Volume 7, Number 10 - Winter 1982
I've Found You, William Burton!!!
by Laura M. Lee
I have finally located the grave of my great, great, great grandfather. It all began in March 1975 when we visited the Douglas-Taney County, Missouri area to research on my DELP, SQUIRE, BROWN, and BURTON ancestors. We had come to a dead end on my Burton line. My great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Burton (who was the first wife of Jesse Brown), had died in 1881 at the age of 39 years. Since she was so young at the time of her death, no one in the family remembered anything about her parents.
This was when we met Cinita Brown. She directed us to Dorothy Haynes who was a grand-daughter of James B. Burton. Dorothy said she didn't know anything about her great grandparents, but she told us to go visit her Uncle Jim Burton. So we went immediately to his home near Squires. James C. Burton was near 80 years old then and in frail health, but his mind was in perfect condition.
James Burton said, yes, he remembered his father, James H. Burton, who was a brother to our Mary Ann Burton, telling about his parents, William and Betty Burton. He said they came from Tennessee and during the Civil War, William had been killed by some bushwhackers while he was out chasing his cattle. The men that killed him went up to the cabin and told Betty where to find him near the creek; and Betty and her son, James H. Burton, buried him in a quilt right where he had been killed. After that Betty and her children went up to the Fort at Springfield where she lived to an old age. Uncle Jim didn't know where Betty was buried, nor did he recall any of the other children.
When I checked the 1850 and 1860 Taney County, Missouri census, I found a William and Elizabeth Burton family living in Campbell Township. (This was the part of Taney which became part of Douglas County in 1864.) It showed William Burton born in Tennessee and among the children were my great, great grandmother, Mary Ann, and Uncle Jim Burton’s father, James. We had the right family.
In the next years I was able to find the marriage of William Burton to Elizabeth Caldwell in 1832 in Independence County, Arkansas. William and Betty lived in White River Township in Independence County, Arkansas around 1840 before coming to Missouri. I dug out clue after clue, finding out William had served in the Black Hawk War in 1831 from Illinois, and that was how he obtained 160 acres of bounty land in Taney County. Then someone told me of S. Turnbo's writings on the Civil War and among them the account about the murder of Billy Burton. Turnbo wrote that Billy Burton lived in a hollow one and one-half miles south of the Lawrence Mill on Beaver Creek...known as Roosterville. The account went on to say that Billy was shot by a party of desperate men and among them was Lee Basier, a nephew, who also was the person who scalped Burton and carried away the scalp. It said Burton was killed near where Brown Branch is now on Little Caney Creek, sometimes called Dry Caney. A group of women buried Burton in the woods on a level plot of ground one-half mile west of Caney Creek and one and one- fourth miles south of Big Beaver Creek. Burton’s grave is in a field now but an oak tree was left standing at the grave to mark the spot where Burton, who was a Union man, received interment. The names of the women who helped bury Mr. Burton were Mrs. Lottie Allie, wife of Wiley Allie, Mrs. Sallie Roberts, wife of John Roberts, and Miss Lucy Allie, daughter of Wiley Allie.
Well, there was the story! Could I prove it true or false. First of all, a check of the deeds at the Douglas County Courthouse proved the place where Burton lived correct. Then with help we discovered that Lucy Alley’s first husband was a Bozarth (which was pronounced Basier) Sarah Roberts was a sister to Lucy and both were daughters of Lottie and Wiley Alley. Everything started to fall into place.
Around Christmas 1980 I decided to write all the landowners in the target area around Brown Branch to see if anyone knew about my William Burton’s grave as Turnbo had described. I thoroughly expected most of them to think I was completely crazy and to throw my letter in the waste basket. I was wrong. I received a letter back from almost every one of the people I wrote to, and one young man even called me from Saint Louis. All of them told me the lady I needed to talk to was Mrs. Bertha Herd who could help me. I called her immediately. She said she
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was familiar with my story as everyone that received my letter had called her first. Yes, she knew of a grave on her fathers homestead (James Lewis) that was almost precisely in the location described by Turnbo. Her father had not told her the name of the person buried there, but she heard many times that it was a man killed during the Civil War who had been scalped. It was near the fence line with a big oak tree beside it; and as children, she and her sister always put flowers on it. She said the oak tree was still there in the 1940s. Also, she was familiar with the families of Alley, Roberts, and Floyds as they were all neighbors next to her father’s farm when she was growing up.
