Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 79

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856

USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I > Part 79

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Burney, James Travis, lawyer and president of the Bank of Harrisonville, was born in Cass County, April 9, 1857, son of James A. and America D. (Moore) Burney. His father, a farmer and stock-raiser, was born in Cooper County, Missouri, December

29, 1825, and is a son of James C. Burney, a native of Alabama, who removed to Cooper County, Missouri, in the pioneer days of this State. Ile was a son of Adam Burney, a native of Scotland, who came to America in Colonial days, settled in North Carolina, and served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. In 1839 James C. Burney went to Cass Coun- ty, purchasing land and developing a farmi near Pleasant Ilill. Ile married Jane Sloan, a daughter of Alexander Sloan, of Ten- nessec. The boyhood of James A. Burney was passed on his father's farm. Later in life he purchased nearly six hundred acres in West Peculiar Township, where he resided until his retirement from active business cares, at which time he went to Harrisonville to spend the twilight of his life at ease. Always a staunch Republican, of which party he was one of the organizers, he was one of three men in Cass County who voted for Abraham Lincoln. He was appointed jus- tice of the peace in his township in 1866, serv- ing in that capacity by reappointment for many years thereafter. He was married in Jackson County, Missouri, May 19, 1853, to America D. Moore, a native of Jackson County, and a daughter of Travis Moore, who was born in Virginia and came to Jack- son County, Missouri in its pioneer days. They became the parents of ten chiklren, namely: Charles F., an attorney of Har- risonville, who died April 18, 1880, at the age of twenty-five years ; James T., the subject of this sketch ; Wilham Leonard, Ida L., Eliza- beth M., Abraham Lincoln, Mary E., Mar- garet J., Carl S. and Edith Burney. James A. Burney and his wife were among the early members of the Cumberland Presby- terian Church. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War Mr. Burney enlisted in a Kan- sas Regiment of Volunteer Infantry, and saw service in Missouri and Arkansas. The edu- cation of the subject of this sketch was begun in the country schools of Cass County. In 1874 he began a year's course in the State Normal School at Warrensburg, and the fol- lowing year entered the Missouri State Uni- versity. In 1877 and 1878 he was a student in the Kansas State University at Lawrence. The two succeeding years he devoted to teaching school and reading law in the office of Robert T. Railey, of Harrisonville. In 1880 he was admitted to the bar before Judge Noah M. Given, at Harrisonville, and imme-

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diately opened an office for the practice of his profession in that place, where he lias since remained. His professional career has been very successful. Captain Burney, like his father, has always been a devoted ad- herent to the principles of the Republican party, and though he has never held public office, he has been actively interested in the welfare of his party. In 1900 the Republi- cans of the Sixth Congressional District of Missouri elected him a delegate to the Na- tional Convention at Philadelphia. In 1892 his party nominated him for the office of judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, his opponent being W. W. Wood, of War- rensburg, and though the normal Democratic plurality in the district was about fifteen hun- dred, he was defeated by only about four hundred votes. He undoubtedly was the strongest candidate for that office which his party ever put in the field in the Seven- teenthi District. In January, 1892, the direc- tors of the Bank of Harrisonville elected him to the presidency of that institution, of which his father was one of the founders, and he has filled that office up to the present time. Fraternally he is a Mason, a Knight Tem- plar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, affil- iating with Ararat Temple of Kansas City. In religion he is a member of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church, in which he is an elder. Upon the outbreak of the Spanish- American War he organized a volunteer com- pany for service, which was enlisted as Com- pany E of the Fifth Missouri Volunteers. He left for the front as captain of the com- pany, which proceeded as far toward the scene of action as Chickamauga, when peace was declared. At the close of the war the company and the regiment were disbanded and mustered out of the service. Captain Burney was married February II, 1881, to Mary L. Bills, a native of Pleasant Hill, Cass County, and a daughter of P. W. Bills. They are the parents of two sons-James P., a bookkeeper in the Bank of Harrisonville, and W. T., a student in the graded schools. Captain Burney is one of the leaders of the bar of Cass County, and is regarded by his fellow practitioners as the possessor of a full knowledge of the principles of the law. He is a logical thinker, a forceful and convincing speaker before judge and jury, and never ap- peals a case which goes against his client unless convinced that the stand he has taken

is just. Personally he is broad-minded, of generous heart and public spirit, and invari- ably a friend of movements intended to pro- mote the wellbeing of the community.

