Durkee / Washburn – William Durkee

Durkee / Washburn – William Durkee (d. 1842) came from Vermont and settled 160 acres at Pine Lake in 1829 on which the first house in the township was built. He had five children: William, Lodema, Eratus, Jedediah, and Lucretia. Jedediah was known as “The Wolfman” because he tracked and killed so many wolves in West Bloomfield. In his journals, he writes that “The family of Esquire Ellenwood lost by fire his house and all its contents and I took him and his family of twelve persons into my house, making twenty four inmates. They lived with us about two months until they would build.” Eban Ellenwood was the first burial on Jedediah’s land parcel in 1831, which later became the Pine Lake Cemetery. Jedediah died in 1883. Section OC-105 Wife Phelby is nearby.