Durham - William Holman - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

William H. Durham is dead. After a brief illness he passed peacefully away at 9 o’clock a.m. Wednesday at his residence on South Grant Avenue. For a number of years he had suffered greatly from sciatica and rheumatism. This in no way incapacitated him from attending to his duties, although he was compelled to use two canes while walking. In the latter days of his life he was a portly man, and notwithstanding this unfortunate ailment, he was a tireless worker. Early in the morning he came to the bank and could be found there until late in the afternoon. He was a man possessed of a wonderful memory and could recall the details of transactions which had occurred several years before with perfect accuracy. He was generous and kind to those in distress, and there are many who remember his kind hearted deeds.  He was always interested in the growth of his county and did many things which helped to place Montgomery County among the first in the state. In his early life he crossed the wilds of the western plains into California. Many were the thrilling and exciting stories he could tell of those early days.

He was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, April 12, 1827. in 1828 he came with his parents into Indiana. His mother was his early preceptor. Later he spent some years in a Kentucky high school. In July, 1847, he graduated from Asbury University with honors. For two years he read law in Rockville and in the spring of 1849 was seized by the “gold fever” and left for California. The party he was with went overland with ox teams and was six months on the road, suffering many hardships. After two years he returned to Russellville and bought his father’s interest in a store and remained there until 1864.

On the 10th of February, 1857, he married Miss Sarah M. Evans and there were two children born to them. In 1864 he removed to this city and in September of that year the First National Bank was organized. He was until 1893 continuously identified with that institution, being its president a number of years. He was one of the heaviest stockholders in the Montgomery County Agricultural Association until two years ago. He assisted largely in the construction of Music Hall.

During the later years of his life, until misfortune overtook him, Mr. Durham engaged himself almost entirely in the banking business. For years he served continuously as president of the First National Bank of this city. There is no question that Mr. Durham’s connection with the bank had the effect of making its depositors feel secure. He prided himself with the fact that people had faith in his financial responsibility. He seemed to have made up his mind to one thing—that he would always be able to meet all of his financial obligations and that no one should be a loser for trusting to his financial responsibility. A remark frequently made was this, “This is bound to succeed, because William H. Durham is behind it.” The people got to believe that nothing would fail if Mr. Durham was interested in its success.

It is no wonder, then, that Mr. Durham’s financial misfortune was a heavy blow to him. He had become endorser for a nail factory in a large sum—almost $200,000. The failure of the nail factory in 1894 threw this heavy debt upon him personally instead of waiting for his creditors to call upon him and demand payment of the debt for which he was only security—he called upon the creditors through his attorneys and endeavored to make arrangements with them in full. He did not ask that they compromise with him and take less than was due them. All he wanted was that they would give him time, when he would meet the obligation in full. But the failure and assignment of A. S. Nelson, of Greencastle, who was associated with Mr. Durham, coupled with other business failures of that year, and the financial panic, prevented an arrangement whereby Mr. Durham could be given an opportunity to meet his obligations, and he was thereby compelled to make an assignment for the benefit of all his creditors.

Thus a fortune which Mr. Durham spent almost half a century in accumulating had been swept away, not by his own mismanagement, but by the mismanagement of others and by the general business failures which wiped out so many fortunes a year or so ago.

Unlike most men who spend their lives in building up great fortunes, Mr. Durham took a genuine pleasure in meeting his friends socially. He had a remarkable memory and could call to mind occurrences and the names of people that had been forgotten for years by others. He remembered all the little incidents that occurred during his trip to California and those that occurred while he was there, and he always recounted them to his friends with enthusiasm.

Mr. Durham was a great reader and was well versed in the history of the country. In national politics Mr. Durham generally cast his vote with the Republican Party, but in local matters he always advocated the selection of the best, most capable and most honorable men for officers.

Mr. Durham always took a great fancy for young people and was always ready to assist a young man if he deserved assistance—if he was honest and willing to work. But he had no use for a young man who spent his time in idleness and extravagance. This regard for young men induced him to furnish the money that built the Young Men’s Christian Association building in this city. Unassisted, he furnished and equipped the same, a fitting monument of his gracious generosity to deserving and honorable young men, a resort for not only the young men of this city, but strangers within our gates.

To mourn his death remains Sarah M., his estimable, kind hearted wife, and George T., an only son. By his death Montgomery County loses one of the ablest financiers that ever had anything to do with her history, and, withal, an able, generous man. -- thanks so very, very much to "S" for all the super typing for this GenWeb site