Chauncey

 Occasionally I  open the SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY by Edgar Lee Masters and read his poems where the dead speak to us from their small midwestern cemetery. With nothing to lose now that they’re buried, they reveal juicy secrets kept hidden during their lifetimes, secrets which would’ve caused quite a stir if known while they still walked about.

It’s not a stretch to believe similar stories exist in our hometown cemetery. Take for example one man whose marker stone can be found in a lonely spot where it was placed over a hundred years ago. As the story was told to me, they set his grave apart from the sanctified areas because his character didn’t mesh with the judgment of some of the “finer citizens.” 

Chauncey Durgin arrived early in the town’s history and became a prominent businessman. We can go right to the end of his life and find it summarized positively in the obituary printed in The Sheldon Enterprise on February 22, 1917. It doesn’t indicate any reason for isolating him. In fact, it stated his funeral service, officiated by a Presbyterian minister, was one of the largest funerals ever held in Sheldon. Hmm…

The writer of his obituary wrote: “Few men will be missed by the public along Main Street more than Chauncey Durgin. He seemed almost like a permanent fixture, as his little confectionary store was open at all hours and every one was welcomed. Many of the younger generation, and farmers as well, dropped into his place to warm up and chat.”

This paragraph tells us a lot about the frontier town: “At times Chauncey grew reminiscent and told of the good old days when Sheldon was a wild and woolly town, when men fought at the drop of a hat, but they gave him little trouble around his place, for he was a physical giant in his younger days and they were sure to land in the street if they started anything.”

Prominent enough in city affairs to catch the eye of the editor of the local newspaper, several mentions of him occur in its pages throughout the years.

✓ May 12, 1885 - Chauncey Durgin was in town yesterday, and, we are informed, made arrangements to commence work of the roller rink at once.

✓ June 2, 1885 - Young man, when you go into the river bathing, be careful and not get in the wake of passing pleasure boats laden with ladies and gentlemen. Ask C. . . . . . y if this isn’t good advice.

✓Sept 22, 1885 - It is said that the Durgin, or White Elephant Saloon at this place, presided over by G.F. Baley, is the handsomest establishment of its kind in North Dakota.

✓ Oct 27, 1885 - Chauncy Durgin says remember the Thanksgiving Ball at Durgin’s Hall.

✓ Dec 1, 1885 - The largest and best dance ever had in Sheldon occurred last Thursday evening.

✓  The Sheldonites are going to have a daisy time at Durgin’s Roller Rink on New Years Eve - dance, supper, funk music and what not. Those Sheldon people don’t seem to care what the price of wheat is.

✓ May 27, 1886 - Chauncey Durgin is putting in an ice box in the White Elephant Saloon.

✓  Aug 2, 1901 - Chauncey Durgin went to Fargo Tuesday evening and brought back a big stock of canned goods, fresh fruits, confectionaries, and a pretty girl to sell them for him.

✓ 1905 - Say Chauncey, wht the bloody ‘ell’s the matter with the preacher? is a question that many years ago was put to Chauncey Durgin in his White Elephant Saloon in the days when Sheldon was a frontier town. The answer was obvious then and too painful for elucidation now.

✓ 1906 - Last Sat the authorities raided a red light district that had sprung up in the weeds east of town…

✓  May 7, 1909 - Come with us to Alberta, the land of prosperity and plenty. Landseekers’ excursion every week from Enderlin, commencing Thursday, May 20. Special round trip rates to  Crossfield and return only $25. 150,000 acres of the richest land in the famous Rosebud winter wheat district. Now is the time to see these lands. For any further information: address P.J. Hoff Sheldon agent for the Calgary Colonization Company.

✓  June 4, 1909 - Chauncey Durgin departed for sunny southern Alberta on Wednesday to look after the breaking of his real estate there.

✓  1909 - Beer and liquor smuggled in during 1909. Moorhead dealers shipped in a thousand cars full of beer. “Sugar barrels figure prominently in the beer shipments. Each barrel of sugar contains seventy-two bottles of beer.”

✓   (no date) WPA file of Gilbert E. Nordhagen,— I have seen a mother, with several small children hanging on to her dress, go into the big Durgin’s Saloon in Sheldon with tears running down her face to try to get her man home…

✓   Feb 13, 1913 - Twenty Years Ago - Chauncey Durgin’s skating rink was a popular place in the early days and large crowds attended every Saturday evening.

✓ Feb 1, 1917 - Blue Sunday Law went on with a bang in Ransom County…Attorney General Langer took hold of the reins…and immediately discovered the the observance of the Sabbath was being grossly violated. He immediately notified all the state attorneys to see that these violations were stopped forthwith… Sheldon got her order…Denizens are now preparing to strictly observe the law and are laying in a supply so their usual Sunday enjoyments will not be impaired.

✓ Feb 15, 1917 - Chauncey Durgin was taken last evening with a severe heart attack of heart trouble and is in a very precarious condition today.  

✓ Feb 22, 1917 - Chauncey Durgin obituary headlines: Chauncey Durgin, Oldest Citizen and Business Man, Succumbs to Heart Failure

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The foregoing information outlines only a bit of Durgin’s life. One can read between lines and imagine a scenario whereby some might not have thought he had sterling character.   However it’s a story that can’t be completely told of this early businessman in Sheldon. Maybe he can talk to us in the style of Edgar Lee Masters with some of the other characters buried in our cemetery.