This is a book my mother wanted to write but never found time to do it. It is about The Patriarch Priest of Kentucky, Father Elisha John Durbin, the Catholic priest who was also known as The Apostle of Western Kentucky. When my mother died, I continued her work of researching the Durbin family ancestry, and we managed to acquire a lot of information on the beloved Father Durbin. He was a saintly priest whose life story needs to be memorialized for the world to read. This frontier priest outranked most of the clerics of his day. Father Durbin was a man of tremendous personal, physical and spiritual strength. By the end of his nearly lifelong ministry he estimated that he had traveled more than half a million miles on horseback. Over time, Father Durbin developed a craggy appearance due to climatic vagaries. Through the course of his ministry he built at least fifteen churches. During the Civil War his priority was attending to the souls of both Union and Confederate soldiers. He was a saintly man by most definitions.

The book is about my great grandfather, Will Burfening, the son of German immigrants. The story tells of his lifelong battle with the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha Railroad Company in Minneapolis. He fought to keep his home and land, which he had settled under the Homestead Act of 1862. The book chronicles the story behind a landmark case of the American justice system. Over time, his court battles included state and federal district courts, the Minnesota State Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Even the President of the United States became involved!

This is a book my mother wanted to write but never found time to do it. It is about The Patriarch Priest of Kentucky, Father Elisha John Durbin, the Catholic priest who was also known as The Apostle of Western Kentucky. When my mother died, I continued her work of researching the Durbin family ancestry, and we managed to acquire a lot of information on the beloved Father Durbin. He was a saintly priest whose life story needs to be memorialized for the world to read. This frontier priest outranked most of the clerics of his day. Father Durbin was a man of tremendous personal, physical and spiritual strength. By the end of his nearly lifelong ministry he estimated that he had traveled more than half a million miles on horseback. Over time, Father Durbin developed a craggy appearance due to climatic vagaries. Through the course of his ministry he built at least fifteen churches. During the Civil War his priority was attending to the souls of both Union and Confederate soldiers. He was a saintly man by most definitions.