Milton J. Durham

Milton Jameson Durham (May 16, 1824 – February 12, 1911) was a U.S. representative from Kentucky and served as First Comptroller of the Treasury in the administration of President Grover Cleveland. An alumnus of DePauw University and the University of Louisville School of Law, Durham held no political office prior to his appointment as a circuit court judge by Governor Beriah Magoffin in 1861. He was elected to represent Kentucky's Eighth District in Congress in 1872. He served three terms and was a member of several finance-related committees. He was narrowly defeated for renomination in 1878 by Philip B. Thompson, Jr. at the district's Democratic nominating convention.

After unsuccessfully trying to regain the Eighth District seat from Thompson in 1884, Durham was appointed First Comptroller of the Treasury in 1885, serving throughout President Cleveland's term. In 1890, after battling a severe case of influenza, Durham abandoned his law practice, moving to Lexington, Kentucky and helping organize the Bank of Lexington. He was an officer of the bank for several years. He ardently held to a sound money position during the height of the Free Silver movement. He was appointed deputy clerk of the Internal Revenue Service at Lexington in 1901, a position he held until his death on February 12, 1911.

Early life and family Milton J. Durham was born near Perryville, Mercer County (now Boyle County), Kentucky. He was the son of Benjamin and Margaret (Robinson) Durham. His grandfather, John Durham, established the first Methodist church west of the Allegheny Mountains, and his descendants, including Durham, were adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. After graduation, he taught in the common schools of Perryville and read law under Joshua Fry Bell. Martha Durham died in 1879. He served in the Forty-third, Forty-fourth, and Forty-fifth Congresses (March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1879). In response to the investigation of Freedman's Savings and Trust, he sponsored legislation designed to better secure the company's assets. At the expiration of his term, Durham returned to his law practice in Danville. His opponents were the incumbent, Philip B. Thompson, Jr., and former Governor James B. McCreary. Durham finished behind both Thompson and McCreary, who won the nomination and went on to defeat the Republican nominee, James Sebastian. The letter went on to say that, while Durham had no plans to actively seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1887, he would consider running if the nomination were offered him, provided that President Cleveland approved of his resignation to seek the office. Later that year, the announcement of Durham as a replacement speaker for Senator William Lindsay at a rally in Mount Sterling, Kentucky advocating the gold standard touched off a riot among free silver supporters in which one man was killed and several others were injured. In 1896, Durham disputed an article that appeared in the Lexington Leader newspaper claiming that he and other sound money backers had advised Treasury Secretary John G. Carlisle not to visit Kentucky at that time. Durham's initial meeting with the newspaper's editor ended peacefully, but when Durham returned later in the day to further protest, he got into an altercation with one of the newspaper's writers and bloodied his face.

Durham was appointed deputy clerk of the Internal Revenue Service at Lexington in 1901 and served until his death in that city on February 12, 1911. He was interred in Bellevue Cemetery in Danville.