Prominent Families of New York/Hiram Duryea

by Lyman Horace Weeks

Hiram Duryea.

While descending primarily from French ancestors, the Duryea family in this country is essentially of Dutch origin. Joost (George) Durie, the ancestor of the family in the New Netherland, was a French Huguenot, who, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sought a refuge at Manheim, of the Rhenish palatinate. In 1660, he married Magdalena LeFevre, and soon after that came to this country. As early as 1675, he was a resident of Long Island and lived, for various periods, in New Utrecht, Bushwick and Brooklyn, his death occurring in Bushwick, in 1727. Abraham Durije, the son of Joost Durije, 1685-1753, the originator of the name here, married Elizabeth, daughter of Theodoris and Aertje (Bogart) Polhemius, he the son of the Reverend Johannes Polhemius, and she the daughter of Teunis Gysbertsen Bogarts. Daniel Durije, the son of Abraham Durije, married a descendant of Laurens Cornelisen Koeck, who came over to the New Netherland in 1661, and Gabriel Durije, his grandson, married Femetije (or Phoebe) Hoogland, daughter of Cornelius and Sarah (Woertman) Hoogland. Cornelius Hoogland was a descendant of Dirck Jansen Hoogland, who came from Naerseveen, Utrecht, in 1657; and Sarah Woertman was descended from Dirck Jansen Woertman, who came from Amsterdam, in 1647. Gabriel Durije was the great-grandfather of General Hiram Duryea, whose grandfather, Cornelius Duryea, was born in 1776. Beginning at that period, the family name was generally spelled in its present form of Duryea. The grandmother of General Duryea was Jemima Van Nostrand, daughter of John and Hannah (Bedell) Van Nostrand. She was descended from Hans Hansen Van Nostrand, who came from Noorstrand, Holstein, in 1739, and also from Robert or Daniel Beedle or Beadell, one of the early settlers of Hempstead, Long Island. The father of General Duryea was Hendrick Vanderbilt Duryea, who was born in Syosset, Long Island, in 1799, and died in 1891. The General's mother was Elizabeth Wright, who was born in 1801, was married to Hendrick V. Duryea in 1819, and died in 1881. She was the daughter of Zebulon and Catharine Wright, of Glen Cove, Long Island. Zebulon Wright was the fifth in descent from Peter Wright, who came, with his brothers, Anthony and Nicholas, from the County of Norfolk, England, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635. Peter Wright moved to Long Island in 1653, and was one of the first settlers of Oyster Bay. His sons married daughters of the old established families in that section. On the female side of his house, as well as through the paternal line, General Duryea can trace his descent to most distinguished Colonial ancestry. His grandmother, wife of Zebulon Wright, was Catharine Gritman, descended, on the maternal side, from Edward and Faith Dotey, who came over on the Mayflower, and his great-great-grandmother was Clemence Feke, daughter of Robert Feke, a descendant of Robert Feke, who came over to Massachusetts with Governor John Winthrop, and a descendant of William Ludlam, who came from Matlock, England, in 1655. A generation further back, the wife of Gideon Wright, son of Peter Wright, the pioneer, was Elizabeth Townsend, daughter of John Townsend, one of the early settlers of Oyster Bay, and of his wife, Elizabeth Montgomerie, a cousin of the Colonial Governor Dongan, of New York. General Hiram Duryea was born at Manhasset, Long Island, April 12th, 1834. He received a good education in public and private schools, and, at the age of twenty-one, became a partner with his father in the starch manufacturing business. He was vice-president and president of the Glen Cove Starch Manufacturing Company for many years, and afterwards became president of the National Starch Company, which succeeded the Glen Cove Company. The military career of General Duryea was very creditable. In 1855, Governor Myron Clark commissioned him First Lieutenant of Artillery in the Forty-eighth Regiment of the State Militia, a commission which he held for several years. At the beginning of the Civil War, he promptly tendered his services to the State, and on April 25th, 1861, was commissioned Captain in the Fifth New York Infantry (Duryee Zouaves), and on August 15th, 1861, was commissioned Major in the