USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 77
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113
opinion in this case is the first judicial aver- ment of the powers of trust companies. The court held: (1) That while it may receive money on deposit, by paying interest thereon, and such deposit may be paid out on check or order, a trust company can not receive money in exchange for its credit, as a bank does, thereby establishing the relation of debtor and creditor. (2) Corporations can ex- ercise only such powers as are expressly conferred on them, by the statute in which are to be found their charter rights, and * * uncertainty or doubt as to the terms of the charter must be resolved in favor of the public. (3) Where the powers conferred upon a corporation are expressly enumerated in the statute, the fact implies exclusion of all other powers not so enumerated. (4) "Usual powers" can not be held to give such com- panies authority to receive money as a gen- eral deposit. (5) Where the words of a statute authorizing trust companies "gener- ally to have and exercise such powers as are usually had and exercised by trust com- panies" are embraced in the same sentence, and immediately follow words giving express power to such companies to accept from and execute trusts for married women in respect to their separate property, it will be held that such general words mean the exercise of stich powers as are usually exercised by trust companies in the management of the separate property of married women, and do not mean that they are to exercise such general pow- ers as trust companies in other States or counties may exercise. (12) In this case, where defendant trust companies seem to have been acting in good faith, no judgment of ouster is entered from such franchises as are legally possessed by them, but judgment of ouster from the exercise of the franchises not granted to them. Judge Burgess wrote the opinion of the court in banc in State ex rel. National Subway Co. et al. vs. St. Louis et al. This affirmed among other things that where a city enters into a valid contract by an ordinance which allots to a private cor- poration particular subway spaces on its streets for laying its telephone and telegraph wires, it can not invalidate or impair that con- tract by a subsequent ordinance repudiating it and allotting the same space to another company ; one such subway company may charge another rent for the use of any part of its way or facilities: the right to charge
429
BURGIN-BURKEHOLDER.
such companies tolls, or to make an agree- ment with other companies for the use of its subway, are franchise rights, derived from the State alone, and with which the city has no concern ; where a telephone company has a clear legal right to the relief sought at the hands of a city, and no special legal remedy therefor, a peremptory writ of mandamus will issue. He wrote the opinion in Scharff vs. Meyer, reported in 133 Mo., 428. This was an action by attachment, rights being be- tween attaching creditors who seized a quan- tity of sugar by attachment while in transit, and an interpleader, who claimed the fund realized from the sale under assignment of the drafts, and transfer of bills of lading. The decision is an exhaustive establishment of what constitutes rights in property. Judge Burgess is a Democrat, but has taken little active interest in political matters. ilis fraternal society relationship is confined to Masonry. He was married March 5. 1855. to Miss Cordelia Trimble, of an old and prominent family in Fleming County, Ken- tucky. One child was born of this marriage, and died in infancy.
Burgin, John, lawyer, was born Ang- ust 22, 1860, in Mercer County, Kentucky. His parents were Temple and Sophia (Old- ham) Burgin, both of whom were natives of the same State. The earliest members of the family of whom there is definite knowledge were residents of Virginia. They are then traced to New Jersey, and at about the time of the close of the Revolutionary War it is recorded that Abraham Burgin went to Ken- tucky and took up residence there, thus being one of the very first pioneers of a State whose trackless forests were beaten down by a countless number of noble forerunners of civilization. After attending the common schools of his native State, John Burgin en- tered Center College at Danville, Kentucky, graduating from that institution in the liter- ary department in 1883. He then attended the law department of the University of Vir- ginia, graduating in 1887. Upon the comple- tion of his legal course he went back to Ken- tucky and for a time engaged in farming at his old home. He was admitted to the bar of Kentucky, but did not practice in that State. In 1889 he removed to Kansas City, Missouri, and there engaged in the practice of his profession. He has been without part-
nership associates and has built up a good general civil practice. Mr. Burgin is a mem- ber of the Kansas City Bar Association. Politically, he is a Democrat. Ile is a mem- ber of the Christian Church. and comes from a family whose members have for generations been prominently identified with that church. He is also a member of the order of Knights of Pythias. Mr. Burgin holds a position of strength and dignity at the Kansas City bar. His methods, his successes and abilities have won for him the respect of his associates as well as the confidence of the general public.
