208 UNION COUNTY PAST AND PRESENT
and his remarkable memory made him a target for those seeking
f all kinds of information. He was something of a philosopher,
, ` poet, and humorist and was frequently in demand as a speaker.
He married Margaret Hite in 1906. He was a Kiwanian, a Knight
of Columbus, and a devout Catholic.
. ELISHA J. DURBIN (1800-1887), pioneer Catholic priest,
was born in Madison County about sixteen miles from Boones-
boro, the son of John D. and Patience Logsdon Durbin. When a
young boy he was in the habit of accompanying his parents to
services in the Church of St. Francis in Scott County. At the
age of sixteen he decided to study for the priesthood and, with
the approval of his parents, entered the Seminary of St. Thomas
near Bardstown. He remained here six years, half his time being
spent in study and half in labor, which was the rule of the
seminary at that time. On September 21, 1822, he was ordained
priest by Bishop David and for more than a year his duties con-
fined him to the College and Cathedral of St. Joseph at Bards-
town.
In 1824 Father Durbin was assigned jurisdiction over the
entire region of western Kentucky. To this young priest, then _
but twenty-four years of age, was entrusted the pastoral care of
all the isolated Catholic families living in an area which extended
from Jefferson County to the Mississippi River, and from the
Ohio to Tennessee. Equally dependent upon Father Durbin in all
spiritual ministrations were the scattered families living in _
counties bordering the northern bank of the Ohio in the States
of Illinois and Indiana. After 1832 he was also charged with
stations at Franklin, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee. His
headquarters were near Morganfield in Union County, and here
in the little log chapel at St. Vincent he said his first mass.
Within two years after the beginning of his mission Father .
Durbin had built two churches in the territory assigned to him. I
The first of these was the Sacred Heart, erected near the site
of the log chapel on the grounds of the Sisters of Charity of St.
Vincent; the second church built in Union County was St. Am- _
brose near Henshaw. About the same time St. Theresa was built
at Flint Island, Meade County; St. Jerome at Fancy Farms in
Graves County followed in 1836.
  Father Durbin was known throughout the West as an organ- .
izer and builder of churches. Rarely, it has been said, has there
been such an example of continuous and long sustained labor.