I've been helping a friend whose been working his genealogy for years,
and I don't find any sign that he's asked here for ideas. He's been
stuck for years trying to trace his grandfather's origin - we have
some information, but something must be wrong because we can find no
trace of him prior to his marriage. Any leads that the following data
suggests, or any advice for research, would be appreciated.
His name per social security records and on his marriage license was
Perry Frank Burgess, though he apparently used only Frank. He died 2
Aug 1948 in Advance MO. We have a marriage license for him dated 15
Feb 1909 in Clay Co, AR, where he married Mildred Velma Howard, born
in Indiana (for whom we have two generations of progenitors). The
marriage license shows a birthdate of 9 Dec 1870, which is the date my
friend has from other sources. Place of birth is listed as Georgia
everywhere we can find something.
One odd thing is that he does not show up on the 1910 census under
that name. Recently my friend found him listed as "Milton Verges",
based on matching particulars on his wife and two relatives with whom
they were living in rural SE Missouri. We have no idea how his name
could have been so mangled by the census taker.
But before 1909, we have nothing. The family oral tradition is that
he was born in Georgia, left or ran away from home in his teens and
lived in Alabama with his "cousins" surnamed Baker - there were two
brothers "Bobby and Billy Baker" who were his playmates, apparently
both younger than him. We don't know any more about the Bakers except
possibly that a couple of their descendants were living in Memphis TN
a half century ago - but we have no names. Otherwise, we have that
the grandfather once said that his mother's name was Mary and never
mentioned his father. He was white, possibly with Cherokee heritage,
and on that basis we have looked in SC as well as the other states,
mentioned.
The 1880 census should have him, given this information, but there are
no matching Perry Burgesses, and indeed few Burgesses at all that
could match. There is a Frank Burgess age 9 in 1880, Germany, Monroe
Co, AL with widowed mother Laura, and nothing else tracks. I've pored
over the 1870 and 1880 census records for Georgia, looking for
offspring of a Mary Burgess, and found nothing. The "Milton" and
"Verges" from the 1910 census are completely useless, unsupported by
anything else in records or family history.
Last month I went looking in the 1880 census for Bakers, and found
exactly one Baker family with two boys that could be named "Bobby" and
"Billy", a family living in Cherokee AL in 1880. On the census, there
is a "Bobert", a unique name, but it also lists him as "paralyzed",
which makes us wonder if he could plausibly be playmate "Bobby"; the
mother of this family was named "Mary" and it seems plausible that he
might have considered her a stepmother of a sort. I have not yet
tried to trace what happened to this Baker family, except that
"Bobert" seems to be found nowhere else in history. Given how common
Baker is, I'm not optimistic.
So we have a person who started in Georgia or elsewhere in the deep
South, migrated westward at some point but first appears in NE
Arkansas when he is almost 40 years old, and everything about him from
before then is open to question.
Specialized Burgess mailing lists haven't produced many ideas.
Does any of this information ring any bells, or does anyone have any
suggestions?
Bob LeChevalier
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org
BURGESS, Perry Frank GA, AL, AR? stone wall
Moderator: MOD_nyhetsgrupper
-
Tara
Re: BURGESS, Perry Frank GA, AL, AR? stone wall
Here's a possible match for you. The 1880 index says B.F. Burgess, but it
sure looks like a P to me. The 1870 census confirms the mothers name is
Mary, but they have a child born in May of 1870, only 7 months from Perry's
stated birthdate in December. Still, it looks pretty close... worth a second
look anyway.
Name: B. F. BURGESS
Age: 10
Estimated birth year: <1870>
Birthplace: Georgia
Occupation: Works On Farm
Relation: Son
Home in 1880: Panthersville, De Kalb, Georgia
Marital status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male
Head of household: H. H. BURGESS
Father's birthplace: GA
Mother's birthplace: GA
Image Source: Year: 1880; Census Place: Panthersville, De Kalb, Georgia;
Roll: T9_143; Family History Film: 1254143; Page: 364B; Enumeration
District: 49; Image: 0107.
Name: Henry Burgess
Age in 1870: 31
Estimated Birth Year: 1838
Birthplace: Georgia
Home in 1870: Panthersville, DeKalb, Georgia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Decatur
Roll: M593_147
Page: 238
Image: 86
Year: 1870
--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.
"Bob LeChevalier" <lojbab@lojban.org> wrote in message
news:1jd0n0pt750gf87rh33buts6rcs41hg3ta@4ax.com...
sure looks like a P to me. The 1870 census confirms the mothers name is
Mary, but they have a child born in May of 1870, only 7 months from Perry's
stated birthdate in December. Still, it looks pretty close... worth a second
look anyway.
Name: B. F. BURGESS
Age: 10
Estimated birth year: <1870>
Birthplace: Georgia
Occupation: Works On Farm
Relation: Son
Home in 1880: Panthersville, De Kalb, Georgia
Marital status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male
Head of household: H. H. BURGESS
Father's birthplace: GA
Mother's birthplace: GA
Image Source: Year: 1880; Census Place: Panthersville, De Kalb, Georgia;
Roll: T9_143; Family History Film: 1254143; Page: 364B; Enumeration
District: 49; Image: 0107.
Name: Henry Burgess
Age in 1870: 31
Estimated Birth Year: 1838
Birthplace: Georgia
Home in 1870: Panthersville, DeKalb, Georgia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Decatur
Roll: M593_147
Page: 238
Image: 86
Year: 1870
--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.