Burkeholder, Abraham II., lawyer, was born June 27, 1835, in Dillsburg, York County, Pennsylvania, son of Joseph L. and Barbara ( Halmon) Burkeholder. His father was a farmer and freighter in Pennsylvania in the early days, during which time freight of all kinds was transported by teams in that portion of Pennsylvania in which he lived. Later in life he removed with his family to Ohio, where he died. Abraham H. Burke- holder was educated in the common schools of Pennsylvania and at the State Normal School in Perry County of that State. At the Normal School he fitted himself for school teaching and thereafter taught school in the winter and devoted himself to other employ- ment during the remaining months of each year. After the family removed to Ohio, he taught school for a time in Pennsylvania and studied law in the meantime. At the end of two years' reading, he was admitted to the bar in 1862, but joined the Union Army before beginning practice. He enlist- ed in 1862 in the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was made ser- geant of Company I of that regiment. Later he became first lieutenant and quar- termaster of the One Hundred and Seventy- ninth Regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in which he served until the close of the war, being mustered ont in June of 1865 at Nash- ville, Tennessee. When the war was over, he returned to Ohio, but shortly afterward came west, and after some persuasion on the part of a friend who was then living at Chilli- cothe, Missouri, he located at Trenton, the county seat of Grundy County. There he began the practice of his profession, in which he has ever since been actively and success- fully engaged, except while holding official position to which he was called by the peo-
430
BURKHEAD.
ple. A sound and capable lawyer, he has de- voted himself to general practice, but has given much attention to the records of real estate transfers, and has compiled a series of books containing abstracts of titles which are of much value. A genial gentleman, as well as a capable practitioner, he is popular with his professional brethren and the gen- eral public. In the fall of 1866 he was elected probate judge of Grundy County and filled that office during the four years following. From 1872 to 1874 he was prosecuting at- torney of his county, and from 1876 to 1880 he represented the Fifth Senatorial District in the General Assembly of Missouri. At different times he has served the public as a member of the Board of Education of Tren- ton and for four years he was president of the board. He was also a member and pres- ident of the board of trustees of Grand River College, and has done much in various ways to promote the educational interests of the State. Ever since he has been a voter, Judge Burkeholder has warmly approved the principles and policies of the Republican party, and his religious affiliations are with the Baptist Church, in which he is a faithful and earnest worker. He has been a mem- ber of the Masonic order since 1863, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since 1858, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen since 1877. He is now a mem- ber of the board of trustees of the Grand Lodge of the last named order. He is also a member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic. December 25, 1862, he married Miss Rebecca A. Waltner. Their three living chil- dren are Poe, Norton and Bliss Burkeholder.
Burkhead, Asbury, lawyer and legis- lator, was born January 20, 1853, at Pucket Station, Georgia, son of Jesse and Rhoda (Wilson) Burkhead. His father, who is a native of North Carolina, and his mother, born in Georgia, are still living at the pres- ent time (1899), the father being eighty-seven and the mother sixty-seven years of age. The elder Burkhead-who is a brother of the renowned L. S. Burkhead, D. D., who died in Raleigh, North Carolina, a few years since -has been all his life a farmer and a repre- sentative of the best type of rural citizenship. His wife, the mother of Asbury Burkhead, is a daughter of Cuffie Wilson, a mathe- miatician of local renown, who ultimately be-
came absorbed in this science to the point of distraction and died insane. Neuce Wil- son, one of his sons and the brother of Mrs. Burkhead, served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and rose to the rank of major. He lost his right arm in action, but refused to leave the service until the end of the war, when he returned home to find his' family impoverished by the results of the great struggle. Exhibiting the same pluck and tenacity of purpose that he had shown as a soldier he began life anew and has since accumulated a competency.
