. Durham became the father of seventeen children. Seventeen.
The man taught school, ran a hotel, traded cattle by the herd, helped build a college, and helped bring a railroad to town — and somehow found time for all of that too. Jack Durham didn't just live in Hamilton. He built it, populated it, and funded it.
That's not a life. That's a one-man founding.
What the marker says
Born in Larkinsville, Ala.; came to Coryell County, Tex., 1857, and Hamilton, 1860. Taught school here. Acquired much land; traded 200 cattle for C. C. Bumgartner's Store and Hotel. Helped found and direct Hamilton College, 1884-89. He was one of five men who each gave $5,000 for locating (1907) Stephenville North and South Texas Railway line through Hamilton. Married (1) Elizabeth McCutcheon, and (2) Mrs. Docia Mae Price Frost: was father of 17 children. Recorded-1972