USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 78
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University, in the classical course, and took his degree from the Harvard Law School. Some five years later he and his brother, James Nelson, became law partners and dur- ing their practice conducted successfully a great number of intricate cases involving title to large tracts of land and immense sums of money. Meanwhile Daniel Dearborn Burnes engaged in various financial transac- tions which brought him large returns. Be- ing a large slaveholder in Tennessee, early in the war days he disposed of his holdings and in 1862, at Memphis, invested the pro- ceeds in cotton, bought at a low price. This he marketed in Liverpool, England, at a great advance, receiving in payment gold coin, which in this country commanded a high premium. In 1865 he organized a company and built a railroad from Weston, Missouri. to Atchison, Kansas, now a portion of the Burlington system. During this time he also acquired large land holdings in Atchison city and county. He was elected a State Senator in 1866, and while serving in that position he made a determined opposition to the pro- scriptive legislation enacted under the Drake Constitution, growing ont of war antagonism. He was a Democrat at all times and under all circumstances, giving most active support to the party with personal efforts and means. In his religious life he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, consist- ent in his personal conduct and liberal in his benefactions. He was an active member of the Masonic fraternity and occupied the high position of eminent commander of Weston Commandery of Knights Templar. Senator Burnes was married May 13, 1851, in Platte County, Missouri, to Miss Virginia Winn, daughter of a prominent and wealthy farmer of that neighborhood. She died in April, 1866, her husband surviving her but one year and dying before the expiration of his term as State Senator. They left two sons, James N. and Lewis C., and four daughters, Mary, Emma, Kate and Virginia, all of whom were adopted by James Nelsonand Calvin Fletcher Burnes, brothers of their father. The life history of so useful and successful a man as Senator Burnes would be incomplete without further reference to the peculiar relationship subsisting between himself and his brothers, remindful of that of Jonathan and David, yet surpassing that in practical brotherly confi- dence and affection. He and two of his
brothers, James Nelson and Calvin Fletcher, were similarly educated, all being graduated from Harvard University in the classical course and from the Harvard Law School. but necessarily in different years. Two, Dan- iel and James, became law partners. Among all the three subsisted so close a tie of kin- ship and general affection that in early man- hood it was agreed that such property as they might individually acquire should be held in common and in the event of the death of either, his children were to be adopted by the surviving brothers, to be cared for as re- ligiously as though their own. Every detail in this agreement was strictly observed and faithfully carried out during the lives of all these devoted men. They being now dead, it is to be said that their works do follow them. The children of these brothers, cling- ing to the tender sentimentalism and regard for each other's weal which actuated the par- ents, have conveyed all their property inter- ests to a corporation known as the Burnes Estate, in which all are stockholders. The example of the elders, adopted and perpetu- ated by the younger generation, in a tangible form which conduces to the prosperity of the community, is a prouder monument to a worthy family than any shaft reared by human hands.
Burnes, Daniel Dee, lawyer and member of Congress, was born January 4, 1851, at Ringgold, Platte County, Missouri, and died November 2. 1899, at Ayr Lawn, St. Joseph, Missouri. His parents were the Honorable James Nelson Burnes, represen- tative of the Fourth Missouri Congressional District for several years, and Mary (Skin- ner) Burnes. Both his ancestral lines were of that strong and courageous class that has conquered a continent and built a great civil- ization. On the paternal side the house is of Scotch-Irish blood and the name could un- doubtedly be traced back to a relationship with Scotland and the world's sweetest singer in rythm and rhyme, Robert Burns. The great-grandfather of Daniel Dee Burnes settled in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, at an early day and was one of the Revolu- tionary heroes, taking a prominent part in that historic struggle. James Burnes, the grandfather, ruled by the adventurous and freedom-loving pioneer spirit, removed to In- diana in the opening years of the last century,
