Individual Details
Alexander Abner Burns
(1747 - 1 Nov 1829)
Our Grandfather, Alexander Burns, remained with his numerous family on his South Carolina home in prosperity until his family outgrew his farm, he sold out his home, principally for wagons and horse teams, and moved into the highlands of Rhea County, East Tennessee, and bought a large tract of rich land on a small river, a tributary of the noble Tennessee River. The wife of our grandfather was Ellen Roach, and they had many sons and daughters born to them at their Pendleton (S. C.) home. Namely: Amos, Samuel, Alexander, Susan, Leah, Nancy, Jane, Mary, Jonathon and Stephen.
The first two sons named remained in South Carolina with their uncle John and other relatives, while the others came with their parents to their East Tennessee home, and all joined together in building houses and clearing and fencing land for, perhaps, two or three years, when another but older purchaser put in appearance with his demands for possession. But out Grandfather had paid for the land in good wagons and teams and, perhaps, a liberal amount of money and, of course, a lawsuit was the result, long and expensive. The Burnses lost and came out poor.
(excerpt from letter by Calvin Alex Burns of Bangor, Blount County, Alabama)
The first two sons named remained in South Carolina with their uncle John and other relatives, while the others came with their parents to their East Tennessee home, and all joined together in building houses and clearing and fencing land for, perhaps, two or three years, when another but older purchaser put in appearance with his demands for possession. But out Grandfather had paid for the land in good wagons and teams and, perhaps, a liberal amount of money and, of course, a lawsuit was the result, long and expensive. The Burnses lost and came out poor.
(excerpt from letter by Calvin Alex Burns of Bangor, Blount County, Alabama)
Events
Families
Spouse | Mary Ellen Roach (1746 - 1829) |
Child | Amos Burns ( - ) |
Child | Samuel Burns ( - ) |
Child | Alexander Abner "Alex" Burns (1786 - 1852) |
Child | Susan Burns ( - ) |
Child | Leah Burns ( - ) |
Child | Nancy Burns ( - ) |
Child | Jane Burns ( - ) |
Child | Mary Burns ( - ) |
Child | Jonathan Burns (1790 - 1857) |
Child | Stephen Burns (1795 - 1856) |
Father | Charles B Burns (1720 - 1789) |
Mother | Mary Ann Webb (1729 - 1795) |
Sibling | John Arthur Burns (1750 - 1805) |
Sibling | Ann Burns (1760 - 1786) |
Notes
Death
Our grandfather and grandmother Burns had lived near to them on their little home on the mountainside, contented with their lot, were warm-hearted, religious old people, until the Fall of 1829 when they were about 80 years old, they were both stricken down with pleurisy or pneumonia, and our grandfather died about November and our grandmother about the Christmas. They were both buried near their little home, which is now a beautiful cedar groveEndnotes
1. Dawn Lindsey Gibson, "Merry Webb's daughter, Mary Burns," e-mail message from