Thomas Durham

Born [date unknown] in London, England [uncertain]

Died 28 Dec 1653 in Port Royal, Bermuda

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London Origin?

It would appear that Thomas Durham came from London. Thomas, after settling in Bermuda, was a correspondent of Sir Nathaniel Rich, whose parents, Richard Rich and Jane Machell, married at St. Mary Aldermary, on 13 December 1574. Richard and Jane Rich had a great-granddaughter Judith Hunt who married Thomas Durham's son Henry in Bermuda.

There was a Thomas Durham, son of Mr. Robert Durham, a member of the Worshipful Company of Skinners (fur dealers), baptized 28 Nov. 1574 at St. Mary Aldermary in London; this Thomas was buried there on 23 Nov. 1577.^[1] Could Thomas the immigrant to Bermuda have been a younger son of Robert? Or perhaps Thomas was the son of Robert's brother Richard, identified as such in his 1593 death record at St Mary Aldermary.

Frances (Grimsditch) Hunt, mother-in-law of Thomas Durham's son Henry, was baptized at St. Giles Cripplegate in London in 1621.

There was a Thomas Durham who had two children baptized at St. Giles Cripplegate: Edward on 8 Aug. 1613 and John on 9 May 1616. There was also a Robert Durham who had a son Richard baptized there on 15 June 1607.^[2] Could this be the same Thomas Durham who was in Bermuda by 1619?

In other words, there were Durham families, using the name Thomas, at two separate London locations where records appear for ancestors of the wife of Thomas Durham's son Gov. Henry Durham.

Biography

"After the harvest of 1619 a colonist named Thomas Durham wrote to Nathaniel Rich in some amazement that 'the Negroes made 1350 pounds of tobacco.'"^[3]

On 18 Oct. 1620 Thomas Durham wrote from Bermuda to Sir Nathaniel Rich, "telling of the death and funeral of his brother Robert Rich who had been treated by Ed. Athen(?) a blood physician or rather a quack salver. Mr. Dutton was Executor and had not given the deceased due honors at the funeral. He had not the honesty or the manners to write Mr. C. Kendal; Mr. Semer [Seymour] gave him a volley of shot at his burial but was not offered so much as a cup of aqua vitea or anything else by Dutton according to the ancient and laudable custom which heretofore had been used at burials. Durham, himself, however got out some liquor of his own to make such friends drink as came to the burial. Durham requests Sir Nathaniel to go to the Herald's College and have his brother's Arms drawn and sent out for the purpose of having a solemn funeral performed.^[4]

The following information appears in Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century: Genealogical Notes from Bermuda by Julia E. Mercer, pp. 48-49:

It appears that he had some sons before the ones whose baptisms were recorded:

Baptisms are recorded at Port Royal for four sons of Thomas: Thomas (1629), Lewis (1633), Joseph (1635), Moses (1639).

The wife of Thomas Durham (no name given) was buried 21 Aug. 1639.

There was a Benjamin Durham who married Keturah Leacraft 17 Nov. 1641.

Thomas Durham died 28 Dec. 1653. The administrators of his estate were John Stowe and Daniel Durham.

Henry Durham married Judith Hunt 14 Feb. 1660 and named his eldest son Thomas. Thomas Durham of Richmond County, Virginia was the correct age to be this son of Henry Durham.

Sources

1. ↑ The Parish Records of St. Mary Aldermary, London.
2. ↑ London Durham records at familysearch.org
3. ↑ Virginia Bernhard, Slaves and Slaveholders in Bermuda, 1616-1782, p. 24, citing Ives, Rich Papers, pp. 82, 173, 176, 205-6.
4. ↑ Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century: Genealogical Notes from Bermuda by Julia E. Mercer, p. 48.

Julia E. Mercer, Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century: Genealogical Notes from Bermuda, pp. 48-49.