infield Taylor Durbin, the
twenty-fourth Governor of Indiana, was born at Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on
May 4, 1847, the son of William S. and Eliza A. (Sparks) Durbin. His entire
boyhood and early manhood were passed in New Philadelphia, Indiana, where
he attended the common school.
He enlisted in Company B, Sixteenth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in the summer of 1862, but because of an injury to his left hand and arm, he did not join the regiment at Camp Morton until October of the same year. He was refused muster on account of this injury but nevertheless he insisted upon going with the company to the front. He was a participant in the siege of Vicksburg and also in the expedition to Arkansas Post. Durbin was soon compelled to return home because of ill health. The following spring he was of great assistance in organizing Company K, 139th Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He refused a commission for the reason that he would rather serve in the ranks, and was mustered out in 1864.
After being mustered out Durbin returned to New Philadelphia and taught school, and, in his vacation periods worked with his father, who was a tanner. He used to remark later that he "tanned salt hides in the summer and fresh hides in the winter." In October 1869, he went to Indianapolis and worked for a wholesale dry goods firm, where he rose to a responsible position.
He later moved to Anderson, Indiana, and assisted in establishing the Citizens Bank of that city. Here he met Bertha McCullough and was married to her on October 6, 1875.
Winfield Durbin always took an active part in politics; for six years he was Chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, and in 1892 and 1896 was a presidential elector and delegate to the Republican National Convention. Fundamentally, he was a businessman who maintained a strong and long-continued interest in civil affairs. Unlike many of his predecessors and followers in the governorship, he never studied or practiced law.
With the breaking our of the Spanish-American War, Governor James A. Mount appointed him Paymaster of the Indiana National Guard, and on June 8, 1898, he was commissioned Colonel of the 161st Indiana Volunteer Infantry. This regiment went into camp at Jacksonville, Florida, later being sent to Havana, Cuba.
Durbin was elected Governor of Indiana in 1900, defeating John W. Kern by a majority of 25,000 votes. At the close of the governorship, he returned to Anderson, Indiana. In 1912, he was again the Republican nominee for Governor, being defeated by Samuel M. Ralston.
At the beginning of World War I he recruited the 4th Infantry Indiana National Guard, which later became a unit of the 139th Field Artillery.
Governor Durbin was very active in Masonry and attained the thirty-third degree in Scottish Rite Masonry. His death occurred at Anderson on December 18, 1928, of bronchial pneumonia following an attack of influenza. His remains were taken to Indianapolis where they were interred in Crown Hill Cemetery.
|
|||||
|
