Convention Member Samuel Durham

Convention Member
Democrat
Born in 1817, in Indiana. In 1839, he journeyed on horseback from Indiana and Illinois to Linn county, Iowa, which was his home from that time on. Mr. Durham was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Iowa and served as its secretary. He surveyed large portions of northern and northwestern Iowa and southern Minnesota under government contracts. He surveyed the city of Des Moines, and also made some of the first surveys in Cedar Rapids and other cities. Col. Durham, as he was familiarly called, was in all respects the type of the old school, honest, obliging, and an honored citizen who had a host of friends. He was a Democrat and personally knew most of the pioneer politicians in Iowa. He was known by everyone in earlier Iowa, and he appeared many times as a witness in our courts when questions arose as to disputed corners, and old established roads and streets which he had laid out long ago Mr. Durham was married in 1843 to Ellen Wolcott who died in 1901. Mr. Durham died at Marion, Iowa, May 2, 1909, at the advanced age of ninety-two years. Source: Annals of Iowa, Volume 9