"Bob LeChevalier" <lojbab@lojban.org> wrote in message
news:1jd0n0pt750gf87rh33buts6rcs41hg3ta@4ax.com...
I've been helping a friend whose been working his genealogy for years,
and I don't find any sign that he's asked here for ideas. He's been
stuck for years trying to trace his grandfather's origin - we have
some information, but something must be wrong because we can find no
trace of him prior to his marriage. Any leads that the following data
suggests, or any advice for research, would be appreciated.
His name per social security records and on his marriage license was
Perry Frank Burgess, though he apparently used only Frank. He died 2
Aug 1948 in Advance MO. We have a marriage license for him dated 15
Feb 1909 in Clay Co, AR, where he married Mildred Velma Howard, born
in Indiana (for whom we have two generations of progenitors). The
marriage license shows a birthdate of 9 Dec 1870, which is the date my
friend has from other sources. Place of birth is listed as Georgia
everywhere we can find something.
One odd thing is that he does not show up on the 1910 census under
that name. Recently my friend found him listed as "Milton Verges",
based on matching particulars on his wife and two relatives with whom
they were living in rural SE Missouri. We have no idea how his name
could have been so mangled by the census taker.
But before 1909, we have nothing. The family oral tradition is that
he was born in Georgia, left or ran away from home in his teens and
lived in Alabama with his "cousins" surnamed Baker - there were two
brothers "Bobby and Billy Baker" who were his playmates, apparently
both younger than him. We don't know any more about the Bakers except
possibly that a couple of their descendants were living in Memphis TN
a half century ago - but we have no names. Otherwise, we have that
the grandfather once said that his mother's name was Mary and never
mentioned his father. He was white, possibly with Cherokee heritage,
and on that basis we have looked in SC as well as the other states,
mentioned.
The 1880 census should have him, given this information, but there are
no matching Perry Burgesses, and indeed few Burgesses at all that
could match. There is a Frank Burgess age 9 in 1880, Germany, Monroe
Co, AL with widowed mother Laura, and nothing else tracks. I've pored
over the 1870 and 1880 census records for Georgia, looking for
offspring of a Mary Burgess, and found nothing. The "Milton" and
"Verges" from the 1910 census are completely useless, unsupported by
anything else in records or family history.
Last month I went looking in the 1880 census for Bakers, and found
exactly one Baker family with two boys that could be named "Bobby" and
"Billy", a family living in Cherokee AL in 1880. On the census, there
is a "Bobert", a unique name, but it also lists him as "paralyzed",
which makes us wonder if he could plausibly be playmate "Bobby"; the
mother of this family was named "Mary" and it seems plausible that he
might have considered her a stepmother of a sort. I have not yet
tried to trace what happened to this Baker family, except that
"Bobert" seems to be found nowhere else in history. Given how common
Baker is, I'm not optimistic.
So we have a person who started in Georgia or elsewhere in the deep
South, migrated westward at some point but first appears in NE
Arkansas when he is almost 40 years old, and everything about him from
before then is open to question.
Specialized Burgess mailing lists haven't produced many ideas.
Does any of this information ring any bells, or does anyone have any
suggestions?
Bob LeChevalier
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org
-
Tara
Re: BURGESS, Perry Frank GA, AL, AR? stone wall
I spoke to soon. This tree has BF's name as Benj. Franklin and Mary's death
notice confirms the name. Sorry...
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi ... &id=I08131
--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.
"Tara" <NOtnlarkinSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:VG9cd.5557$gy1.2919@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
notice confirms the name. Sorry...
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi ... &id=I08131
--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.
"Tara" <NOtnlarkinSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:VG9cd.5557$gy1.2919@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
Here's a possible match for you. The 1880 index says B.F. Burgess, but it
sure looks like a P to me. The 1870 census confirms the mothers name is
Mary, but they have a child born in May of 1870, only 7 months from
Perry's stated birthdate in December. Still, it looks pretty close...
worth a second look anyway.
Name: B. F. BURGESS
Age: 10
Estimated birth year: <1870
Birthplace: Georgia
Occupation: Works On Farm
Relation: Son
Home in 1880: Panthersville, De Kalb, Georgia
Marital status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male
Head of household: H. H. BURGESS
Father's birthplace: GA
Mother's birthplace: GA
Image Source: Year: 1880; Census Place: Panthersville, De Kalb,
Georgia; Roll: T9_143; Family History Film: 1254143; Page: 364B;
Enumeration District: 49; Image: 0107.
Name: Henry Burgess
Age in 1870: 31
Estimated Birth Year: 1838
Birthplace: Georgia
Home in 1870: Panthersville, DeKalb, Georgia
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Decatur
Roll: M593_147
Page: 238
Image: 86
Year: 1870
--
Tara Larkin
Remove NO SPAM to reply by email.
-
Bob LeChevalier
Re: BURGESS, Perry Frank GA, AL, AR? stone wall
"Tara" <NOtnlarkinSPAM@earthlink.net> wrote:
Yeah. I had found that one. I think I found his death notice as well
at one point, too. He stayed in the locale he was at in 1880.
Thanks for looking.
lojbab
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org
I spoke to soon. This tree has BF's name as Benj. Franklin and Mary's death
notice confirms the name. Sorry...
http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi ... &id=I08131
Yeah. I had found that one. I think I found his death notice as well
at one point, too. He stayed in the locale he was at in 1880.
Thanks for looking.
lojbab
--
lojbab lojbab@lojban.org
Bob LeChevalier, Founder, The Logical Language Group
(Opinions are my own; I do not speak for the organization.)
Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: http://www.lojban.org