Burnham, Charles E., lawyer and judge, was born July 27, 1867, in Randolph County, Missouri. His parents were Wil- liam E. and Lucy A. (Flournoy) Burnham. The father was born in Howard County, Mis- souri. His grandmother, named Snell, lived to be one hundred and two years of age. The mother was a native of Scott County, Kentucky, and traces her name in an un- broken line back to the year 1562, to the province of Flournoy, France. The Burn- ham family traces its lineage to 1665, when two members of the family, brothers, came tc America from England. The branch from which the subject of this sketch is de- seended found homes in Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri. The members of the Flour- noy family were French Iugnenots and at the time of the massacre of St. Bartholomew emigrated to Geneva. In 1719 an unele and his nephew settled in Virginia. on the James River, and became large land and slave own- ers. A descendant, named Mathews Flour- noy, started to Kentucky with his family, but was killed by Indians on the way. From him Charles E. Burnham is descended. The Virginia Historical Society has published the history of the Flournoy family since 1562. The court records of that State reveal several exceedingly interesting documents in this connection, showing the entry of land by the Flournoys, as well as suits, appointments to office, etc. One paper shows a judgment in favor of Laurient Flournoy vs. Orlando Jones for the recovery of six hundred and fifty pounds of sweet-scented tobacco. An- other judgment allows Mathews Flournoy twenty-five pounds of tobacco as witness fees. Charles E. Burnham attended the Moberly publie schools three years and at the age of sixteen graduated from the high school in that city. Previous to that time he had attended the country schools of Mis- souri, but, having been reared on a farm and taking his part in the work at home, he was not able to attend school more than four months each year. After completing the course in the Moberly schools he engaged in mercantile work for two years and then at- tended the Missouri State University during

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the years of 1886-7 and 1887-8, taking the scientific and literary courses. December 31, 1888, he removed to Kansas City, Missouri, and has since resided there, attaining prom- inence in legal circles and politics. In the fall of 1888, previous to removing to Kansas City, he had taught a country school and thus gained additional helpful preparation for life's work. He was elected city attorney of Kansas City in April, 1894, receiving the larg- est vote cast for any candidate on the Repub- lican ticket and being elected by a creditable majority. In 1896 he was nominated with- out opposition for the same office and was elected by an increased majority, running ahead of his ticket the second time. In 1898 the people of Kansas City elected him to the office of police judge, a most trying position and one in which his abilities to deal with all classes of men were satisfactorily tested. In 1900 he was a candidate for mayor of Kansas City, but was defeated in the Republican primaries, on the face of the returns, by a vote of eight hundred and twenty-eight. Judge Burnham has always been a Republi- can and one of the most active workers for the success of the party and in the in- terest of good government. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and is a member of the Odd Fellows and Modern Woodmen of America. He was married October 19, 1892, to Miss Julia H. Sebree, daughter of Senator J. W. Sebree, of Car- rollton, Missouri, and one daughter has been born of this union. Judge Burnham's record before the people has been one in which just pride might be taken. As city attorney he appealed from decisions on city ordinances seven times and received favorable action in the appellate courts each time. Where the defense appealed from his successful posi- tions he was sustained in all cases but two. On the bench he showed remarkable insight into human nature and administered the affairs of his office in a judicial and not a ministerial manner. It is believed by his many friends that Judge Burnham, thus far eminently successful in professional and polit- ical affairs, has an exceedingly bright future, and that he will attain a still higher place be- fore the people who have been pleased to honor him.