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and in 1837 emigrated still farther west to the Platte Purchase, settling near the town of Weston, Missouri. James Nelson Burnes, the father of Daniel Dee Burnes, was ten years of age when the family found a home in the then undeveloped but none the less prom- ising country. As is generally known, few men have left a deeper impress upon north- west Missouri or won the esteem of the peo- ple in a greater measure than James Nelson Burnes. He was lawyer, judge, banker, man of large affairs and congressman, rising to a place of national distinction and eminence. A more complete sketch of this distinguished man is made a part of this history under his own name. The Skinner family, of which the mother of Daniel Dee Burnes was a member, is of Kentucky origin and its mem- bers were of the best people in that State. Daniel Dee Burnes was given superior edu- cational advantages, graduating from the St. Louis University of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1870, and receiving the degree of bachelor of arts. In 1874 the degree of master of arts was conferred upon him. While he was attending the university he formed the de- termination to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious father by adopting the legal pro- fession, and he therefore entered the Har- vard Law School and began to thoroughly equip himself for the practice. He received the degree of bachelor of laws from that in- stitution, and, returning to Missouri, was ad- mitted to the Missouri bar by the Platte County Circuit Court in 1875. Mr. Burnes soon showed his capacity as a lawyer of abil- ity and as a careful business man. The in- terests left by his father were of such pro- portions that wise management was required to administer upon the affairs of the large estate, and to this task the son showed him- self abundantly equal. He made investments in divers lines of business and executed the work with marked ability. The confidence the people of the Fourth Congressional Dis- trict of Missouri had in him was demon- strated in 1893, when they elected him to the Fifty-third Congress by a flattering majority. He had the statesmanlike reputation of his father to emulate, and his record while he was in public life shows that the son pos- sessed the same realization of the fact that he was there to serve the people that char- acterized the legislative acts of James N. Burnes. He was instrumental in carrying
out a number of important movements and secured the passage of bills that were of great interest to the people he represented. At the close of his two years in Congress Mr. Burnes' political aspirations looked no farther into the future, and he was not a . candidate for renomination. Mr. Burnes was connected with a large number of orders and secret societies. He was a Mason, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, a Knight of Pythias, an Elk, and a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and the Sons of Hermann. Liber- ality was synonymous with the name of Dan- iel Dee Burnes, and he bestowed his means upon many deserving institutions and every worthy cause that appealed to him as merit- ing his assistance. He was married May 17, 1877, to Miss Martha Swearingen Farrar, of St. Louis, Missouri. They have one living child, Kennett Farrar Burnes, who is prepar- ing himself for a legal career.
Burnes, JJames Nelson, lawyer, capi- talist and member of Congress, was born August 22, 1827, in Marion County, Indi- ana. His parents were James and Mary (Thompson) Burnes, whose family history is narrated in the biographical sketch of the older son, Daniel Dearborn Burnes, in this volume. James was the second son of the three brothers born of these parents, and in the vast business enterprises projected and successfully established by them he was not only their equal in interest and their asso- ciate in management, but he also entered public life, where he rendered the State excel- lent service, winning for himself high honor as a sagacious legislator and an eloquent ad- vocate of such policies and measures as he favored, in the halls of Congress and before the people. James Nelson Burnes acquired an excellent education, completing the classi- cal course in Harvard University, and then entering the law school connected with that institution, from which he was graduated about 1850, when he engaged in the practice of his profession in Weston, Missouri. He soon won a leading place at the bar, at the side of men of great legal ability. In a few years, however, he practically abandoned the law, save to care for the interests of himself and relatives, or in an advisory way with personal friends, in order to enter upon busi- ness enterprises which were to contribute largely to the making of fortune for him-
