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 1840 - 1875 (35 years)
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| Name |
Plato Durham |
| Birth |
20 Sep 1840 |
Rutherford County, North Carolina  [1, 2] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Occupation |
Soldier, Lawyer, Statesman [2] |
| Military |
CSA Captain |
| Death |
9 Nov 1875 |
Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina [1, 2] |
| Burial |
Sunset Cemetery, Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina [2] |
| Person ID |
I47399 |
The Hennessee Family |
| Last Modified |
1 Feb 2017 |
| Family |
Catharine Lenora Tracy, b. 0___ 1845 d. 0___ 1933 (Age ~ 88 years) |
| Marriage |
Y [1, 2] |
| Children |
| | 1. Dr. Plato Tracy Durham, PhD, b. 10 Sep 1873, Shelby, Cleveland County, North Carolina d. 10 Feb 1930, Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia (Age 56 years) |
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| Family ID |
F17399 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
30 Apr 2023 |
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| Notes |
- Plato Durham, son of Micajah Durham and Esther McDowell Baxter, was born 1840 in Rutherford County, North Carolina. He received his education at country schools and "at the plow handles." At around 18 years of age he studied law under L. F. Churchill of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, for a year. He then went to Knoxville, Tennessee, and continued to study law under his uncle John Baxter, who later became a Federal Circuit Court Judge.
In 1861, at the beginning of the War Between the States, Plato joined a Confederate company in Knoxville. Soon after, in May, 1861, he left to join his brothers who had enlisted in the Cleveland Guards, part of the 2nd North Carolina Volunteers which became the 12th Regiment, North Carolina Troops. He rose to the rank of Captain and commanded a corps of sharpshooters in R. D. Johnston's Brigade during the campaigns in Virginia in 1864. Plato was present for the surrender at Appomattox, and he signed the last report for the 12th Regiment as "Captain in command." Plato was paroled at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.
After the war, Plato continued the study of law at the Law School of the University of North Carolina. On August 6, 1866, he came into open court in Shelby and qualfied as an attorney at law. He began a successful law practice, and became involved in politics. He was elected as a Democrat to the legislature of 1866-67, and he was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1868. He emerged as a bold and articulate leader of the conservative minority, advocating the inviolability of the state debt, the removal of political liabilities from ex-Confederates, and the barring of Negroes from holding public office or serving as guardians of white children. Reconstruction resulted in the election of the state's first Republican legislature in 1868-69, and Durham was an outspoken minority leader.
Among Durham's acts in the General Assembly were bills to exempt disabled soldiers and widows of soldiers from taxation. He voted against accepting the 14th Amendment to the federal Constitution, and favored reorganization and upbuilding of the state university. He married Nora Tracy on April 9, 1868, the anniversary of Lee's surrender at Appomattox. He ran for Congress in 1868, 1870, and 1874. Although he was elected in 1868, reconstruction pressure resulted in the awarding of the seat to his opponent. For personal reasons he did not run in 1872 and also declined a nomination to the state senate.
Plato joined the Ku Klux Klan in late 1868 or early 1869. He regarded it as a political weapon against the Republican party, but like other upper-class members he became alarmed by its uncontrolled attacks on obscure Negroes and white Republicans. He tried unsuccessfully to curb the violence, only to become further enmeshed in the tangled web of conspiracy and illegality that surrounded the order. He was arrested by federal authorities in 1871 but was never brought to trial. For two years, at considerable personal sacrifice and expense, his major efforts were directed at helping his fellow Klansmen. He served them as defense counsel and raised money for their bail and reportedly to bribe jurors. He traveled to Washington and made a personal appeal to President Grant on their behalf. Finally, he was successful in his efforts to have prosecution stopped and clemency granted for its members once the origina Klan was disbanded.
In 1871, Durham established the weekly "Cleaveland Banner" newspaper in Shelby, and he published and edited the paper until turning it over to W. C. Durham in 1876. Temperance was a hot issue in that era, and in the Banner's issue of March 21, 1874, was published a copy of the first local option law to prohibit the sale of all spiritous liquors in townships where the people so desired.
Plato was elected as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1875 that gave the state its present constitution. There he was a leader in dismantling Radical Reconstruction and also advocated legislative regulation of railway rates. Later that year he came down with pneumonia and died at home after a brief illness. His sudden death was mourned by many people. One biographer wrote, "Dead at thirty-five, he was for eight years the most interesting and picturesque and intense figure in the public life of the State. He was the personification of the spirit of white men in that time. His name was a synonym for their protest against, and unconquerable opposition to, the unspeakable indignities and crimes of reconstruction, and for their stubborn and conquering resolve to free themselves from the body of that death."
* [1]
- Birth: Sep. 20, 1840
Rutherford County
North Carolina, USA
Death: Nov. 9, 1875
Shelby
Cleveland County
North Carolina, USA
Family links:
Parents:
Micajah Durham (1804 - 1864)
Esther McDowell Baxter Durham (1817 - 1868)
Spouse:
Catherine Leonora Tracy Dixon (1845 - 1933)*
Children:
Robert Lee Durham (1870 - 1949)*
Stonewall Jackson Durham (1871 - 1950)*
Plato Tracy Durham (1873 - 1930)*
Siblings:
Patience Durham (1837 - 1855)*
Plato Durham (1840 - 1875)
Scipio Durham (1842 - 1861)*
Taylor Durham (1849 - 1864)*
*Calculated relationship
Note: Family links provided by snider. Link to mother provided by Sherrie
Burial:
Sunset Cemetery
Shelby
Cleveland County
North Carolina, USA
Created by: Richard Jordan
Record added: Jun 12, 2009
Find A Grave Memorial# 38265405 [2]
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| Sources |
- [S10324] "Rocky Strickland's Genealogy: Durham", pedigree for Roscoe Lee Strickland, III, abstracted, downloaded and published We.
- [S10330] "Plato Durham" profile, abstracted, downloaded and published Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 by David A. Hennessee, info@c.
- [S10331] "Micajah Durham" profile, abstracted, downloaded and published Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 by David A. Hennessee, info.
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