Felix Donaldson Markham, Sr., was Durham County’s second county sheriff and the first to be elected by popular vote. He served in this position 18 nonconsecutive years: from 1884 to 1886, from 1888 to 1894, and 1896 to 1906. He was the executioner at Durham County’s two hangings—one black man and one white man. Like James Blacknall and John Rigsbee, the sheriffs who came before and after him, he was a member of the Orange Light Artillery (Company G of the Fortieth Regiment), organized to fight in the Civil War.

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