Burnham, Michael, clergyman, was born at Essex, Massachusetts, June 28, 1839,

and is descended on his father's side from a race of seafaring men and shipbuilders- "vessel builders," as they were called in those early days. He entered Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, December, 1860, in the English department. The following spring he entered the third junior class of the classical department, studied one terin, then, by studying hard all summer vacation, he jumped from the third junior into the second middle year, graduating in two years and two terms with an English oration. From his occupation on the farm and in the work- shop, therefore, with no preparation but the country school, and that only summers until twelve or fourteen, and winters until sixteen, with the two years and two terms at Phillips Academy, he entered Amherst College with- out a condition. He took the first prize in oratory in his class in freshman year at col- lege. He taught school while in college dur- ing the vacation and a part of the winter terms of freshman, sophomore and junior winters, losing eight weeks of a twelve weeks' term in the freshman year, and six weeks of a twelve weeks' term each in sophomore and junior winters. With all this loss from col- lege curriculum and increased labor to cover the ground gone over by the class during his absence, he graduated from college again with an English oration; the subject of the oration was "The Head and the Heart." Mr. Burnham went immediately, in the autumn of 1867, to Andover Theological Seminary and began his theological studies. During acad- emy and seminary life, both of which were passed in Andover, he entered into mission school work in Abbott village, a factory vil- lage, and was twice superintendent of the school, once as an academy student and once as a theological student, and greatly enjoyed the work and became greatly attached to the school. There were numbered among the teachers several from the families of the fac- ulty of the seminary and a few from prom- inent families in Andover. Miss Phelps, afterward author of "Gates Ajar," now Mrs. Ward, and known everywhere by her writ- ings, was a teacher in the school. Adelaide Hutchinson, M. D., now of Minneapolis, was a pupil.

Dr. Burnham was licensed to preach dur- ing the middle year of his seminary course, and at once took rank among the first in his class as a preacher. Different churches were

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considering him as a candidate, or a possible candidate, but in May, some two months be- fore his graduation, he received, and, in due time, accepted, a call from the Central Con- gregational Church in Fall River, Massachu- setts, where, in October, 1870, the year of his graduation, he was ordained and installed. At his graduation from the theological sem- inary at Andover, in July, 1870. he repre- sented the Hebrew department, and deliv- ered, as a salutatory address, an oration on "The Authority for the Christian Sabbath." In 1882, after receiving various calls from other churches, Mr. Burnham, realizing the need of a change and hoping for benefit by it, asked to be dismissed from his field of ardu- ous, but delightful, labor, to accept the pas- torate of the Immanuel Church in Boston Highlands, which body he continued to serve until called to wider usefulness by the First Church of Springfield.

Dr. Burnham received the degree of A. B. in 1867, and A. M. a few years later from his alma mater, Amherst College.

During his pastorate at Fall River he re- ceived one call to the Central Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, and another to the Plymouth Church, Minneapolis, Minne- sota, at the same time that he received the call to the Immanuel Church, Boston. In the earlier part of his ministry at Fall River several letters passed between him and Dr. Stearns, president of Amherst College, look- ing toward his accepting the professorship of English literature in the college, but Dr. Nathan Durfee, a prominent man and officer in the Central Church of Fall River, who gave the Durfee Plant House to the Agri- cultural College, Amherst, threw his influ- ence on the side of retaining his pastor in Fall River, and Dr. Stearns yielded to his claim. Dr. Burnham was also offered other calls subsequently, as at Concord, New Hampshire, and, by a committee, the pas- torate of the Union Church, in Worcester. During his Springfield pastorate, also, he was asked if he would consider a call from a Presbyterian Church of Rochester, New York; and, by a committee, also, the Sec- ond Church in Oberlin, Ohio, was offered him. Dr. Burnham, on his way from the meeting of the board in Cleveland, in Octo- ber, 1888, had preached in the Second Church of Oberlin, and thus it was that subsequently he was tendered a call from that church.

This was an important position, owing to the fact that he would have preached to something like a thousand students every Sabbath, but Dr. Burnham set the matter before President Fairchild so plainly that he had so recently gone to Springfield, and was then bound by so many ties to the East, he ought not to leave the East, and espe- cially the First Church. President Fair- child wrote that he could not urge the call after such a presentation of duty, and the matter was dropped.

Dr. Burnham's pastorate at Springfield, from February 27, 1885, the date of his in- stallation, to May, 1894, was for nine happy years, and, says the "Advance," in its May 16, 1895, issue, " has been among the mem- orable ones in recent Congregational his- tory." During that time, in October, 1885, lie was elected a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for For- eign Missions. In June, 1887, he was given the degree of D. D. by Beloit College. In 1888 he was elected to the board of trustees of Amherst College. He served several years on the board of trustees of Hartford' Theological Seminary. During the early pastorate in Fall River he was elected to the board of trustees of Wheaton Seminary for girls.

Dr. Burnham was called to Pilgrim Church, St. Louis, to succeed Rev. H. A. Stimson, D. D., in February, 1894.

