I'm a year late but I am taking the "52 Ancestors 52 Weeks" challenge this year. Abram is #1.
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Abram William Burgess 1857-1929
Abram Burgess is my great grandfather
Me - My father - Grandfather Milton Burgess - Great Grandfather Abram William Burgess
Abram Burgess was born in Salt Lake City, Utah territory on 16 July 1857. Abram was the sixth child of Harrison and Amanda Melvina Hammond Burgess.
Abram's family was one of 309 families called to settle in Southern Utah during the October 1861 General Conference of the LDS Church. So Abram was four years old when he moved to southern Utah. His family spent their first winter south of St. George in the Fort Pierce area where there was grazing for the cattle they brought. In the spring they went up to Pine Valley where they made their home and set up Abram's father's lumber mill. His father helped saw logs used for pipes in the organ in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and lumber for buildings including the St. George Temple and Tabernacle as well as homes in the area.
Abram spent his formative years in the small, beautiful town of Pine Valley where he worked hard and also enjoyed friends, church and social life there.
Abram's younger brother Isaac says that their young days were spent helping their father build a home and doing what they could do to help their parents in the struggle to make a living for a family of eleven - six boys and five girls. They started early doing a man's work. They would cut grain with a cradle and help haul and stack the grain. They milked 25 or 30 head of cows and also helped their mother make cheese and butter. They either had to herd cattle or take them to the hills in the morning then go get them at night. As they got older they helped their father make lumber at his sawmill. Abram's father, Harrison Burgess was one of the first to put a sawmill in the Pine Valley Mountains. They used ox teams to get the logs to the sawmill. The sons helped their father saw blocks off of trees which they would split and shave-off to make shingles. They would take the shingles to sell in the mining town of Pioche, Nevada. ... During this time the brothers worked most of their time at the sawmill making lumber to help build up the country.:
Abram was educated in part by his father's first wife, Sophia.
His Daughter, Lucille writes:
"Grandfather Harrison Burgess's first wife was a school teacher, and she begged Grandfather to take a second wife because she was unable to bear children. Aunt Sophia said, "It isn't fair that you have no one to carry on your name, and have no children of your own." She told Harrison, "If you promise me you will do this, I will educate your children."
"Father said she never forgot that promise. He would always try to hide from her, so he could go play with the other kids, but she always found him and Grandpa supported her about this schooling."
"Later Dad told me what having a good education meant to him. He said, "My life has been so rewarding. I can read - and understand what I read. It's not only to be able to read for enjoyment, but to know what's going on in the world, to understand the scriptures, and to follow political events in the governing of our country."
In the spring of 1874 Abe (as he was called), Jeter Snow and Thomas W. Burgess went north to seek work. They cut and burned wood for coke to be used in the mining and smelting industries in Rush Valley and later chopped and hauled wood in American Fork Canyon.
A few years later Abram and his best friend, Jeter Snow went to Nevada looking for work. They were unsuccessful as they traveled north so went back to the Panaca and Pioche area.
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| Jeter Snow and Abe Burgess (seated) |
Here is the story from a history of Jeter Snow written by his daughter:
"Their long search for work and the return trip had all been on horse-back. They had to take many days and let their horses rest frequently while traveling through those seemingly endless sagebrush, lonely valleys. Abe was riding a little cayuse mare he had purchased in Pioche when they left on their trip. The mare was much too small for him. All along the trip Abe had tried to sell, trade or even give her away, but with no luck. When they got back to Panaca, the cayuse was in such bad shape that Abe gave a man a dollar to kill her. It took all the coins both father and Abe had to raise the dollar for the shooting of the mare. It was a sad ending to an eight-week trip."
"Jeter and Abe stayed in Panaca and worked for some time. They cut wood, burned wood for charcoal and did anything else they could to earn a little money."
They never worked in the mines, but burned coal for the smelters. They also hauled wood and freighted some. They were away from home for two years.
Abram Burgess married Sarah Jane Rogers in the St. George Temple on 30 December 1880. She was the daughter of David and Mary Ann Mayer Burgess born on 3 August 1863 in St. George, Utah. She died in an automobile accident on the Buckhorn Flat (23 miles north of Paragonah) at age 62 on 18 June 1926.
Abram and Jane were married over 45 years. Thirteen children were born to this couple. They lost one son at birth, William or Willie as is written on his headstone.
Abram's daughters write of their time growing up:
Mame (Mary Jarvis Skinner) writes:
"In the spring of 1882 my parents with his brothers and a number of other families went down to settle Mesquite Flat. They got the water out on the ground and crops in and the rich soil made things grow beautifully, when just before harvest time the floods came down the Virgin River and washed out the ditches and , as I remember them telling me, a lot of the crops and the rest died for lack of water. So Pa and his brothers went back to Pine Valley where they lived farming, logging, and cattle raising until the summer of 1895. They sold their home and spent that summer at Foster's Ranch on the Clara Creek" (this was apparently north of Veyo)
Abram's brother Isaac Burgess also tells of their time in Mesquite (Nevada):
"About the year 1880 my father and his boys were called or requested to go take the water on what was then called Mesquite Flat. There were some others called at the same time. ..worked there with others for three years, building homes, and clearing land, and putting in crops, a ward was organized.. We also hauled salt rock from the Muddy Valley to St. George to the Wooley, Lund and Judd store to get groceries to live on. We were just getting along so we could live, had cut 30 acres of grain, had it all shocked also 15 acres of hay all cut and piled. I think it was about July, and then it was all destroyed by the big flood water [which] went through fields, washed grain and hay away - some clear into the Virgin River, destroyed all our past work, filled up our ditches, etc. ... We stayed a few weeks longer, made a small ditch to take the water through as the large ditch was completely filled up. But we were not able to do much. After all the loss we suffered, we took the chills and fever, a disease very common in that country then ... So having lost about all we had we went back to Pine Valley, this time our main work was farming."
