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My grandfather, Samuel Relf Durand, completed a volume in around 1973 entitled Durand Genealogy, detailing the known descendants of Dr. John Durand. He amended the book in the early 1970s after further discoveries. In the foreword, he explains that Frederick Durand Beach of Derby, CT prepared a similar volume for publication, but died before he was able to do so.
Later, my grandparents became close friends with distant cousin Dr. William Frederick Durand, a retired aeronautical engineer and professor at Stanford University. Dr. Durand had inherited the manuscript from his cousin, the late Mr. Beach. Bampo (as we grandchildren called my grandfather) borrowed it from Dr. Durand in 1933 and made a longhand copy of Durand lines of descent. However, he saved time by not copying a good deal of information on the maternal lines of descent.
In 1950 Dr. William F. Durand's wife died, and he moved from his house at Stanford to Brooklyn, New York, to be near his son and family. During visits at Dr. Durand's residential hotel there, he told Bampo that he planned to leave the Durand Geneaology Manuscript to the Connecticut State Library, with the hope of eventual publication. Unfortunately, though, after Dr. Durand's death in 1958 (at the age of 99), the manuscript apparently became lost. I continue to look for any trace of it.
Thereafter, Bampo spent a considerable amount of time and effort searching through census and town records to expand upon the lines of descent he had recorded years earlier. He includes in the book references to other publications from which he gleaned information, and I will re-reference these sources here, in addition to referencing Bampo's book.
The book begins with the following biographical sketch of Dr. John Durand:
DR. JOHN DURAND
A Huguenot
Born 1664, La Rochelle, France
Among the number of Huguenots who took refuge in foreign lands following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 was Dr. Jean (or John) Durand. He was accompanied by his uncle, Noah Durand, and two cousins, George and Louis Durand. Their homes had been in La Rochelle, France. Upon arriving in America, Dr. John left his uncle and cousins and went to South Carolina, remaining there but one year.
Returning to New York, he lived in New Rochelle for several months and then settled in Connecticut. He lived first at East Haven, where he applied himself diligently in acquiring a knowledge of the English language. It is said, however, that the accent of his mother tongue remained throughout his life.
About 1696, Dr. John Durand settled in Milford, Connecticut. He received a license to be married on September 10, 1698 in New York, to Elizabeth Bryan, daughter of Richard Bryan. Elizabeth's father was not living at the time of her marriage to Dr. John Durand, for it is recorded in a deed executed May 24, 1693 on page 56 of the Derby, CT records that Alexander Bryan and Samuel Bryan are appointed administrators of the estate of Richard Bryan, deceased. On March 11, 1699, a conveyance of property to John Durand and Elizabeth, his wife, is recorded. In this year they removed to Derby, CT, where their first son, John Durand, was born November 10, 1700.
Dr. John Durand's practice extended to Woodbury and Wallingford. He was known as the little French doctor. He regarded punctuality as the soul of business and never violated the most trivial engagement. In every relation of his life he exhibited an eminent degree of the qualities of a gentleman. It is told of him that on every call for his services, day or night, he was never known to refuse when it was in his power to comply. Often, he would ride many hours in the cold and storms, knowing that it was doubtful that he would receive compensation, but his kindness of heart would not allow him to refuse.
Much has been lost that would throw light upon Dr. John Durand's habits, his way of thinking, and upon his observations of things. The relentless paper mills that devoured so many papers and books with records of untold value during the Civil War of 1861-1865 have much to answer for as destroyers of history. The Bassett paper mill at Seymour, Connecticut tore into shreds a book belonging to Dr. John Durand that would be highly prized today. It was a diary giving a description of the army and what the encountered in the expedition against Canada in 1709. Dr. John Durand was the surgeon of a Connecticut regiment on this expedition. Mr. Sylvester Smith, one of the proprietors of the mill, informed Mr. Frederick Durand to call for this book at his office if he wanted it, but the latter, not knowing it belonged to his great-great-grandfather, and not being interested in antiquities, neglected to call for it and consequently the book is lost.
There are many traditions regarding Dr. John Durand which have come down in various branches of the family. One tradition that he had two brothers who came with him to America is erroneous; the two brothers--George and Louis--were cousins of Dr. John Durand, sons of his uncle, Charles Durand. Dr. John Durand was the only member of his father's family who came to America. His father's name was Jean Durand and, from tradition and reports, it is believed that there were three children: Jean (John), Joseph, and Maria. Dr. John Durand was educated as a young man to be a physician. After he came to America, he maintained a correspondence with his relatives in La Rochelle, France, and letters written to them were to be found as late as 1861. On September 29, 1704, it was voted 'to sue Dr. Durand for ye town's highway, it being for a surrender of the highway where carts could pass.' On January 1, 1704 or 1705, Dr. Durand made a proffer to the town to leave it to two indifferent men to settle, etc., which was finally arbitrated and satisfactorily settled. On December 15, 1707, he was chosen by the town to be collector of the minister's rate. It was also voted that 'Dr. Durand and John Davis and their wives shall sit in the third row of seats facing the pulpit.'
Dr. Durand owned the homestead of Edward Wooster, the first settler of Derby, and resided in it just opposite where the road from the bridge enters the river road at the old town of Derby. Dr. Durand claimed damages for encroachment on his land after the bridge was built. His grave can be found in the Colonial Cemetery at Derby, Connecticut. In the early 1900s, this cemetery was well-taken care of by the Sarah Riggs Humphrey chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The grave is marked with a rough, blue stone, the inscription being nearly obliterated. It reads: 'Here lyes ye body of Doct. John Durand Died March ye 29th, in ye year 1727 Ag'd 60'
Dr. John Durand was recognized as a man of marked ability. The energy and nobility of character which he possessed was transmuted to each and every one of his children, and they all possessed in a high degree the more solid traits of character.
After Durand Genealogy was printed, Bampo wrote into the page facing the data about Dr. John Durand the following, in ballpoint pen: Dr. John Durand brought lilac seeds from France and introduced lilacs to America. Each year at lilac-blossom time in Derby, Connecticut, a group of residents cover his grave in the Old Uptown Burying Ground with lilacs.
Facts about this person:
Emigration 1685
New York, NY
Probate September 04, 1727
New Haven, New Haven Co., CT