Burrows, Joseph H., clergyman, farmer, and member of Congress, was born at Manchester, England, May 15, 1840. He- came to this country while a youth, and was. · educated at Quincy, Illinois, and Keokuk, Iowa. He was a merchant, farmer, and Bap- tist minister. On removing to Missouri he took an active part in politics, and was. elected to the Legislature, serving as a mem- ber of that body for several terms. In 1880. he was elected to Congress as a Greenback Republican, from the Tenth Missouri Dis- trict, by a vote of 17,284 to 17,219 for Charles H. Mansur, Democrat, and served' a full term.

Burr's Expedition .- After his re- tirement from the Vice Presidency, and the killing of Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr seemed to be left alone and abandoned by all political parties. His ambitious, rest-

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less and active spirit rendered this condition intolerable to him, and he conceived a scheme of conquest and personal aggrandizement, which conditions then existing in the West seemed to favor. Immediately following the cession of Louisiana to the United States, the belief prevailed to a large extent in the Eastern States that the French and Spanish inhabitants of the newly acquired territory would not submit quietly to the change of government. Burr was firm in this belief, and took advantage of the restlessness of many of the inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley to set on foot military operations in that region, which he attempted to carry out as soon as he retired from office. Harper's Cyclopedia of United States History thuis summarizes his operations :

With several nominal objects in view, Burr started for the Mississippi Valley, in company with General Wilkinson, who went to take possession of his office of Governor of Louisiana Territory, to which he had been appointed. At Pittsburg, Burr started in a vessel called an "ark," in which were fitted up conveniences for a long voyage. Wilkin- son was not ready, and the impatient Burr proceeded without him. He stopped at Blen- nerhassett's Island, nearly opposite Marietta. then inhabited by a wealthy and accomplished Irish gentleman of that name, who had cre- ated there a paradise for himself. He had a pleasant mansion, enriched by books, adorned with paintings, enlivened by music, and presided over by a lovely and accom- plished wife. Burr laid before Harman Blen- nerhassett a brilliant vision of wealth and power, in a scheme of conquest or revolit- tion, which captivated him and fired the am- bition that lay in the bosom of his wife. They engaged in Burr's scheme, whatever it may have been, with ardor, and were totally ruined thereby. The story of paradise and the fall was repeated. After remaining there some time, Burr pressed forward, and at Louisville overtook Matthew Lyon, with whom he had voyaged in company in the earlier part of the journey. He accompanied Lyon to his home, on the Cumberland River, whence he journeyed to Nashville, on horse- back; had a public reception-May 28, 1805-in which Andrew Jackson partici- pated; and, furnished with a boat by that gentleman, returned to Lyon's. Then he resumed his voyage in his own "ark," and

met Wilkinson at Fort Massac, nearly oppo- site the mouth of the Cumberland. Some soldiers were about to depart thence for New Orleans, and Wilkinson procured a barge from one of the officers for Burr's accommo- dation in a voyage to that city. There he found the inhabitants in a state of great excitement. The introduction of English forms of law proceedings, and the slight par- ticipation of the people in public affairs, had produced much discontent, especially among the Creoles and old settlers. Even the new American immigrants were divided by bitter political and private feuds. Burr remained only a short time, when he reascended the Mississippi to Natchez. whence he traveled through the wilderness, along an Indian trail or bridle-path, four hundred and fifty miles to Nashville, where he was entertained for a week by Jackson, early in August. After spending a few weeks there, Burr made his way through the Indian Territory to St. Louis, where he again met Wilkinson, that being the seat of government of Louisiana Territory. Then for the first time he threw out hints to Wilkinson of his splendid scheme of conquest in the Southwest, which he spoke of as being favored by the United States gov- ernment. At the same time he complained of the government as imbecile, and the peo- ple of the West as ready for revolt. He made no explanation to Wilkinson of the nature of his scheme, and that officer. suspicious of Burr's designs, wrote to his friend, Robert Smith, Secretary of the Navy, advising the government to keep a watch upon his move- ments. Burr went from St. Louis to Vin- cennes, with a letter from Wilkinson to Gov- einor Harrison, in which he urged the latter to use his influence to get Burr elected to Congress from that district. Thence Burr went eastward, stopping at Cincinnati, Chilli- cothe and Marietta, everywhere conversing with leading men, to whom he gave only at- tractive hints of a brilliant scheme in hand. He spent that winter and the following spring and summer in Philadelphia and Washing- ton, engaged in his mysterious projects. There he more clearly developed his scheme, which seemed to have a two-fold character- the conquest of Mexico from the Spaniards and the establishment of an independent monarchy. and the revolutionizing of the Mississippi Valley, separating that region from the rest of the Union and forming an

