BIO: Hon. Daniel Durkee, York County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Abby Bowman Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/york/ _______________________________________________ History of York County, Pennsylvania. John Gibson, historical editor. Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886. _______________________________________________ Part II, Biographical Sketches, York Borough, Pg 14 HON. DANIEL DURKEE. Judge Durkee was of English descent, the family coming to America early in the eighteenth century, and settling in Windham, Conn. Here, his great-grandfather, Nathaniel Durkee, was married, August 21, 1727, and from there his son Timothy (Judge Durkee's grandfather) removed to Vermont while that State was yet a wilderness. His maternal grandfather, Elisha Rix, also went from Connecticut to Vermont about the same time, both families settling in the valley of White River. In their journey of about 200 miles, they were guided by marked trees. They settled on adjoining farms, granted by the government of New York, then claiming jurisdiction over the territory. The families were united by the marriage of Heman, the eldest son of Timothy Durkee, to Susan, daughter of Elisha Rix. Heman succeeded to the Durkee farm, and both farms have remained in possession of members of the family until recently. Situated in the township of Royalton, they adjoin South Royalton, a thriving village and railroad center. Here Daniel Durkee, the subject of this sketch, was born on August 27, 1791. His father's death occurring when he was but a boy, the years of his early manhood were spent in the home and on the farm of his mother. He married, April 8, 1813, Mary, daughter of Capt. John Wright, of Norwich, Vt. A few years after his marriage he commenced the study of law with Jacob Collamer, of Royalton (afterward United States Senator from Vermont and postmaster-general), and Judge Hutchinson, of Woodstock, Vt. He was admitted to the bar in Chelsea, Orange Co., Vt., June 12, 1818, and opened an office in Williamstown in the same county. Desirous of settling in Pennsylvania, he left Williamstown the following December, and came to Lebanon, Penn., taking an office just vacated by his brother-in-law, John Wright, Esq., who had removed to York. Some months later, illness in his family compelling Mr. Wright to return to New England, Judge Durkee came to York, where he continued to reside until his death. At that time, Lebanon was thoroughly German; so universally was that language spoken there, that there was but one family in the town with whom the Durkee family could communicate in the English tongue; while in York there was a large English element, though the German was almost universally spoken in the surrounding country. Without any knowledge of that language, he soon became a popular lawyer with the German population, and a successful practitioner. Pennsylvania thenceforth became the State of his adoption, but he was ever loyal to New England and to his native home, which continued to be the home of his mother until her death in 1852. It was his "Mecca." He never failed to go there annually (in the thirty-six years of his life in Pennsylvania), taking his family or several members of it with him in each alternate year. The New England festival "Thanksgiving" was always observed in his home, the appointment of the governor of Vermont being regarded, until in later years it became a national appointment. Judge Durkee was admitted to the bar in York County in 1820. In 1832 he was elected to the legislature. In 1833 he was appointed by Gov. Wolf judge of the district court. In 1835, the district court having been abolished, he was appointed president judge of the Nineteenth Judicial District, composed of the counties of York and Adams. He held the office for ten years, when, at the expiration of his term, he was succeeded by Judge Irwin. On the resignation of the latter in 1849, Judge Durkee was again appointed to the president judgeship, by Gov. Johnson, and held the office until 1851, when the judgeship, having been by a constitutional amendment, made elective, Judge Fisher was chosen to succeed him. He then resumed the practice of his profession, which he continued to the time of his death. He died November 23, 1854, aged sixty-three years and three months. Thus, for nearly half the entire period of his residence in Pennsylvania, Judge Durkee held the office of president judge. On the bench Judge Durkee was careful and painstaking, and showed great discrimination in separating, from the mass of less important matters, the real points involved in the cases brought before him. In his charges he was remarkably happy, and successful in presenting cases to juries, and in enabling them to perform their duties intelligently, and in preventing them from falling into errors. Of eminent sagacity, clear perceptions and sound conclusions, he enjoyed during his official career the confidence and respect of the bar, and in a great degree that of the appellate court, which reviewed his judgments. As an evidence of the esteem in which he has been held, there is subjoined an extract from the York Gazette of September 24, 1839, which, as published by a political opponent of Judge Durkee, is all the more valuable a tribute to his worth: "We find in the Adams Sentinel of a late date, a communication in which the Hon. Daniel Durkee, president judge of this judicial district, is spoken in terms of high commendation. We feel proud of this justly merited tribute to the worth of one of our citizens; and here in York, where Judge Durkee is 'at home,' we feel sure that every word will be attested by every one who reads it. We hope that this district will not lose the services of so upright and excellent a judical officer under the operation of that provision of the new constitution, which limits the tenure of office of president judges of the courts of common pleas to ten years. Every friend of justice and morality, all who desire to see the bench occupied by a stern foe to vice and disorder, are interested in keeping the judicial ermine upon the shoulders of Judge Durkee." As a practicing lawyer, Judge Durkee always occupied a high position at the bars of York and Adams Counties. His specialty was the conducting of trials before juries. He managed his causes with great tact and judgment, and while at the bar always had a large portion of its forensic practice. Few causes of magnitude or Importance were tried in which he was not one of the leading counsel. His influence with a jury, whether he addressed them from the bar or charged them from the bench, seemed almost magical. Although Judge Durkee was not indebted to the culture of the schools, he had evidently practiced self-discipline long and carefully. But it was from nature he received his best gifts - gifts, the absence of which no amount of educational facilities can supply. The characteristics of his mind were clearness and originality. Both these mental qualities, so rarely met, even singly, he possessed in a very considerable degree. They manifested themselves on the bench, at the bar, in social conversation, and even in casual remarks, in the working out of his intellectual processes, in the language he selected, and in the figures and illustrations he employed. For this reason he was always listened to with attention and interest. It was well known that there was no danger of being wearied by anything feeble or commonplace or obscure in what he said. Most frequently the products of his mind exhibited the freshness of vigorous and independent thinking, were expressed in strong, idiomatic English, which, adapting itself to the tournure of the thought, fitted close to it, and conveyed to others his ideas with all the clearness in which they existed in his own mind, were elucidated by illustrations, which were apt, striking, felicitous, and when the subject or occasion would admit, were enlivened by the scintillations of genuine wit. In his legal investigations and discussions, he always sought for the reason of the law, and endeavored to be guided by principles rather than by discordant and irreconcilable decisions. With his great powers of mind, he united great kindness of heart and an eminently sympathetic and affectionate disposition, causing him to be beloved in his neighborhood and idolized in his family. Judge Durkee had none of the arts and stooped to none of the tricks and methods of the politician. His popularity grew out of his genial and kindly disposition, and his well-known integrity. In times like these, when the judicial office is becoming yearly more the object of a scramble by unworthy aspirants, it were well if his high example had more imitators.