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self and those associated with him. In 1870 and 1871 he financed and built the Chicago & Southwestern Railway from Eldon, Iowa, to Leavenworth and Atchison, Kansas, now a part of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific system. He also, during the same years, constructed the railway bridges across the Missouri River at Atchison and Leaven- worth. In 1873 he removed to St. Joseph, Missouri, a more central point from which to conduct his business enterprises, and this necessitated the removal from Weston to that city of the Platte County Savings Insti- tution, of which he had been president from 1865. In his new location he organized the St. Joseph Water Company, of which he be- came the president. Amid the cares of these enterprises, in which he was associated with others, he gave close attention to individual concerns, and acquired large holdings of farm property in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the counties of Buchanan, Andrew, Platte and Worth, Missouri, and of city property in St. Joseph. There were, besides, grave inter- ests which demanded untiring vigilance and the utmost sagacity. The State Bank of Missouri closed its doors in the early days of the financial panic of 1876, causing a de- linquency of more than one million dollars in the accounts of the State treasurer, who had deposited the State funds in that insti- tution. Colonel Burnes and brothers were his principal bondsmen, and financially so cir- cumstanced that their individual fortunes were liable to make good the delinquency. In this extremity the brothers assumed the indebtedness of the bank, Calvin Burnes tak- ing immediate management of it, with Col- onel Burnes acting as legal advisor, and transacting a large part of the business in- cidental to liquidation. In this stupendous undertaking his grasp of financial matters was so strong and his conduct of affairs so judicious, that all legal complications were averted, every dollar of the State indebted- ness was paid and without detriment to the individual fortunes which had been put in jeopardy. During the Civil War, at Weston, Missouri, a militia regiment was organized, of which he was elected colonel. It was not called into the field, and Colonel Burnes made light of the service, but the military title which he derived from it remained with him throughout the remainder of his life. In 1870 he was elected judge of the court of
common pleas in Weston, and declined a re-election in order to engage more actively in the lines of business in which he was destined to become at once successful and conspicuous. In 1882 he was elected to Con- gress from the St. Joseph district and in that position displayed such commanding ability that he was three times elected to succeed himself. His services upon the appropria- tion committee of the House of Repre- sentatives, in which he had charge of the consular and other important appropriations, were of especial value to his colleagues, to the service and to the country. In his fourth congressional term, January 24, 1889, while upon the floor of the House of Repre- sentatives engaged in the consideration of an important measure, he was stricken with par- alysis, which resulted in his death shortly after midnight. The sad event occasioned deep sorrow in Congress, both houses hold- ing memorial services, where fervent tributes were paid to the memory of the deceased. Committees to convey the remains to St. Joseph, Missouri, for interment, were ap- pointed. Colonel Burnes was a Democrat from the earliest day of his ability to form an opinion upon political affairs, and through- out his life he was carnest and able in sup- port of the principles of the party, and particularly vigorous as a public speaker. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Church, South, and a most liberal contributor to all its purposes, as well as to all other well- deserving objects. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which he had risen to the high rank of eminent commander of St. Joseph Commandery of Knights Templar. He also held membership with the Knights of Pythias. Colonel Burnes was married July 15, 1847, to Miss Mary A. Skinner, daughter of one of the most wealthy citizens and largest landowners of Platte County, Missouri. She was a most lovely and estimable Christian woman, and although an invalid, she adopted the six fatherless children of Daniel Dear- born Burnes, brother of her husband, and reared them with as tender devotion and lov- ing solicitude as she did her own. To Col- onel and Mrs. Burnes were born two sons, Daniel Dee, who died November 2, 1899, and Calvin Carr, who died November 27, 1893, who inherited all the high traits of character which marked the parents, and who carried on the large business affairs committed to
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them, with conspicuous ability, and with ab- solute fidelity toward those whom they repre- sented. Daniel, born in 1851, was elected to represent the Fourth District of Missouri in Congress, in 1893, but two sessions later than that which witnessed the death of his father, then a member of that body. All the children are now inheritors in the Burnes Estate, a corporation whose means are em- ployed in great enterprises upon which the prosperity of St. Joseph largely depends. In that city the memory of Colonel Burnes, allied with the memory of his brothers, is held in affectionate and admiring regard, as one of the really great and useful men whose lives are helpful to their fellows and their example an inspiration for those who follow them.
