Christian County IL Archives History .....The Messenger Newsletter 1927 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Shirley Harris http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00010.html#0002491 August 26, 2008, 2:24 am 18 August, 1927 As transcribed by William Jesse Durbin, Palmer, Christian Co. Illinois who published a 2-volume work entitled: "The Durbin and Logsdon and Related Families in America". THE MESSENGER NEWSLETTER LEE CO. KY. "The Durbins have always reproduced in distinct fashion the racial characteristics of their Irish forbears. The Durbin history is significant in that the pioneer virtures they possessed have not died. The virility that sustained their attack on a savage Kentucky wilderness persists today. To their descendants among us, that observation brings comfort and satisfaction. We have the props on which to build a new generation" The Durbin traits of loyalty to principle, honesty of character as rugged as the crags above their Kentucky homes, their generosity, genial friendliness and lovableness and their impetuous temper stamp their origin as undeniably as a printed pedigree might do it. They have been among the best of the 'common folk'; the kind the Lord loveth. They turn instinctively to religion and to each other. In this part of Kentucky, you have a number of Durbin preachers, in the western part at least two Durbin priests; and at present there are six Durbin sisters in the community of the Sisters of Charity. Their homes are the rallying point for the social life of the neighborhood. Old Uncle John Durbin, even in his age when crippled, would rest his arms on the back of a chair and, while his son Elijah with his gift for a fiddle, played a succession of mountain tunes, Uncle John would jig and dance till the mud trembled in the chinks between the logs.. And then Old Uncle Joe Durbin, John's brother, might place a glass of water full to the brim, on the top of his head and dance about the room till the fiddler tired; of the water never so much as spilling 'ary a drap', as they say. All of the Durbin tribe from Ireland that comes from the old timers has a talent in his toes. It is related of Old Uncle John that once in a fight he broke a man's jaw. Prompted by quick pity, John put the man on his shoulder and packed him a good mile to his own home on Contrary Creek. After seeing to the man's comfort, Old John hoofed it across the hills for a doctor. He kept that man in his own bed until the injury, he himself had inflicted, was completely healed. Of such stuff is the Durbin Irish charity and compassion. None of the breed has ever been above its enjoyment of corn licker, a fact that will be attested to with a mixture of self-conscious misgivings, by some who work today in the mills, the mines or the lanes. Up until 1919, at the rising time of dawn, I have heard more than once, in the home of a Durbin, some babe or youngin' barely able to don his own britches alone, sighing with eloquent appeal: "pappy, gimme my dram". The faith among the Durbin mountaineers of Kentucky was often lost due to lack of personal contact with a priest. They could only look forward to such contact about twice in the course of a lifetime. And the Durbins were considerably more fortunate in this respect than the other primitive Catholics to be found all over the Appalachian ranges. Unnumbered Irish names found in those mountains, come down from Catholic ancestry. A personal experience of my own here may make this state of affairs more creditable to the casual reader. On the occasion of my first contact with Aunt Mamie Durbin, who had not been to the sacraments nor had she seen a priest for 25 years, my reaction to that old lady was, that it should be put down in writing. The fact that Aunt Mamie escaped the searching eyes of a priest all those years is in the nature of an accident. Some of the most estimable Durbins had their marriages 'blessed' by a priest while standing alongside of a dozen of their offspring to witness the blessing. Conditions in rural Kentucky simply forced on them such contingencies. Now John William Durbin, born on Contrary Creek and reared up to about 40 years of age, was baptized at the age of 15. No priest had ever been in his part of the woods till then. He told me about his sister Mamie and why she was never baptized. In her case the delay was caused by inability of the priest to catch her. She got so far under the bed that no prodding could dislodge her. You have to catch these agile mountain lambs before you make a sheep of them. No one could ever catch Mamie. Now Old Uncle Joe and Old Uncle John Durbin, brothers, decided to move over to Lee County. The Indians, after 1800, were fast leaving the Kentucky hill country. They had inflicted several bloody defeats upon the whites, but thie whites kept crowding them out all the same. A group of eight Indians, exhausted and famished on their way to other parts, made their appearance at the cabin of Edward Logsdon, a neighbor and relative of the Durbin brothers. Their sister was married to Logsdon. The Indians indicated by gestures that they had not touched food for days and begged Logsdon for enough corn and pork to make a meal out under the trees. They promised to depart at once, if sustenance were given them and not attempt to molest any whites in the neighborhood. Ed Logsdon and his Durbin wife, of course, gave them to eat. Their kindness, in fact, must have touched the savages, at least they made a show of gratitude by telling Logsdon a secret. They told him that on the banks of the Kentucky River, their stood a beech tree that sent its brances down into the ground and just below that tree was a silver mine of their own discovery. They had concealed it and now told Logsdon its secret. After the Indians left the area, Logsdon gathered his family and his telling of the secret created quite a sensation. Years later, Old Aunt Mamie, now aged 95 spoke of it as a matter of fond family discussions in her time. Her brothers determined to investigate the mine and its possibilities, and they left taking their wives and families for security and companionship. Joe built his first log cabin on the banks of the River whilst John went up River six miles to what is now Yellow Rock. They found the silver mine to be the non existant invention of the red fellows. Instead, they planted the rich river bottom lands and prospered there. To lend a shade of probability to my surmise, above Joe's original log cabin which still stands there and high on the cliff, is a big beech tree that indeed sends its brances down to the ground. Joe and John Durbin found the River and the beech tree. They found a home and happiness and security in Lee County. They never found the silver mine." Additional Comments: (Note) Descendants of these Durbin and Logsdon families left KY in the early 1800's to settle on the prairies of Bear Creek and Locust Townships of Christian County, Illinois. Shirley Waterman Harris A Durbin Descendant File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/christian/history/other/messenge107nms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 7.4 Kb