In his youth Asbury Burkhead enjoyed so few educational advantages that, to use his own language, "they are hardly worth men- tioning." At the age of seven years he was sent to a subscription school for about a fort- night and after that he did not attend school again until he was about eighteen years old. He then had about nine months' schooling. during the first three months of which period he walked daily a distance of five miles to and from school. During the remainder of this school year his daily task was somewhat lightened by having a mule to ride to and from his place of study. Good use was made, however, of the meager opportunities thus afforded him for acquiring an education, and when the year ended he opened a subscrip- tion school of his own at Delta, Alabama, and taught it himself, but with what success he does not say. Afterward he read law at & Scottsboro, Alabama, with Robinson Brown. Engaging thereafter in the practice of his profession, he came to Missouri and has followed it successfully in this State. The family to which he belongs was attached politically to the old Whig party and clung to its principles tenaciously, notwithstanding the crucial test of the Civil War. After that party passed out of existence Mr. Burkhead's father became a Republican and in his old age is as much attached to that party as he was to the Whig party in early life. The son also became a pronounced Republican and for many years has taken an active inter- est in political affairs. In 1896 he was elected to the State Senate of Missouri, in which body he soon became recognized as an honest, conservative and conscientious mem- ber, who could be depended upon to perform the duty of the hour, fearlessly and regard- less of consequences personal to himself. He served on various important committees dur-
.
431
BURLINGTON JUNCTION-BURNES.
ing the sessions of 1897 and 1899, and gained special prominence as one of the minority members of a committee appointed to investi- gate the municipal government of St. Louis, which became known throughout the State as the "Lexow Committee," it being similar in character to the famous committee called by that name which, under the auspices of the New York Legislature, investigated the af- fairs of New York City some years since. As a legislator, Senator Burkhead became well known to the people of Missouri, and he was everywhere regarded as an honorable and useful public servant. For many years he has been a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and cherishes a warm regard for that beneficent society. He was married at Ava, Missouri, in 1897, to Miss Rosa Singleton, and his family is composed of Mrs. Burkhead, and Myrtle, Jesse and Lil- lian Burkhead, daughters born of a former marriage.
Burlington Junction .- A town in Nodaway Township, Nodaway County, which was first called Lewiston, from President Lewis of the Wabash Railroad, and this was afterward changed to Cleveland by the people of the "Ohio Settlement." but after the per- manent town was located, half a mile east of the original site, it was given its present name. It is located at the junction of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and the Kan- sas City & Nodaway County Railroads, and their crossing of the main line of the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad. The situation is admirable and a more prosperous and in- viting region can hardly be found in the West than that which surrounds Burlington Junction. It has a population of about 1,000, a bank called the Northwest Bank of Mis- souri, with a capital and surplus of $30,000 and deposits of $50,000; twelve stores, a Methodist Episcopal and a Catholic Church : Burlington Lodge No. 442, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons ; Nodaway Valley Lodge No. 478, Independent Order Good Temp- lars; Burlington Junction Lodge No. 404, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Burlington Junction Lodge No. 215, Ancient Order of United Workmen. The "Burling- ton Junction Post," a paper established in 1880, is well supported.
Burlington Volunteer Relief As- sociation .- A beneficiary association, lim-
ited in the scope of its operations to the "Burlington" Railway system. It was or- ganized in Chicago, Illinois, in IS89, and sub- sequently extended its work over all the lines of the "Burlington" system, thus becoming represented in St. Louis. It pays sick, acci- dent and death benefits to its members, all of whom are employes of the Chicago, Bur- lington & Quincy Railroad Company. Its total membership in 1898 was about 12,000, and there were five hundred members of the association in St. Louis.
Burnes, Alonzo Daniel, a prominent lawyer and jurist, was born near Hampton, in Platte County, October 28, 1864. On the paternal side, he is descended from Scotch ancestry which made a settlement in Virginia prior to the Revolutionary War. James Burnes went to Ohio in early manhood, but soon removed to Indiana, where he became judge of a circuit court, and founded the town of Springfield. In 1838 he located perma- nently in Platte County, Missouri, and was known as one of its most useful and honored citizens. His children were Fielding, named below ; Lewis, a member of the Indiana Leg- islature, and of the Senate of Missouri : James N., a member of Congress from the St. Jos- eph ( Missouri) District ; Calvin, a prominent banker of St. Joseph, and Susan, wife of Samuel Mason, a leading business man of the same city. Fielding Burnes, the third child, was for many years an active merchant at Weston, Platte City, Parkville and Hampton, and later was a freighter on the plains. He organized a battalion of volunteers for the Mexican War, but peace was declared before he could take the field. When the Civil War began his sympathies were with the South, but he recognized the futility of the strug- gle, and gave his effort to avert strife; at critical times he was instrumental in prevent- ing local disorder and crime ; he once served as receiver of the State land office at Savan- nah, Missouri, and afterward as United States revenue collector at Weston. Colonel Burnes married Miss Mary Arnold, who died, leaving a daughter, Susan, now wife of Dan- iel F. Tebbs, of Salt Lake City, Utah. He subsequently married Miss Elizabeth Sum- mers, a cultured and beautiful lady, daughter of Major Jesse Summers, a Virginian, who served in the Kentucky Legislature, and was afterward a useful citizen of Missouri. Born
432
BURNES.
