DURST, JOSEPH (1789–ca. 1843). Joseph Durst, pioneer and Nacogdoches official, was born on April 8, 1789, at Arkansas Post, Arkansas, the son of Jacob and Anna (Schesser) Durst. His mother died in 1799, leaving his father with eight children. In 1803 Jacob Durst moved his family to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and in 1806 he and his three sons, including Joseph and John Marie Durst, moved to Texas. In 1823 Joseph Durst was serving on the jury in Nacogdoches, where he became alcalde in 1826. He was on the Nacogdoches Committee of Safety and Correspondence in 1835 and after the establishment of the Republic of Texas was active in Indian affairs. He went with Sam Houston and John Forbesqqv to Chief Bowl's village and signed the Houston-Forbes Treaty in 1836. In 1842 he was appointed by Houston as one of a committee of four to treat with the Indians. Durst's wife, the former Delilah Dill, inherited the southeast league of the Helena Kimble grant, which borders the Angelina River on its west side and the Old San Antonio Road on its north side. There Durst built Linwood, which later became the home of George Whitfield Terrell. Durst died before April 1, 1843.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert Bruce Blake Research Collection, Steen Library, Stephen F. Austin State University; Barker Texas History Center, University of Texas at Austin; Texas State Archives, Austin; Houston Public Library, Houston. Carolyn Reeves Ericson, Nacogdoches, Gateway to Texas: A Biographical Directory (2 vols., Fort Worth: Arrow-Curtis Printing, 1974, 1987).