same regiment, and on September 3d, Lieutenant-Colonel. After the siege of Yorktown he commanded the regiment in the Peninsula and Maryland campaigns. In the Seven Days' Battles, and in the operations before Richmond, his regiment was specially mentioned for its gallantry and efficient services, being one of the most famous New York commands in the war, and he was several times commended, in official reports, for distinguished service. He was appointed Colonel of the same regiment October 29th, 1862, and on May 26th, 1866, was commissioned by the President of the United States, Brevet Brigadier-General of Volunteers "for distinguished conduct at the Battle of Gaines Mills, Va." He retired from the service December, 1862, in consequence of permanent injuries received in the field. General Duryea was married, in 1868, to Laura D. Burnell, daughter of Leander Burnell and Anna Noble (Dewey) Burnell. His children are, Harry H., Chester B., Anna E., and Millicent S. Duryea. The General is a member of the Veteran Association of the regiment which he commanded during the war, of the Society of the Fifth Army Corps, of the United Service Club, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion According to the old records, the Durie family originated in the Province of Burgundy, France. The history, traditions and genealogies of the race were published in Nice, France, some years ago, and reference is made therein to some of its members having been born in the Town of Marcigny. The family was prominent, representatives of it having been distinguished as judges, advocates and men of letters, and divines. Originally spelled Durie, the name sometimes appeared as Duryer, and in a very remote period as Du Ryer. The spelling Duryea, or Duryee, is, of course, a more modern variation of the same patronymic. The arms of the family, according to Burke, are: Azure, a chevron between three crescents, argent. Andre Duryer, or Du Ryer, who was born in Marcigny, in Burgundy, lived in the first half of the seventeenth century, and was a Gentleman of the King's Bed Chamber, the French diplomatic agent at Constantinople, and the Consul for France at Alexandria, in Egypt. He lived many years in the East, was one of the most accomplished Oriental scholars of his time, and published a translation of The Gulistan of Saadi in 1634, and one of the Koran in 1647. Pierre Duryer, born in Paris, 1605, was a French dramatist and man of letters, and a competitor of the celebrated Corneille when the latter was admitted to the French Academy in 1646. Charles Henri Durier, who was born in Paris in 1830, was chief in the Bureau of the Minister of Justice and a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. English records show that members of the family emigrated to Scotland about the year 1500. Among the most eminent members of the Scottish branch of the family have been Andrew Durie, who died in 1558, and who was Bishop of Galloway and Abbot of Melrose; George Durie, 1496-1561, Abbot of Melrose; Sir Alexander Gibson, Lord Durie, a Scottish judge, who died in 1644; John Durie, a Scottish Jesuit, who died in 1587; John Durie, 1537-1600, a Presbyterian minister of prominence, and Robert Durie, 1555-1616, also a minister of the same denomination. Sir Robert Bruce, of Clackmore, who had the honor of knighthood conferred upon him by King James VI, of Scotland, married for his second wife, Helen, daughter of Robert Durie, by whom he had one daughter, who became the wife of Alexander Shaw, of Sautrie. Andrew Boswell, seventh son of Sir John Boswell, of Balmuto, had a daughter, Janet, who became the wife of her cousin, John Durie, of Grange. Andrew, the fourth Earl of Rothes, married for his third wife, Janet, daughter of David Durie, of Durie. The mother of this Janet Durie was Catharine Ramsey, the daughter of George, Lord Ramsey of Dalhousie, and his wife, Margaret, the only child and heiress of Sir George Douglass, of Melinhill. Members of the various branches of the Scotch family of Durie have, it is seen, allied themselves in marriage to some of the most prominent noble families of that kingdom. The identification of this branch of the family with that of the French line, is complete and unmistakable through the records of ancient chronicles and documents and the blazons of heraldry.