George P. Durbin

George Patrick Durbin (1850-1934)
Son of Basil Durbin (1812-1889)
Step-Brother of Daniel Basil Durbin (1835-1875)

This page will serve as a temporary placeholder for all information collected on George Patrick Durbin until I can get it all sorted out.

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GEORGE P. DURBIN, postmaster at Durbin and a prosperous farmer of Liberty township, Mercer county, Ohio, was born in Muskingum county March 16, 1850, and is son of Basil and Eliza (Axe) Durbin.  Basil Durbin was born in Maryland, near Baltimore, June 22, 1812, and was a son of Daniel Durbin, who was born near Baltimore in 1778 (NOTE: Daniel was born in 1768-69 according to documents form ancestry.com - not 1778).  Daniel's father, Thomas Durbin, was a native of the same locality.  The American progenitor of the Durbin family came to this country with the colony brought over by Lord Baltimore, in 1638, and settled on the spot where each of the ancestors of the subject, in a direct line, was born and reared (NOTE: that there is some dispute to this statement and much discussion on ancestry.com).

Daniel Durbin was reared on a farm, educated in Maryland, and was married in that state, his son Basil, the father of the subject, being the youngest of thirteen children born to him.  Daniel located on the home farm in Maryland, removed thence to Pennsylvania in 1814, where he bought a farm and remained until 1819 (NOTE: August 7, 1820 census shows him as still residing in Cross Creek, PA in 1820) .  Then selling his Pennsylvania farm, he emigrated to Knox county, Ohio, purchased a farm there, and lived upon it for many years, during the first part of his residence there not being a neighbor within forty miles in either direction, north or west.  About 1830 he sold out and moved to Muskingum county (NOTE: 1830 Census shows Daniel in Howard, Knox County, Ohio), where he purchased 160 acres of land which was sold for taxes.  This land he improved and lived upon for twenty years, and then lost it all because the tax title proved worthless, all, at least, but sixteen acres, which he sold for $100 per acre.  He lived in Muskingum county the rest of his life.  His first wife having died in 1814, he was married, the second time to Nancy Aikenrode by whom he had three children, none of whom survive (NOTE: sources on ancestry.com suggest four children by Nancy) .  Mr. Durbin lived to be eighty-eight years old, dying in 1856.  Politically he was an old-line whig; in religion he was a member of the Catholic church, and died highly respected.

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Basil Durbin, father of the subject, was reared on a farm, was educated in Knox county, Ohio, and had no educational privileges until, at the age of seventeen, he was apprenticed to the cabinet-maker's trade, with the stipulation that he should be permitted to attend school six months of his time.  He remained at work under this agreement for three years, attending school a few months only, at odd times, but after the expiration of his apprenticeship, acquired considerable knowledge by his own efforts and private study.  In 1833 he was married to his first wife, by whom he had three children, all of whom died of consumption (NOTE: The three children were: Celestine, Daniel Basil, and Ruth A..  Daniel Basil (and Mary Axe) fathered seven children before he died in 1876.  One of which being Albert Durbin - Tom's Grandfather.).  In 1842 he married, for his second wife (NOTE: ancestry.com cites a source of 15 Oct 1844), Eliza Axe, by whom he had nine children, as follows: Mary (Mrs. John McFarland), deceased; Samuel, a farmer and worker in a glass manufactory; George Patrick, the subject of this sketch; John who works in the same glass factory with his brother, Samuel, in Muncie, Ind.; William, a huckster of Lima; Margaret, deceased wife of James Schultz; Theresa, wife of Henry Dipmore, of Muncie, Ind.; Eliza, wife of B. Bencree (NOTE: Bernard Biracree, 1851-1917), of Lima; and Susanna, who died in infancy.  The mother of the children was born in Lancaster, Pa., February 4, 1821 (NOTE: All sources on ancestry.com point to February 14th - not 4th), her parents, who were of Dutch descent, having been born in the same place.  In 1833 they removed to Muskingum county, Ohio, and in 1856 to Auglaize county, where her father purchased a tract of woodland, upon which he lived and labored until 1874, when he died at the age of seventy-five.  His wife died one year later at the same age, she having been born in 1800.  He was a democrat in politics, and both were members of the Roman Catholic church.

After his marriage Basil Durbin located first to Cincinnati, where he remained two years, and then removed to Muskingum county, settling in Zanesville, where his first wife died, and where he was married the second time.  From the time of his settling in Zanesville he worked at the carpenter's trade until 1857, and then removed to Auglaize county, living there until 1862.  In this latter country he purchased ninety-two acres of woodland, upon which he lived and which he cleared up from its timber, and improved, making it a good farm.  Selling out this farm in 1879 he then removed to Mercer county, where he purchased forty acres of woodland, upon which he lived the remainder of his life.  His death occurred in 1889 (NOTE: source on ancestry.com states death in 1883, but I think in error.  The headstone is severely weathered and could've easily been misread), his wife dying in 1890, both being members of the Catholic church, and he, though in early life a whig, being a democrat during his latter years.

George Patrick Durbin,, the subject of this sketch, was reared on the farm and educated in Saint Mary's township, most of the knowledge he now possesses being acquired by his own private study.  He was married November 6, 1873, to Bridget McIlvoy, a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Loague) McIlvoy, and to this marriage there have been born ten children: Thomas, living at home; Elizabeth, deceased; William, at home; Mary, James, Angeline, Catherine, Edgar, Theresa, and George Russell (NOTE: 11th child, Leo, was born in 1899 after this was written).  The mother of these children was born in Perry county, April 16, 1854, her father having been born and reared in Ireland, and having emigrated to Perry county, Ohio, when he was yet a young man.  In Perry county he married his wife, who was of Pennsylvania-Dutch and Irish descent, and in that county he died.  She moved to Mercer county in 1867 and still lives in Center township.

George Patrick Durbin, for three years after his marriage, carried on farming on the farm belonging to his mother-in-law, and then, removing to Franklin township, began manufacturing draining tile, and continued thus engaged for two years.  Then selling out his tile business, he bought eighty acres of land, which

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he cleared and improved, and afterward added to it fifty acres more, and in 1881 removed to Liberty township and again went in the business of making tile, and also into contracting, which he continued for three years.  The he sold out, and in 1891 established himself in general merchandising, the post-office being established by him four months later and named after him.  All this time he has managed his farm, as well as attending to other business, his farm being a good one and under a high state of cultivation.  Upon this farm there are two dwellings, one good barn, a store and a blacksmith shop, and all well managed.

In politics Mr. Durbin was a democrat until the organization of the populist party, since which time he has affiliated with this new organization.  One half-brother of his, Daniel, served in the late Civil war.  Mr. Durbin, since becoming a populist, has served as township trustee and has also served on the township school board.  He is a member of the Catholic church, is a highly respected citizen, and well known for his probity and integrity of character for many miles around.
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The above was taken and transcribed from:

A Portrait and Biographical Record of Mercer and Van Wert Counties, Ohio, Part 1 (A.W. Bowen, 1896)