52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week # 25 Theme  :   Broken Branch

One Broken Branch is in Gerry's Burris tree.  I have written before about the various spellings of my husband's maternal surname of Burris (Buris, Burrows, Burroughs, Burrous, etc).  When we started to build his tree, we knew that his Great Grandfather was Mathew Burris, probably born in Missouri.  Much searching of census records located a Mathew Barrows, of the correct age, in 1870 in the home of a Bathan family in Osage, Benton, Arkansas.  I put that on the back burner because of spelling and location (although it later became true). Then in an 1860 Arkansas census, I found Mathew Buris in the home of Josiah and Elizabeth Buris.  This seemed to give us another generation, so we started working on the history of Josiah Buris (various spellings). Google searches gave us some postings of old letters which told us that Josiah (or sometimes Jessiah) had at least 4 wives... one left him widowed, others he left and may not have married at all in one case.   Another letter/ story supposed that he came to Arkansas on the Trail of Tears although he was not Native American (not true).  Mystery man.... just showed up in Arkansas, 1840, having been born in Tennessee.  Before 1850, family members were not listed in census records. So we hit a brick wall as to his parentage.

Until DNA came along.  Gerry had his DNA tested on Ancestry, which gives you a long list of matches, many of which have trees attached.  Among these matches were quite a few people with the various spellings of Burris in their trees, and ancestors located in Tennessee and Arkansas.  As we followed their trees, we seemed to find that Gerry had DNA matches descended from Anthony Burrows 1770-1822. Josiah was born in 1825, so not a son of Anthony.  But the will of Anthony Burrows showed several sons who might be of age to be father of Josiah.  By process of elimination (for instance, some families went to Alabama or Mississippi at the time that Josiah was born... so eliminated) we found a son of Anthony named William who could definitely be the connection.  However, there is no proof to this possibility.  There are some coincidences, and  maybe I can visit a courthouse in Fayette Co TN where this William lived and died, but the only lead for now, is the DNA.

Thus, Gerry's branch is broken between Josiah and Anthony, although we feel that William is the proof we need.  I won't be posting William on Gerry's tree until we find proof.  Photo is of Anthony's land, Pear Place,  granted in 1806, still called Burrows Cove in Grundy County, Tennessee. 

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  Week #15 Theme - How Do You Spell That?

My husband's grandfather was Jordon Burris (sometimes seen as Jordan). He lived in Oklahoma most of his life, but was born in Missouri.  His father, Mathew, born in Arkansas was listed as Burris, Buris, Barrows, Burrows.  Let's go back another generation. Mathew's father (husband's 2Gt Grandfather) was Josiah Burris, Burrows, Buris, Burroughs.  Not only did he have several name spellings, but he also had several wives... 4 different women, one of whom he married more than once, and another whom he may not have officially married at all.  From these many wives, he had at least 23 children.  It seems that the children could choose the spelling of their surname as they grew up.  So when we track down cousins as we build down the family tree, descendants with various spellings have no idea that they are related to each other.   Through DNA we have found a probable 4Gt Grandfather, Anthony Burrows, of Tennessee. His land in eastern Tennessee is still called Burrows Cove, even though no descendants are living there now.  

We have much to learn about this line of ancestors, but from now on we will go armed... with plenty of various spellings in our notebooks.

 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week #5 Theme - BRANCHING OUT, which could include branches going up or down.

Over the years we have tracked Gerry's elusive Burris/ Burrows ancestors. Through census records and some old letters we found his 2 Gt. Grandfather, Josiah Burrows (Burris, Burroughs, etc.) who was born in Tennessee 1825, and lived in Arkansas, and Missouri. He died in 1889 having been married at least 4 times and fathering 23 children. So Josiah could fulfill the theme of Branching Out, right there.

But, after Gerry had received DNA results on Ancestry, we found that many of his DNA "cousin matches" descended from one Anthony Burrows/ Burroughs who lived in Tennessee in the early 1800s. Not proving the father of Josiah, we could still track his ancestry to this Anthony by DNA. Anthony's will of 1822, Franklin County TN, has given us the information that his land was called Pear Place at the headwaters of the Elk River. With all the geographic info, we could locate this land two hundred years later. As we planned our trip and corresponded with a local gentleman, we were told of a spring which produced a pool called the Blue Hole at the headwaters of the Elk River. And what is the land still called? Burrows Cove. Accompanying photos show the only Pear Tree we could find in Burrows Cove and the beautiful Blue Hole.