Charles Ferson Durant

Background

Charles Ferson Durant was born on September 19, 1805 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of William and Elizabeth (Woodruff) Durant.

Career

When Durant was eighteen, he went to Paris with Eugene Robertson, a French aeronaut, who on July 9, 1825, made an ascension at Castle Garden in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette. With Robertson, Durant made two ascensions in Paris in the summer of 1829, then returned to America and tried to arouse interest in ballooning as a means of transportation.

As early as January 9, 1793, Blanchard (a Frenchman) had ascended in a balloon at Philadelphia before President Washington and a large crowd of people, but Durant’s flight which took place at Castle Garden, September 9, 1830, was the first in which homemade materials were used and which was performed without assistance from foreign aeronauts. This first balloon was made at the Durant home in Jersey City. Other ascensions at Castle Garden occurred on September 22, 1830 ; August 24, Sept. 7, 1831 ; May 29 and June 14, 1833. Durant later made ascensions at Albany, Baltimore, and Boston, all carefully planned and successfully carried out. In Chesapeake Bay he landed on the deck of the steamship Independence. He made one ascent in Albany and three from Boston Common. On the last of these (September 13, 1834) he went out beyond the harbor in one air current and returned in another, and after passing the city continued to the west-northwest, landing at Lincoln. He had been in the air about two hours and had reached a height of 8, 000 feet. This ascension gave the first direct evidence of the shallow character of the sea-breeze. In all, Durant made thirteen ascensions but seems to have made nore after his marriage.

He was engaged for many years in the business of printing and lithographing and took an active interest in political matters, especially in Jersey City. He prepared a book on “Algae and Corallines of the Bay and Harbor of New York, ” and made about thirty copies, each illustrated with actual specimens of sea-weed and other marine flora. One copy was put up for sale at the New York Sanitary Fair and was sold for $150. A copy is in existence in the Jersey City Public Library, and another in the Cryptogamic Herbarium of Harvard University. The American Institute gave him six or more gold medals, one in 1836 for the first silk known to be made in the United States, others for the best specimens of cocoons, raw and sewing silk, and for the successful propagation of silk worms and the utilization of their products. He imported the worms from China. He published in 1837 a book entitled Exposition, or a New Theory of Animal Magnetism, with a Key to the Mysteries, which attempted to expose the methods employed by the Fox sisters, then attracting much attention by their so-called spiritualistic exhibitions. He also published a “physical astronomy” but for some reason bought up the entire edition and destroyed all but one copy. His balloon flights were described in the newspapers of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and also in London and Paris papers.

Achievements

• The first balloon was made at the Durant home in Jersey City. He was the first native-born American to make a balloon flight in this country. Durant also devised a portable barometer. The American Institute gave him six or more gold medals, one in 1836 for the first silk known to be made in the United States, others for the best specimens of cocoons, raw and sewing silk, and for the successful propagation of silk worms and the utilization of their products.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Exposition : Or, a New Theory of Animal Magnetism: With a Key to the Mysteries ; Demonstrated by Experiments with the Most Celebrated Somnambulists in ... Wm. L. Stone'S Letter to Doct. A. Brigham"

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • Letters on Hydraulics: A Correspondence Between E.S. Chesbrough and C.F Durant

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

Interests

• Durant spent much time collecting and classifying sea-weed, doubtless because of a business connection with the fish and oyster trade of New York City.

Connections

Durant married Elizabeth Hamilton Freeland on November 14, 1837

Father:

William Durant

Mother:

Elizabeth (Woodruff) Durant

Spouse:

Elizabeth Hamilton Freeland