of the latter marriage were Alice, wife of Henry A. Koster, a successful business man and ripe scholar ; Alonzo D., named below; Camilla S., wife of Dr. Spence Redman, a leading physician of Platte County, and Buena Vista, wife of R. Harry Hunter, a lawyer of St. Joseph.
Alonzo D. Burnes, the only son, began his literary education in the country schools near Camden Point, and in turn attended Profes- sor Gaylord's academy at Platte City, and Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennes- see, graduating from the latter institution in 1881. He entered upon the study of law in the law department of the Missouri State University, and graduated in 1885. Entering at once upon practice at Platte City, his suc- cess was assured almost from the beginning, and he was soon recognized as among the most careful and diligent practitioners at the bar, and he was advanced to various im- portant positions in the line of his profes- sion. He was elected to the office of city attorney for four consecutive terms, and then to the office of prosecuting attorney of Platte County for two successive terms. In 1898 he was elected to his present position of cir- cuit judge for the Fifth Judicial Circuit. In liis two years' service upon the bench he has displayed marked ability, and his wealth of legal knowledge, studious habits, and calm dispassionate review of law and evidence are recognized throughout the circuit. He pos- sesses one of the most valuable law libraries in western Missouri, and from it constantly derives fresh learning and inspiration for the duties of his office, and for advancement in the profession. He is a ready and forceful speaker, and has commanded close attention in all the political campaigns of the past fif- teen years. A Jeffersonian Democrat of the old school, he has been an active participant in all important State, congressional district and judicial district conventions during the same period. Intensely loyal to his city and county, he has constantly given his effort to the advancement of public interests ; he has served as president of the Platte County Agricultural and Mechanical Society, and he gave valuable aid to the building of the Leav- enworth bridge ; at the completion of the lat- ter structure, January 2, 1894. he was one of the principal speakers. In religion he is a member of the Christian Church. He holds membership in various fraternal orders.
In Masonry he hasattained to the Command- ery, in which he has served as eminent com- mander, to the Lodge of Perfection, Scot- tish Rite, and he is a noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a member of the orders of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men and the Modern Woodmen of the World, and has held high official position in all. January 7, 1890, Judge Burnes married Miss Evelina Boone, daughter of B. F. Boone, of Howard County. She is a lady of high literary attainments and culture, and was formerly a teacher in the Camden Point Orphan School. Two children born of the marriage are deceased. A nephew of Judge Burnes, Fielding B. Hunter, is being cared for with parental devotion at the Burnes home.
Burnes, Calvin Fletcher, lawyer and financier, was born February 18, 1830, in: Marion County, Indiana. His parents were James and Mary (Thompson) Burnes, whose family history is given in the bio- graphical sketch of his elder brother, Daniel Dearborn Burnes, in this volume. He was the third of the three brothers, born of these parents, whose personal relations were so intimate and whose business enterprises were of so great importance in the development of the railway, banking and other large interests in that portion of the Missouri Valley region known as the Platte Purchase. Calvin Fletcher Burnes took the classical course in Harvard University, afterward entering the law school connected with that institution, from which he was graduated in due time. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Weston, Missouri, but in 1858, under the administration of President Bu- chanan, he was appointed United States dis- trict attorney, which necessitated his removal to St. Louis. He discharged the important duties committed to him with consummate skill and ability and established such a repu- tation as a master of his profession that upon the expiration of his term of office he entered upon law practice in St. Louis and remained so engaged until 1873. At that time the three brothers had undertaken im- portant railway and other enterprises in the Missouri Valley region and in the scheme of co-operation it fell to the lot of Calvin to remove to St. Joseph, Missouri, and there organize the Bank of St. Joseph, of which he
433
BURNES.
