Durham, Connecticut
Middlesex county. This town was first settled in 1698. Its Indian name was Coginchaug. It lies 7 miles S. by W. from Middletown and 20 S. from Hartford. Population, 1830, 1,116. Agriculture is the principal employment of the people of Durham, for which they have rather an uneven but fertile soil. "This town has been distinguished for many years for a very fine breed of cattle. Two oxen, presented by some of the inhabitants to General Washington, furnished a dinner for all the officers of the American army at Valley Forge, and all their servants. These oxen were driven almost five hundred miles, through a country nearly exhausted for forage; yet one of them, a steer, five years old, weighed two thousand two hundred and seventy pounds."
Capt. Israel Camp, a noted psalmodist, died in Durham, in 1778.