Burnes, Lewis Calvin, banker and capitalist, was born November 9, 1860, at Weston, Missouri, his parents being Daniel D. and Virginia (Winn) Burnes. The bio- graphical history of the family is given in the life of the father of the subject of this sketch, Daniel D. Burnes. Lewis, inherit- ing the business ability that characterized the lives of the members of this prominent fam- ily whom he succeeded, has accepted the responsibilities devolving upon one who un- dertakes to handle the affairs of a large estate and has proved himself a man of great sagacity and high purposes. He has always been an unpretentious man, avoiding, rather than seeking, the attention of the public, and devoting his time almost exclusively to the management of the affairs that fell upon his shoulders when the death of his uncle, Calvin F. Burnes, made it necessary for him to step into the place so successfully filled by those who went before him. As the active head of several of the largest corporations in Mis- souri and as a leader in public enterprises of a wholesome character, Lewis Burnes has maintained the high standard set for him in the business world by his family predecessors. In 1873 he removed to St. Joseph from Wes- ton, Missouri, where he was born, and took advantage of the opportunity to fit himself for life's duties by devoting himself to the course of study in the high school of St. Joseph. He was a member of the graduat- ing class of 1879. The love of the old school days and the associations that were inde- structibly formed during the time he was
preparing himself for the sterner realities of life never forsook Mr. Burnes, and he shows his unfailing devotion to the schools by hold- ing the position of president of the St. Joseph Alumni Association and by taking an active interest in the affairs of the organization. A thorough education in the public schools was, therefore, the foundation for Mr. Burnes' suc- cessful career. From 1879 to 1882 he was a clerk in the Bank of St. Joseph, which was afterward reorganized as the National Bank of St. Joseph. In 1882 he was made secre- tary of the St. Joseph Water Company. In 1891 he was actively interested in the organ- ization of the St. Joseph Light and Fuel Com- pany, and he was the first vice president elected under the new corporation. In 1894 he was elected vice president of the National Bank of St. Joseph. Calvin Burnes, the pres- ident of this financial institution, died in the year 1896 and the subject of this sketch was elected to the position of president of the bank. Mr. Burnes is vice president also of the Granby Mining and Smelting Company. In 1887 he was the secretary of the St. Joseph Natatorium Association and was one of the prime movers in the work of organiz- ing the company and establishing a place for indoor exercise and pleasure. He was pres- ident of the St. Joseph Sand Company in 1887. He was at the head of the movement, having several prominent capitalists associ- ated with him, to lay out and improve Saxton Heights, a suburb that has proved to be a desirable one for residence purposes and has grown to be one of St. Joseph's best subur- ban divisions. In 1897 he was elected direc- tor in the Mechanics' Building and Loan As- sociation. In 1898 he was elected president of the St. Joseph Clearing House Associa- tion and gave evidence of further interest in the growth and welfare of the city by serv- ing as treasurer of the Commercial Club dur- ing the years 1894 and 1895. Mr. Burnes is now at the head of the affairs growing out of the immense Burnes Estate and is its vice president and general manager. His busi- ness affairs have consumed the entire time of a life that is still in its prime, and he has never entertained political ambitions of any kind. He is at his desk early in the morning and remains there faithfully until after busi- ness has closed for the day. There is little ostentation in his make-up, and when he is not directing business details Mr. Burnes is
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almost invariably with his family, caring lit- tle for the fickleness of the world or the glamour and glitter of society. His political affiliations have always been with the Demo- cratic party. He came from a family that held fast to the principles of Democracy and from a section of the State where Democrats have always been far in the majority. Mr. Burnes is not bitterly partisan in politics but holds charitable views concerning the polit- ical faith of those who come in contact with him from day to day. In church work Mr. Burnes is not particularly active, but he is a firm believer in Christianity and is affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. He has advanced far along the paths of Masonry and has experienced the work in the subordinate branches of this order, the Shrine and the Commandery. In 1894 he was the eminent commander of Hugh de Payens Commandery, Knights Templar. He is a member also of the King Hill Lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married July 6, 1886, to Miss Carrie Ida Collins of St. Joseph, whose father was one of the most prominent mer- chants of his day. To Mr. and Mrs. Burnes three children have been born: Calvin Carr, aged six, Virginia Winn, aged nine, and Mar- guerite Lockwood, aged twelve.