became the first president. In 1883 this in- stitution was reorganized as the National Bank of St. Joseph, in which he retained the position he had hitherto occupied in the orig- inal organization. As one of the results of the financial panic of 1876, in which so many fortunes were swept away, the State treas- urer of Missouri was found to be insolvent in the sum of more than one million dollars, the State funds for which he was responsible be- ing on deposit in the Bank of the State of Missouri. Mr. Burnes was one of the prin- cipal bondsmen of the embarrassed official. and, in order to protect his own interests he assumed the liabilities of the bank, assisted by his brothers, and personally undertook the work of liquidation, when the best financiers believed the bank to be hopelessly wrecked. In this intricate and unpleasant task he was so successful as to challenge the admiration of masters of finance throughout the country. Some two millions of dollars passed through his hands during this time, including large sums which he derived from assets scheduled by the bank officials as utterly worthless; and when his work was ended the State loss had been made good, and the bonds- men of the State treasurer stood honorably discharged of any pecuniary liability. In 1885 Mr. Burnes organized the First Na- tional Bank of Grant City, Missouri, besides carrying on numerous private ventures, in which he acquired large holdings of valu- able city property in St. Louis. In 1894 he secured a controlling interest in the Granby, Missouri, Mining & Smelting Company, a large lead and zinc producing property, and became its president. In a political way he was ever an active Democrat, but not a self- seeker. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South and a liberal contributor to its support and to its beneficences. In secret societies he held high rank, being a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he had attained to the degree of Knight Templar. Mr. Burnes was married to Miss Kate Hughes, daughter of James M. Hughes, a wealthy citizen of St. Louis, September 27, 1859. To them was born a daughter, Mary. Mr. Burnes died July 29, 1896, at Ayr Lawn, the family resi- dence, near St. Joseph, Missouri. He was the last of the old Burnes family, famous for the greatness of their undertakings as well as for the success attending them.
Burnes, Daniel Dearborn, lawyer and legislator, was born August 11, 1822, in Marion County, Indiana, sixteen miles south of Indianapolis. IIe was the oldest of three brothers remarkable for the magnitude and success of their undertakings, which contrib- uted largely toward the development of St. Joseph and the region tributary thereto, as well as for their loyal personal devotion to each other. Their parents were James and Mary (Thompson) Burnes, descended from Scotch-Irish stock, who inherited all the best physical and mental traits of that vigorous, strong-minded race, and transmitted them unimpaired to their descendants now living. The family trace their ancestry to Campbell Burness, who was born in Edinburgh, Scot- land, in 1718. His son, Peter, was born in Kincardineshire, Scotland, in 1752, and emi- grated to America in 1771, settling near Nor- folk, Virginia. When the Revolutionary War began he became one of the "minute men" who constituted so large a part of the patriot army, responding to frequent and sud- den calls to arins as necessity required. In 1777 he was married to Miss Charlotte Hay- den, and in the record of their marriage the family name first appears as Burnes. It is here to be noted that in the carly genealogies members of the same family followed no regularity in orthography, but gave the name as Burns, Burnes, or Burness. Peter Burnes and his wife soon removed to Spottsylvania County, Virginia, where were born their sons, James and Daniel ; the former named Febru- ary 14, 1779, and the latter named November 17, 1781, while the father was battling for a country which had not yet won a place among the nations of the earth. James Burnes grew to manhood and was married in Albemarle County, Virginia. December 29, ISO5, to Miss Mary Thompson, who was born in Louisa County, Virginia, August 12, 1787. Their children were eight sons and three daughters: Nelson, Lewis, James, Fielding, Daniel D., Milton, James Nelson, Calvin F., Mary, Charlotte and Susan. The parents moved, first to Indiana, and in 1837 to the neighborhood of Weston, in Platte County. Missouri, where Mr. Burnes acquired a con- siderable tract of land and carried on a gen- eral store. He died there January 16, 1853, and his wife died November 28, 1862. Their son, Daniel Dearborn Burnes, was highly educated. He was graduated from Harvard
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.