MADISON L. DURBIN

Sacramento County

Biographies

MADISON L. DURBIN

MADISON L. DURBIN.--Prominent among the Native Sons of the Golden West is the name of Madison L. Durbin, who has the honored distinction of being California’s oldest native son. He was born on December 28, 1848, one of three children of Warren Perry Durbin, a native of Howard, Mo., and his wife, Evelyn (Harbin) Durbin, a native of Memphis, Tenn. His brother, Thomas, is a resident of Petaluma; and his sister, Clara, is now Mrs. Mehring of San Francisco. Warren Perry Durbin, our subject’s father, was one of eight children born to Daniel Durbin and his wife: Mrs. Ann Gregg, deceased; Mrs. Amanda Bowman, who married John Bowman; Mrs. Bush, Mrs. Beachman and Mrs. Bell, all three deceased; and Daniel, Simeon and Warren Perry. Mr. Durbin’s ancestors were well represented in the early wars, for both of his great-grandfathers served in the Revolutionary War under Washington, and his grandfathers Durbin and Harbin served in the War of 1812 and were at the Battle of New Orleans with General Jackson.

In 1836, Daniel Durbin, the grandfather, made a trip to Oregon and established the first trading-posts for the Hudson Bay Company, fur traders. Highly honored and respected among the Indian tribes he came in contact with, he soon was known in all the trading-posts. He organized all the companies for the expeditions. In 1842, he returned to his home and organized a company to come to California. This company consisted of seven men, as follows: The late Gen. John Bidwell of Butte County, James Madison Harbin, known as “Mat” Harbin, the late John Walker of Santa Rosa, John Bowman, Capt. Granville P. Swift, Daniel Durbin and “Old Truckee” a French-Canadian Indian interpreter who was able to converse in all the Indian languages of the tribes that were encountered on their trips through the vast territories, where few white men had explored or traveled. These hardy pioneers reached California in 1842. They found only two white men in northern California; these were John Wolfskill, on Putah Creek, and George Yount, in Napa County. While still in the high Sierras, they sighted a river, which they named “Truckee River,” after their Indian guide and interpreter. They journeyed on to Oregon, but the memories of this beautiful country lingered with them, and they turned back and came to California. Soon after their return, Old Truckee passed away. In his death these worthy pioneers lost a noble friend, a man of no mean ability in the understanding of his fellow-men, regardless of distinctions in race and religion; a man who would gladly lay down his life for his comrades; a friend in the most real sense of the word.

In 1844 three men of the original party of seven, Daniel Durbin, John Bowman and John Walker, went to Willamette County in Oregon. In 1846 Warren Perry Durbin organized a company to go to the West. On their arrival at Redding, via the Lassen route, the party divided, Warren Perry Durbin going to Oregon, and our subject’s mother’s people (the Harbins) coming to California. On their arrival they settled in Napa County on the Yount grant. In 1848 Daniel and Warren Perry Durbin returned to California and also settled in Napa County, Daniel Durbin establishing his residence close by the Harbins’. Warren Perry Durbin married Miss Evelyn Harbin in 1846, and on December 28, 1848, they were blessed with a little son, Madison L. Durbin. In 1851, in Napa County, Daniel Durbin passed away at the ripe old age of ninety years. Such a worthy life may well be looked upon with high regard. It is indeed a high mark of distinction to have the courage, determination persistence and ability necessary to win one’s way through such a wild country, and to leave such an enduring memory to all coming generations.

Madison L. Durbin’s grandfather Harbin had a quarter-section of land. He passed away after living over eighty years.

In 1849 Warren Perry Durbin bought a Spanish mile (approximately 610 aces) in the Green Valley, Solano County, from General Vallejo. He was the owner of the first piece of property that General Vallejo ever sold. He lived until he was sixty-two years old, and his wife passed away in 1918 at Sacramento, about ninety-three years of age.

The schoolhouse being eight miles from his home, in Green Valley Township, Madison L. Durbin, when a boy, had to ride to school on a mustang. This was the first school that he ever attended. Later, at Benicia, he attended a school taught by C. J. Flatt, and this school was later turned into a private law school.

On April 27, 1881, Madison L. Durbin was married to Margaret Russell Brownlee, a native daughter, of Napa County, Cal. After their marriage, he and his wife resided in Sonoma County for ten years. They are the parents of one son, Russell Madison, born March 23, 1882, at Glen Ellen, Sonoma County. They moved to Fresno, and there Mr. Durbin took charge of the extensive Eggers vineyard. He had charge of 500 employees working on this ranch and in the winery. In 1899 he came to Tyler Island and with Col. H. I. Seymour purchased 200 acres of land from the late Alexander Brown. He built a fine house on this ranch, which has been the Durbin home ever since. When he first bought this tract of land, it was very swampy and was filled with dense shrubs; but through his untiring efforts, this waste tract has been developed into a productive ranch. About sixty acres have been devoted to asparagus, and the balance to fruit-growing and farming. There are two large irrigation plants in operation on the ranch.

Mr. Durbin is a stanch Democrat, and served on the State Central Committee for several terms, and also as a delegate to county and state conventions. In Former days he was a member of the Santa Rosa parlor, No. 28, N. S. G. W., at Santa Rosa; and he is now a member of Courtland Parlor.

Transcribed by Priscilla J. Delventhal.

Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With Biographical Sketches, Pages 556-561. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA. 1923.