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independent republic, with its seat of govern- ment at New Orleans. If the first mentioned scheme should be carried out, Burr aspired to be king; if the latter, he was to be presi- dent of his new republic. Towards the end of summer-August, 1806-Burr departed on a second Western tour. For a year the vague suspicion prevailed throughout the country that Burr was engaged in a scheme for revolutionizing Mexico-an idea agree- able to the Western people, because of the existing difficulties with Spain. It was be- lieved, too-for so Burr had continually hinted-that such a scheme was secretly favored by the government. Under this im- pression, Burr's project received the counte- nance of several leading men in the Western country. One of the first things which Burr did after his arrival in Kentucky was to pur- chase an interest in a claim to a large tract of land on the Washita River, under a Span- ish grant to the Baron de Bastrop. The negotiation was carried on through Edward Livingston, at New Orleans. The avowal of an intention to settle on these lands might cover up a far different design. Blennerhas- sett now joined Burr actively in his enter- prise. Together they built, with the money of the former, fifteen boats on the Muskin- gum River; and negotiations were set on foot with an Ohio Senator to furnish supplies for an army in the West, and the purchase of two gunboats he was building for the gov- erninent. A mercantile house in Marietta, in which Blennerhassett had been a partner, was authorized to purchase provisions, and a kiln was erected on Blennerhassett's Island for drying corn to fit it for shipment. Young men enlisted in considerable numbers for an expedition down the Mississippi, about which only mysterious hints were given. Mean- while Wilkinson had arrived at Natchitoches to repel, with 500 or 600 troops, a Spanish invasion of the Territory of Orleans from Texas. There a young man appeared in camp with a letter of introduction from Jona- than Dayton, of New Jersey. to Colonel Cushing, the senior officer next to Wilkin- son. He also slipped, unobserved, a letter into Wilkinson's hand from Burr, which was a formal letter of introduction. It contained a letter from Burr, principally written in cipher. Circumstances seem to show that Wilkinson was at this time privy to. if not actually engaged in, Burr's scheme. The

cipher letter informed Wilkinson that he -- Burr-had arranged for troops under differ- ent pretexts at different points, who would rendezvous on the Ohio by the first of No- vember ; that the protection of England had been secured; that Truxton had gone to Jamaica to arrange with the English admiral ; that an English fleet would meet on the Mis- sissippi ; that the navy of the United States was ready to join ; that final orders had been given to his friends and followers; that Wil- kinson should be second to Burr only; that the people of the country to which they were going were ready to receive them; and that their agents with Burr had stated that, if protected in their religion, and not subjected to a foreign government, all would be set- tled in three weeks. The plan was to move detachments of volunteers rapidly from Louisville in November, meet Wilkinson at Natchez in December, and then to deter- mine whether to seize Baton Rouge-then in possession of the Spaniards as a part of West Florida-or pass on. Enclosed in the same packet was a letter, also in cipher, from Jonathan Dayton, telling Wilkinson that he would surely be displaced at the next meeting of Congress, and added, "You are not a man to despair, or even despond, espe- cially when such prospects offer in another quarter. Are you ready? Are your numer- ous associates ready? Wealth and glory! Louisiana and Mexico !- Dayton." The cor- respondence, in cipher and otherwise, be- tween Wilkinson and Burr for several months previously, leads to the conclusion that the former was at that time engaged in Burr's scheme, and that the latter relied upon him. Intimations in the letters of a design to seize newly acquired Louisiana startled Wilkinson, and he resolved to make the best terms he could with the Spanish commander on the Sabine and hasten back to New Or- leans to defend it against any scheme of con- quest there which Burr might contemplate or attempt. This design he communicated to Cushing, and obtained from the bearer of the letters such information as excited his alarm to a high pitch. The young man, named Swartwout, stated that he and another, named Ogden, had been sent out by Burr from Philadelphia; that they had carried despatches from Burr to General Adair, of Kentucky, who was a party to the scheme ; that they hastened toward St. Louis

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Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. I, Part 79

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n Publication date: 1901 Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors Number of Pages: 856

Author: Conard, Howard Louis, ed. 1n
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: New York, Louisville [etc.] The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors
Number of Pages: 856