In June, 1981, I visited Mrs. Herd and we went over to her father’s old farm (now owned by Thomas Benzen). The fence had been taken down and the oak tree was no longer there, but Mrs. Herd without hesitation looked about and said, ‘there is where it should be." Mr. Benzen said that was where the old fence line had been. I was convinced completely that she knew exactly where that grave was. I had found the resting place of my great, great, great grandfather, William Burton!
WILLIAM BURTON
I. William Burton was born Jan.28, 1810 White County, Tennessee. He died during the Civil War in Taney County, Missouri and is buried in an unmarked grave behind the present home of Thomas Benzen in Section 9 of Beaver Township.
William was married to Elizabeth Caldwell on October 3, 1832 at Independence County, Arkansas. The names of her parents are not known at this time. Elizabeth was born about 1814 in Missouri Territory (which is now the State of Arkansas.) She was living in Hickory County, Missouri in 1874. Her date of death and place of burial are not known yet.
Issue:
1. i Daughter M_________Burton born in 1833, Ark. Living with her parents in Taney Co., Mo. on 1850 census. Believe this is Martha who married William Bozarth and was in Hickory Co., Mo. in 1870s.
2. ii John H. Burton born Jan. 1835, Ark. Perhaps the same John Burton living in Douglas Co. on the 1860 census with wife Nancy A.? There was a John H. Burton living in Barry Co., Mo., Roaring River Township on the 1900 census. Perhaps this is ours?
3. iii William C. Burton born about 1836, Independence Co., Ark. Died Feb. 1864 in Duvalls Bluff, Ark, while serving in the Union Army. He was married to Mrs. Delphia A. Dudley in Ozark Co., Mo. August 12, 1855. Delphia was born about 1836 in Tenn. and died July 3, 1861. They had at least two children: John H. Burton,Jr. born June 9, 1857, Ozark Co., Mo. who was living with his grandmother, Elizabeth Burton, in Hickory Co., Mo. on 1870 census; and Sarah J. Burton born about 1859 and deceased before 1864 apparently.
4. iv Sarah Burton born about 1839, Independence Co., Ark. Living with her parents in Taney Co. on 1860 census.
5. v Mary Ann Burton born May 22, 1842, Independence Co., Ark. Died Dec. 16, 1881 Douglas Co., Mo. and buried Fannon Cemetery. Married Jesse Brown in 1862. Jesse was born in 1842, Jackson Township, Taney Co., Mo. and died May 12, 1900 at Ava, Mo. Six children: Louise S. Brown born 1863; George Henry Brown born July 4, 1866; Martha Frances Brown born June 17, 1868; Isaac Sherman Brown born Dec. 17, 1870; James Lihu Brown born Feb. 4, 1873; and William Samuel Brown born Oct. 5, 1876.
6. vi Elizabeth Burton born about 1843, Ark. Living with her parents in Taney Co., Mo. on 1860 census.
7. vii James Harrison Burton born June 20, 1849, Mo. Died March 17, 1926 and buried Frye Cemetery. Married (1) Sarah Eddings. She was born in 1855 and died in 1881. He married (2) Mary Belle Eddings August 12, 1887 at Douglas Co., Mo. Mary was born March 31, 1859 and died July 29, 1938. Eleven children: John R. Burton born about 1875; Henry H. Burton born about 1876; Albert R. Burton born about 1878; Mary Burton born Feb. 19, 1881; William Burton born Jan. 9, 1882; Ada Elva Burton born Feb. 16, 1888; George Harrison Burton born Feb. 5, 1890; Flora Ann Burton born June 7, 1892; James Corbet Burton born March 20, 1894; Robert McKinley Burton born Feb. 1897; and Bailey Lee Burton born November 19, 1898.
8. viii Samuel Burton born about 1852, Mo., living with parents in Taney Co., Mo. on 1860 census.
9. ix Lucinda Burton born about 1854, Mo. Living with mother in Hickory County, Mo. on 1870 census.
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