The territory know as Durham was formally included within the boundaries of Albany County. It belonged tot he district of Coxsackie, as organized on 1772. In 1788 this district was formed into a distinct town retaining the original name, Coxsackie. March 8th, 1790 the town of Coxsackie was divided into two nearly equal sections by a line running north and south nearly east of the Villages of Greenville, Freehold and Woodstock. The eastern division retained the original name, Coxsackie while the western portion of the town was organized as the Town of Freehold.

The Town of Freehold, as thus constituted, was very extensive. It included not only the present Town of Durham, but large portions of each of the existing towns of Greenville, Cairo, Windham, Ashland and Prattsville in Greene County and nearly the whole Town of Conesville in Schoharie County.

This immense township must have contained at least 150,000 acres of land. With the exception of a few settlements in the present Town of Greenville and along the valleys of the Manorkill, the Batavia Kill and the Katskill it was wilderness in which the wolf, panther, bear, deer, fox and wild cat roamed in almost undisturbed security. it was heavily wooded with ash, basswood, beech, birch buttonwood, chestnut, elm, hemlock, hickory, ironwood, maple, oak, pine and white wood timber.