Born on February 4, 1797 in Missouri Territory, John Durst came with his brother Joseph to Texas in the early 1800's. Fluent in Spanish, John Durst acted as an interpreter for the Mexican government in Indian negotiations. While serving in the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas at Monclova, Mexico in 1836, he learned of the impending invasion of Texas by Santa Anna and rode 960 miles back to East Texas to warn the settlers. John Durst was an Indian trader and merchant and hoped to establish the town of Mount Sterling on the Angelina River in what is now Cherokee County, but was discouraged by the Cordova Rebellion of 1838. An undated letter to Thomas J. Rusk in the collection tells how some of Durst's property was burned by unidentified persons and may refer to his problems during that time. In 1843 he moved his family to Leon County. Some of the relatives of John Durst represented in the collection include nephew James H. Durst (a custom claims collector in Point, now Port, Isabel), sons John Sterling and Bruno, and his wife Harriet Matilda Jamison Durst.