brothers had already reached adulthood and were making their way. Nacogdoches merchants William Barr, Luther Smith, Edward Murphy, and Davenport had established the mercantile House of Barr and Davenport in 1798. During Spanish Texas, the distribution center was an importer and exporter of merchandise between Louisiana and Texas, serving both the Spanish troops and the area Indian tribes. Under Davenport's guardianship, the young Durst learned the mercantile trade and became fluent in several languages, including those of Indian tribes among whom the House of Barr and Davenport maintained resident traders. When the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition captured Nacogdoches on August 12, 1812, Davenport became the quartermaster for the filibuster, supplying both arms and materiel, as well as rallying volunteers to join the cause. With the expedition defeated the next year, the Spanish government offered a reward for Davenport's capture. Davenport fled with 16-year-old Durst to Natchitoches, Louisiana. On January 8, 1815, Durst fought in the Battle of New Orleans, as part of the Louisiana militia, second division. Afterward, Durst returned to Natchitoches. Land owner Davenport died in 1824. He bequeathed acres in Louisiana to Durst. Davenport's son Juan Benigno swapped Durst the Louisiana acreage for acreage on the west side of the Sabine River in Texas. Part of the property included the Old Stone Fort in Nacogdoches, which Durst owned until 1834. That year he sold it to Juan Mora and Vicente Córdova. The land transactions took time to complete. As a result of his swap with Benigno, in April 1834 Durst received a Mexican land grant for five leagues, which was surveyed in three separate tracts in Houston, Nacogdoches and Anderson counties. Durst had originally petitioned for land to be located on the eastern margin of the Trinity River. He was likely trying to recover the Barr Rancho, a large tract lost by his adoptive father Samuel Davenport. [Durst was the successor to the landholdings of the only official Indian trading establishment licensed by the Spanish government in the Province of Texas, known as the House of Barr and Davenport]. Davenport's lands had been confiscated by the government in 1813 due to Davenport's participation in the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition. But the Alcalde of Nacogdoches, Juan Maria Mora, said that available lands on the east bank of the river were limited to those "two leagues below [downriver from] the Old Presidio [Trinidad de Salcedo] and two leagues above [upriver from] the same." Durst