John Wesley Duren

He came with his family to Navarro County in about 1852 and was the 19 year old son of the County Clerk when he enlisted there as a Private in Company I, 4th Texas Infantry on 17 July 1861. He was appointed First Sergeant of his Company on 28 December 1861.

He was in action with his Company at Fox's Gap on South Mountain on 14 September and at Sharpsburg on 17 September 1862.

He was elected 2nd Lieutenant on 4 February 1864 and was slightly wounded in his right thigh and knee in the Wilderness, VA on 6 May 1864. He tendered his resignation on 2 January 1865, but it was not accepted or he withdrew it, as he was surrendered and paroled with his Company at Appomattox Court House, VA on 9 April 1865.

He returned to Texas in December 1865. In 1900 he was the proprietor of a boarding house at 309 West 3rd Avenue in Corsicana, TX. That address is directly across 3rd Avenue from the Navarro County Courthouse and he was still there in 1921.

Service information from Davis1 and his Compiled Service Records,2 via fold3. Personal details from family genealogists and the US Census of 1860 and 1900. His gravesite is on Findagrave.

He married Leora Josephine Kerr (1847-1921) in February 1866 in Navarro County, TX and they had 7 children.

A story, probably from a 1925 interview with John, as recounted by Edward L. Williams on the Navarro County TXGenWeb:

When they surrendered at Appomattox, there were 13 original plus six additional later recruits. No transportation was furnished, and they got home as best they could. John Duren and Hatch Berry observed a Federal Cavalry troop bivouacked near by and after waiting until dark, Berry slipped into camp, stole two saddled horses and they rode back to Corsicana. Berry later said Duren never paid him for his horse.

05/23/1842; Pontotoc, MS

07/25/1925; burial in Oakwood Cemetery, Corsicana, TX