A Walk Through the Village, Jesse Durham

George Dunlap (my G-G Grandfather)  family home in Stanly County, NC
 one of my early Village homes

Since 1995, I have delighted in researching my family tree. Like for so many others, at times my hobby became an obsession. I diligently looked for the important birth and death dates, marriages, children, accomplishments, and migrations. This gave me a great excuse for travel with my husband to parts of the United States that I might not have otherwise considered. But, I found I had the most pleasure when I learned more intimate details of an ancestor's place in history, their day to day life, and their relationships. Some of my ancestors have become very active residents of my "imagination" village. I have fleshed them out and see them, not as long-term residents of a cemetery plot, but as real live, walking-around people.  Since I am wearing out my immediate family by constantly referring to these people, this is my new way to record the personal stories of the inhabitants of my Genealogy Village. As I travel back in time to find more of these villagers, I anticipate future travel to their cities and towns. And, I want to share these stories with my family.

Today I begin my Village stroll with baby steps.

JESSIE L. DURHAM 1886-1983

 In 1905, beautiful, brown-eyed Jesse Durham was 19 years old and ready to make a big decision.

She had been born in early fall 1886, the first child of a young farming family in the small community of Dry Pond in Jackson County Georgia. Her mother, Cora, was only sixteen years old when Jesse was born. Her father, Arthur, was twenty-two.  By 1905, Jesse had six younger siblings, two still diaper size. A four-year-old sister had died when Jesse was nine. Caring for babies and toddlers was a big part of her everyday life. When she was about twelve, her parents and siblings moved to Commerce, Texas.  After a year of suffering from malaria and poor land, they returned to Dry Pond.  Except for the short time in Commerce, her family had lived close to, or with, her grandparents in Dry Pond and Apple Valley. Most of these years, they lived in the home of her grandfather Elijah Durham, a well-respected farmer and large land owner in Jackson County, GA.

Now, Jesse fell in love with a traveling salesman.  Her father, Arthur Jackson Durham held a very low opinion of Adolphus Prickett and knew him to be a horse beater.  Her father strongly objected to this romance and forbid Jesse to see him. However, independent minded Jesse, refusing to be told what to do, chose Adolphus Prickett. They ran off together and married in nearby Banks County.

Then the babies started coming, a daughter just before their first anniversary, a son eighteen months later, twins eighteen months after that. Tragically, the twins lived only a short time. Then, in similarly quick fashion, three more sons were born. By the time she was 34, in 1920, Jesse had five children living and had buried two.

Unfortunately, despite their romantic start, Adolphus Prickett was not a good choice. He was afflicted with Huntington's disease, a genetic neurological disorder, and passed it down to four of their surviving children. He was also an abusive husband. Whether that was partially due to his disease is unknown, but Jesse bore the brunt of his anger. Sometime in the mid-1920s, she received a particularly vicious beating. A neighbor found her and reported the situation to Jesse's father. Arthur was well known to be a calm, quiet-spoken, reserved man but it is reported that he became furiously angry and set off to confront Adolphus. Arthur took along his shotgun and buggy whip. Somehow, Adolphus heard of the impending visit and ran away in fear.
   
Jesse refused to allow Adolphus to return this time. Now, she was on her own to provide for five young children. To help support her family, Jesse wrote children's stories for magazines. Finding moderate success, she expanded this writing to include stories printed in "True Life" and "True Romance" magazines, increasingly popular monthly magazines aimed at the millions of women interested in the revolution of morals and manners that occurred in the 1920's. Jesse's writing of personalized social issues scandalized her sisters, even though she used a pseudonym. They had always known her to be clever and creative but this was outside their sense of appropriate behavior. They considered themselves to be very proper ladies and this was definitely not proper! It led to several family squabbles. But, Jesse's writing put food on the table.

In 1930, she is shown in the East Point, GA census to be the head of household, making her living as a nurse.  Her children and her sister, Istalina, were living with her.

Sometime later, she married twice more. One husband was John Chesser, a veteran of WWI.

Four of her remaining children predeceased her, as Huntington's is usually fatal before middle age.  In 1974, her surviving son, Tom, was physically unable to provide her the necessary care and moved her to a nursing home in Winder, GA.

She maintained an active correspondence with her niece, Patricia Durham, for several years and contributed to Patricia's search for family history.

Jesse was my husband's great aunt, eldest sister of his grandmother, Elizabeth Durham Williams.

I welcome any corrections or additions to my story. My sources include census records, private family correspondence meticulously saved by Patricia Durham, and an interview with Jacqueline Williams Hammond, Jesse's niece.