Burnett, Peter Hardeman, one of the early citizens and lawyers of Platte County, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. in 1807. He received a good education and at an early age came to Missouri. At first he located in Clay County and engaged in mer- chandising at Barry. He failed in business and then studied law and removed to Platte County in 1839. He was the first circuit attorney of the Platte Circuit. In 1843 he led the first overland emigration to Oregon and assisted in the work of organizing that Territory. In 1844 he was elected to the Oregon Legislature, and again in 1848, and was then made judge of the Oregon Supreme Court. Soon after the discovery of gold in California he went to that country and was elected the first Governor of California, al- though at the time it had not yet become a State, and did not become such for some time after. In 1851 he resigned the office and returned to the practice of his profes- sion, and in 1857 was elected one of the judges of the California Supreme Court. He was the author of several books-"The Path
Which Led a Protestant Lawyer to the Cath- olic Church" (1860) ; "The American Theory of Government Considered with Reference to the Present Crisis" (1861); "Recollections of an Old Pioneer" (1878) ; and "Reasons Why We Should Believe in God, Love God, and Obey God" (1884).
Burnett, S. Grover, an accomplished alienist and neurologist of Kansas City, was born June 3, 1862, in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Burnett family was founded in New York, and was closely related with that of ex-President Cleveland, whose christian name "Grover" is common to both. Stephen Grover Burnett, grandfather of our subject, was in military service during the War of 1812 and commanded the brigade which, on Gov- ernor's Island, fired the salute on the restora- tion of peace. His son, William Burnett, was a schoolmate of the distinguished Indi- ana statesmen, Oliver P. Morton and Daniel W. Voorhees. He was a merchant at Terre Haute, Indiana, a soldier in an Indiana regi- ment during the Civil War, and is now liv- ing on a stock farm near Council Grove, Kansas. He married Miss Mary E. Cun- ningham, also a native of Indiana. Their son, S. Grover Burnett, while a youth accom- panied his father to the plains, where he lived for a time among Pottawottomie and Kaw Indians, and learned much of their habits and customs. He frequently accompanied plainsmen upon hunting expeditions, and while so engaged was four times accidentally wounded, sustaining a lasting arm injury. His education was mainly acquired through his own effort. He attended a public school and the high school in Toledo, Kansas, and dur- ing a portion of this period devoted his nights and mornings to work as bookkeeper and clerk in a store. After teaching a one-term school, he began reading medicine under the tutorship of Dr. D. H. Painter, of Council Grove, Kansas. He then entered the Kan- sas City Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1885. He completed his liter- ary education in the University of the City of New York, and was graduated from the medical department of that institution in 1886. He was a pupil there of Dr. Alfred L. Loomis and Dr. John L. Draper, two of the most eminent medical men of the day. Dr. Burnett subsequently attended the New York Post-Graduate School and Hospital, and the
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New York Polyclinic Medical School, in 1889-90, and in 1897-8. From 1886 to 1890 he was assistant superintendent of the Long Island (New York) Home for Mental and Nervous Diseases and Inebriety. In 1890 he located in Kansas City, and entered upon the treatment of mental and nervous diseases, a department of medical science in which he is recognized as possessed of the highest qualifications, and in which his services are sought by patients or by practitioners in con- sultation from all the region tributary to Kansas City. He was professor of mental and nervous diseases in the Kansas City Medical College from 1890 to 1893, professor of men- tal and nervous diseases in the Columbian Medical College, and president of the same, in 1898-9. He is at present professor of physiological anatomy of the central ner- vous system and of clinical neurology in the University Medical College of Kansas City. He is an active member of the New York Medico-Legal Society, of the New York Post-Graduate Clinical Society, of the Jack- son County Medical Society, and a fellow of the Kansas City Academy of Medicine. The latter of these bodies was founded upon his suggestion, and he has at various times ad- dressed all upon the topics which engage his attention. In 1893 he was vice president from Missouri to the International Medico- Legal Congress held by the New York Med- ico-Legal Society in Chicago in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition. He is a regular contributor to medico-legal liter- ature, and the New York "Medico-Legal Journal" for March, 1893, presented his por- trait as a frontispiece, accompanied by an ap- preciative tribute to his ability as an alienist, neurologist and author. Reared a Republi- can, he now inclines to Democratic policies. He is a member of the Independence Avenue Methodist Church, and is a Master Mason and a Modern Woodman. Dr. Burnett was married May 23, 1900, to Miss Florence Louise Barbier, daughter of Honorable Fran- cois Barbier, of New York City. a lady of fine education and culture.
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