Mame:
"The spring of 1896 I think it was Pa bought the home where we lived (in St. George) and he never left it. We spent the summers at the Ranch and the winters in St. George. Father and Uncle Jode owned the Ranch together and also the farm in the Clara field. In about 1904 or near there, Pa traded his share of the Ranch for Uncle Jode's share of the field in St. George and stayed there except when he was taking care of his cattle which he still ran up at the Ranch."
Lucille Tegan:
"In St. George Father bought a home by the Black Hill, [the southwest corner of 400 West Tabernacle Street] and twenty-six acres of farming land in the Santa Clara fields. He also bought many acres of range land, and leased acres of range land from the federal government."
"He told me many times in the first years of purchase, the feed in the hills was so good it reached to the bottom of the stirrups on his saddle. Then as the years went by the climate changed. The Dixie country became - most of the time - a hot, dry desert wasteland. Just imagine those faithful pioneers trying to reap a harvest from that dry, parched soil."
"Father tried to farm and raise cattle. When those dry years came he lost so many head. In those days one couldn't obtain a loan from the government to purchase feed for their starving animals. I can imagine our father with a heavy heart watching his cattle die one by one. Then every day feeling that hot wind blowing in his face, and wondering if it would ever cease."
Lucille:
"I think father's legs and knees bothered him most of the time. He was always getting them hurt. I can remember seeing him sitting on the lounge [that] Grandfather Rogers made, his face white with pain, and the doctor pulling gauze from an incision he'd made in father 's leg, to rid him of infection or blood poisoning caused by a bruise to the bone."
"... Dad [liked] to have us children go with him on trips to the ranch and to the farm in the Santa Clara fields. Thelma and I would sit in the back of the old white-top buggy with our feet and legs dangling out at the back and going through the creek bed. Dad would trot the horses and we would sing to the top of our voices we were so happy."
"Another thing I remember about father was his love for flowers. On his rides in the hills he would get off his horse and gather wild flowers, that we might enjoy them too. It seemed like we always had a vase of wild flowers in our home. Seemed like Mother liked to place the flowers on the back of our big flour box, so she could see them as she spent a great deal of time in the kitchen."
"When I think of that huge flour box, and how happy Dad and Mother were to get it filled in the fall so would have our winter supply. It brings back lots of happy memories. I remember dad as he emptied the last sacks of flour in the bin, he would push his hat to the back of his head and smile in a strange happy way at us kids."
Mame:
"One of my fondest memories is of my mother reading aloud to us in the evening or Pa singing and telling us of his experiences and Mother knitting with her eyes closed. Many are the times we all went to sleep lying in front of the fireplace and then Pa would carry us all to bed."
Lucille:
"Father said he hated to be so reserved, and wished he could talk more, and let people know just how he felt. I remember many nights I'd hear Father and Mother talking in bed until I would go to sleep. If they every felt like quarreling they didn't do it in front of us children. It was always peaceful and orderly in our home."
"When Mother was killed he really suffered so much. [She died in an automobile accident in 1926.] He said it was terrible to feel her grow cold and stiff in his arms."
Lucille:
"Father was so independent. During the Great Depression many people accepted relief from the government. Father didn't believe in it. He felt like as long as you could work, you should strive to take care of yourself. (He had the same philosophy as Brigham Young.) So he started raising chickens to sell, and he also kept laying hens."
"He died [in 1936] suddenly one evening while doing chores. When they lifted him to bring him into the house his little worn wallet fell from his pocket. In that little purse they found enough money for all his burial clothes. So even to the end he was strong and wise and independent. What a wonderful example for all of us."
Mame:
"... there never was a more humble or sincere man in the world. He never pushed himself forward."
Lucille:
"I've tried to show what a noble and honest person he really was. He loved his family; and Mother and Dad brought much happiness into their home. There were many joyous occasions we shared together."
"In material things our needs were many, nevertheless, we realized they did the best they could for us. Times were hard, and we accepted what they could give us, and were grateful for their sacrifices."
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Children:
Belle Vilate Burgess • 1881-1955
md: George Raymond Hardy
Abram Burgess • 1883-1964
md: Mary Maudeen Whitney
Diantha Burgess • 1885-1910
md: Clifford Sullivan
Diantha died unexpectedly after a miscarriage at age 25
Milton Burgess• 1887-1951
md: Clara Cannon
Mary Burgess • 1889-1978
md: Frank Woodbury Jarvis
md:Chester Louis Skinner
David Burgess • 1891-1955
William Burgess • 1893-1893
Karl Burgess • 1894-1963
md: Laura Elizabeth Owen
Dora Burgess • 1897-1963
md: Levi Empey
Kate Burgess • 1899-1961
md: Vivian Milne
Jane Burgess • 1902-1982
md: Edward Parry Brooks
Thelma Burgess • 1904-1996
md: Alvin Alfred Jones
Lucille Burgess • 1907-2000
md: James Thomas Tegan
md: Delno Avon Smith
See Abram William Burgess part two with obituary, headstone and death certificate
here.
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Sources:
Family records held by Cindy Burgess Alldredge
Privately published histories:
"A Short Sketch of My Father: Abram William Burgess" author: Mary (Mame) Burgess Jarvis Skinner
"Our Father - Abram William Burgess" Lucille Burgess Tegan
"The Life of Jeter Snow 1855-1936" author: Larue Snow Carter
WPA Interview:
"Brief History of Isaac H. Burgess" St. George, Utah -- September 16, 1935
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Related Posts:
Abram William Burgess - part 2
Sarah Jane Rogers Burgess
Children of Abram William and Sarah Jane Rogers Burgess
