Durant Family

Frederick John Durant married Mae Ward on April 19, 1916 in Henry County, Ohio. They went to farming Liberty Township. There two daughters were born to them.

Madge Aurilla was born on January 28, 1917 and married Merril V. Bernath who was born on September 27, 1912 in York Township, Fulton County, Ohio.

Eva Marguerite was born on March 25, 1918 and married Lawrence E. Segrist who was born on January 7, 1918 in York Township.

After a few years, the Durant family moved to York Township where they lived until 1969 when they moved to Wauseon. Fred Durant died at Wauseon on March 18, 1970.

In 1965, Madge and Merril Bernath visited England where the Durant's came from to the States. They knelt and prayed in the little stone church of Bishop's Caundle and climbed the church tower and looked down on the little village. Inside they searched church records and found family records.

Elisha Acourt Durant was born at Bishop's Caundle on June 1, 1856 and died on March 16, 1934 at Shelton, Washington. He was the son of Charles Durant who was born in 1825 at Bishop's Caundle, Dorset, England, and died at Ottawa, Canada, in 1875, and Jane Clark who was born at Bishop's Caundle in 1827 and died in Custer County, Nebraska in 1904. Jane was a daughter of John Clark.

Charles and Jane Clark Durant had the following children: Edward John who was born on May 2, 1852; Letitia Rhoda who was born on May 11, 1855, and probably died before 1864; Elisha Acourt who was born on June 1, 1856; Benjamin Robert who was born on March 6, 1859; Letitia Rhoda who was born on October 31, 1864; Albert Edwin who was born on September 22, 1867, and died quite young in a horseback riding accident; Fred who died at Broken Bow, Nebraska of tuberculosis, and had not married; Augusta Dorcas Bochman; and Frances Webb.

The Charles Durant family settled in Canada near Ottawa in 1871. Charles died in Canada and one son, not with the family, died enroute to the United States. The family came to Ohio in 1877 where they had acquaintances and where Elisha Acourt Durant married in Henry County, Ohio, on June 23, 1883, Elizabeth Ellenwood. Elizabeth was born on August 6, 1864 and died at Shelton, Washington, on August 29, 1933. She was the daughter of George Ellenwood who married Rebecca Spangler on November 1, 1863. Rebecca was born in Fairfield County, Ohio, a daughter of Jesse and Elizabeth Walters Spangler. Children born to Jesse and Elizabeth Spangler were Henry, born May 25, 1822; Elizabeth, born October 11, 1823; Jacob, born August, 1826; Sara, born February, 1829; Sophia, born August 27, 1831; Mary, born May 28, 1833; Andrew, born 1838; Catherine, born March 6, 1841; and Rebecca, born May 26, 1845 who married George Ellenwood. Jesse Spangler is buried at Liberty Chapel Cemetery. His wife, Elizabeth, is probably buried there also.

George and Rebecca Spangler Ellen- wood lived in Liberty Township, Henry County, Ohio, where they farmed. They had thirteen children. Elizabeth was born on August 6, 1864.

Jacob was born on April 24, 1866. Abbie was born on October 17, 1867. Chloe was born on April 3, 1869. Amanda was born on October 31, 1871. Daniel was born on August 1, 1873. George was born on April 6, 1875. Lucile, or Lucy, was born on February 25, 1877. Jennie was born on October 5, 1879. Malinda was born on August 31, 1880. Harry was born on May 4, 1882. Harriet was born on August 20, 1884. Grover was born on March 31, 1887.

After Elisha and Elizabeth Ellen- wood Durant were married, they farmed in Liberty Township and had one son. In 1884, they homesteaded in Custer County, Nebraska and Mrs. Charles Durant died there in 1904 at the age of seventy-seven years, and is buried at the Broken Bow, Nebraska Cemetery. Six children were born in Nebraska. The family moved back to Henry County in 1897 and one more child was born there, making eight children born to them.

The children were as follows: Albert Edward, born April 20, 1884, Henry County, Ohio, married Cordelia Hand at Ellsworth, Kansas, and died on May 22, 1937 at Garden City, Kansas; Robert Charles, born June 9, 1885 at Broken Bow, Nebraska, and died June 29, 1890 at Broken Bow, Nebraska; George Washington, born June 3, 1888 at Broken Bow, Nebraska, and married Gladys Marten at Yakima, Washington, and died April 24, 1972 in Walla Walla Veterans Hospital, Washington; Frederick John, born September 16, 1890 at Broken Bow, and married Mae D. Ward, Napoleon, Ohio, and died March 18, 1970, Wauseon, Ohio; Mary Jane, or Jennie, born June 19, 1892 at Broken Bow, and married Charles Loitz on August 17, 1913 at Napoleon, Ohio, and lives at Shelton, Washington; Augusta Dorcus, born May 20, 1895 at Broken Bow, and married Charles Carter on March 16, 1920 at Yakima, Washington, and died on April 19, 1970 at Yuba City, California; William, Edward Gladstone, born February 2, 1897 at Broken Bow, married Opal May Emmerling on June 29, 1917 at Wauseon, Ohio, and died on October 15, 1918 at Camp Zachery Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky; and Gracie Vera Rebecca, born August 7, 1902, Henry County, Ohio, married Herbert Laird, August 13, 1943 at Yuma, Arizona and lives in Bryte, California.

Jennie has been in a rest home in Shelton, Washington for several years. Katie Wood, from Sussex, England, has visited in the States in 1973, 1975, and 1977. She is a widow, seventy-five years old, and is very active and travels alone to visit relatives in Canada and the United States.

Frederick and Will stayed in Ohio when the family went west. Will's widow is Opal Stykemain.

Submitted by: Mrs. Merril Bernath, Wauseon, Ohio