Louisa St. John Durkin: Devoted to DAR

COEUR d'ALENE - Louisa St. John Durkin is looking for clues.

Not to solve any crimes.

To track down her family history.

The Coeur d'Alene resident is the registrar for the Lt. Geo. Farragut Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She loves little more than sifting through records, files, books, photographs, making phone calls, searching the Internet, seeking any material that might eventually prove someone is a direct descendant from a patriot who served or provided supplies in the Revolutionary War.

Once you can do that, you can join DAR.

"You find clues along the way," Louisa said. "Most of my ancestors are English, Irish and Scotch Irish and in the later years, German."

Louisa has her own interesting history.

She was born in her grandfather's house that he built just south of St. Maries in 1929.

When Louisa was 21, her mother died in a boating accident.

"We've had our share of family tragedies," she said.

She graduated from St. Maries High School, and worked for the St. Maries School District for 34 years, hired in 1963 as clerk/treasurer and working until 1997, tracking millions of dollars along the way.

Twice widowed, she raised three sons and a daughter and has two stepchildren.

She returned to college at age 52 and in 1987, graduated from Lewis-Clark State College with a bachelor of science degree in management technology.

"It took six years, but I did it," she said with a smile.

In 2006, she was approved as a member of DAR and turned her talents to tracking descendants of patriots - hers and yours.

Her efforts have turned up amazing stories of her long line of relatives who played key roles in the war.

"You prove one generation to the other," she said.

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When did you become aware your family history led to the American Revolution?

I've known ever since I was a young girl, because my grandmother had carefully written down our lineage, from John Marsh of Salem, Mass. She had written down our lineage all the way back to him, that he had come across from England in 1633-34.

Why did you want to be part of DAR?

They believe in promoting patriotism and conserving and preserving history.

Is there much interest in that today among Americans?

They're becoming more and more interested. I have worked with more ladies and gotten them more interested. And I think these television programs like, "Who do You Think You Are?" generate interest. And then, of course, 9-11 increased patriotism in our cities.

As a DAR registrar, what does that mean you do?

I help women with their lineage and getting their documents. I probably go the extra mile because I have been doing research for years. I have a subscription with ancestry.com and I've become addicted to doing it. It's instant gratification if you can find your great-great-grandmother in 1850.

Why is it important to trace family history to the American Revolution?

So you understand what they went through and what decisions they made to come here, and to preserve it. For example, I proved seven patriots, six of them men and a woman. And they have an interesting story to tell, each one of them, and I've been lucky because I can find the information about them. It's really fascinating.

For example, Capt. Isaac Ruddell served as a patriot under George Rogers Clark. His force was attacked by the British in 1780. They arrived with the Shawnee Indians and he couldn't defend his force against the cannons that the British brought, so he surrendered the fort with the agreement that the British would control the Indians. So here was my fourth or fifth great-grandfather, Isaac's wife Esther, she's the lady that I proved. She was prisoner of the British from 1780 until October 1782. An infant child was flung from her arms and killed. Her daughter, who I'm descended from, was 4 years old, an older brother and his wife, and an older sister, were taken to Detroit. Two of her brothers who were teenagers were taken by the Shawnee. Her older brother became a friend of Tecumseh. They were kept for 16 years. That's just one of the stories from my ancestry.

Could you share a few others?

Another great-grandfather, he had three sisters involved with having a relative pick up a Boston Tea Party chest. My great aunt and uncle had that chest and they gave it to their grandfather and she used it for her doll clothes. She donated that chest to the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum.

One of my great-grandfathers, his name was Lt. John Clark. He got his lieutenancy because he was in the siege of Londonderry. In 1700 he came and landed in Boston with six or seven kids and his wife to escape what was going on. He was a Scot. He left Scotland because of religious persecution and was in Ireland for quite a few years, and then he got involved with the siege of Londonderry.

The British, of course, were always harassing the Irish and the Scots, so they decided to come to America. Think about big families in those little, bitty ships in the big ocean. It is amazing.

How hard is it to do research like you've done?

You'd be surprised what's available. For example, on John Marsh, who was the first patriot I proved, there was a big thick book. I have several books. I have another ancestor, who my sister and I decided to prove, he hadn't been previously proved by the DAR. His name was Benjamin Williams. He provided the ironwork for the Oliver Cromwell and he lived on the Connecticut River in Old Saybrook. You have to go and find what people have written. Get the minutes from the colony of Connecticut. It gives you goosebumps. It says, "75 pounds to Benjamin Williams," for providing the ironwork for the Oliver Cromwell.

So the answers can be found with some detective work?

You go to these little communities to find out if there's books written. I called Clinton, Conn., that's where they keep the wills. I got the will that Benjamin Williams wrote. I got the will that his son wrote. His son and his wife had 11 children. Seven sons. Most of them were ship captains. I'm descended from one of his sons who was a ship captain. They were involved with the sailing ships who were mainly dealing with West Indies, hauling cotton going to Mobile and taking cotton back to the mills in New England.

This great-grandfather, Samuel, Benjamin's son, he was building ships. In 1812 the British sneaked up the Connecticut River. Here's all these ships these people were building, the Haydens, the shipbuilders were building ships along there in 1812. They sneaked up, my grandfather had the boat nearly ready to be launched, the name of the ship was Osage. The British put it on fire. They tried to launch it to try and save it. Several years later they did an archeological dig and the mantle from that ship is in some inn in Connecticut.

You have amazing family history leading to the American Revolution. Is everyone going to find those kind of stories?

When you look at them, most of them were farmers, just ordinary people who did extraordinary things. Try to use your imagination. What was it like.

Are you done researching your family history?

Oh no. I'm still working on it. It's like a detective story. You get clues. Then you just keep going.

SNAPSHOT

Louisa

St. John Durkin

Family: Widowed twice. Three sons, a daughter, a stepson and stepdaughter. 15 grandchildren. Seven great-grandchildren.

Education: Lewis-Clark State College with a Bachelor of Science degree in management technology.

Date of birth: May 1929

Favorite movie: "Gone with the Wind"

Favorite book: I love all books

Favorite author: I like them all

Favorite type of music: Semi-classical

Person who most influenced your life: My parents. My dad was L.A. Williams. Mom was Myrtye Griffith. My father's drive. He had a high school education. He was one of the last men who took a test to be a forest ranger. After that, you had to have a college degree. He had drive to do well.

Best advice you ever received: Don't give up

Quality you admire most in a person: Integrity

Any one thing you consider your greatest accomplishment: I really enjoy doing genealogy for people.