bibletheodoreburnham
Inside
front cover:
“Theodore C. Burnham
Bible Bot at Union City (MI) March
1st 1855
Price $3.25”
Submitted
by, Mary Burnham Hayden
A God-fearing and money-conscious young man, this inscription was
penned in T. C. Burnham’s best, largest handwriting.
It was an important moment in T.C.’s life. He had turned 23 years
of age on January the 27th and was about to embark on
a long and hazardous adventure that would begin in Michigan where he
was raised and end in Texas where he would marry,
father children, bury a young wife and two young children, and marry
again. This highly tooled, leather bound Bible was
published by the New York Bible Society in 1854, to T.C. a truly modern
translation.
Also found loose in the inside front cover is a leaf from T.C.
Burnham’s “saddle Bible”. On this now delicate, deep mauve
paper penned in T.C. Burnham’s own hand, are the words of a wedding
ceremony that T.C. used to marry young couples
as a circuit rider preacher in the Hill Country near Burnet,
Texas. It was a wild time in Texas. Bitterness raged on for
many
years following the Civil War. God’s word and serving his fellow
man in addition to helping with a boarding house, smithing
and wagon works, and farming probably brought some sense to a world
that must have seemed chaotic most of the time.
T. C. would pack this small Bible and a medical book in his saddle bags
for he did not know what the people about the Hill
Country of Texas might need when he arrived. Best to be ready. At
the same time marrying young couples was likely a bitter
sweet duty he offered willingly for T.C. buried his young wife, Rebecca
Jane Walton Burnham, a few years earlier in 1875.
Rebecca was laid to rest in the old Burnet Cemetery at the age of
31. T.C. must have loved her deeply and missed her very
much as he proudly inscribed on her stone, “The wife of Theodore C.
Burnham”. In addition to losing Rebecca, T. C. had
already buried his father John, and two infant children. He had
recently turned 48 upon writing this paragraph.
Theodore’s ceremony quotation follows with misspellings and lack of
modern punctuation left in tact. It is likely he lost his
brother Walter E. Burnham this same year. Notice in his text how
the voice of these personal losses comes through “& all live”.
T. C. Burnhams
Book
Burnet Texas
March 15th A D 1880
“Join your right hands. By this act of joining your hands you do
take upon yourselves the relation of husband and wife, and
solemly promise & agree in the presence of these witnesses to love,
honer, comfort & cherish each other as such, as long as
you both & all live. Therefore in accordance with the laws of the
State of Texas I do hereby pronounce you husband & wife.”
As customary preceeding the New Testament, T. C., then others,
recorded the beginnings and endings of this Burnham family.
FAMILY RECORD
Marriages
Theodore C. Burnham and Rebecca Jane Walton was (verb incorrect as
written) married September the 29th 1858
Jacob M. Fletcher and V. E. A (Virginia) Burnham was Married April the
16th 1874
T. C. Burnham and Mary Walton (nee Mary Ballard) was Married Dec 20th
1876
T. J. Burnham married Mary E. Goode on April 20th 1905
FAMILY RECORD
Births
Theodore C. Burnham was Born January 27th 1832
Rebecca J. Burnham was Born November the 18th 1843
Virginia E. A. Burnham was Born September the 25th 1859
John C. Burnham was Born October the 24th 1861
Little Berry Burnham was Born December the 9th 1864
Theodore J. Burnham was Born Dec the 2nd A. D. 1868
D. Robey Burnham was Born May 17th A. D. 1871
Lula Belzora Fletcher was Born Febuary the 14th 1875
(Our Burnham story continues. The
living are omitted.)
T. J. Burnham married Mary E. Goode on April 20th 1905
FAMILY RECORD
Births
T. J. Burnham was born Dec 2nd A. D. 1868
Mary E. Burnham was born Dec 8. 1884
died Dec 8 - 1972
John Henry Burnham was born Feb. 16 1906
Lois Burnham was born Sept 15 1908
Theodore J. Burnham, Jr. was born Dec. 30 1910
Robert Louis Burnham was born August 15 – 1913
Haynes Goode Burnham (was born) January 11, 1916
Billie Kirk Burnham May 24, 1922
Cynthia Ann Burnham
Sarah Rebecca Burnham
Twins
Born Nov. in 1920
Lived only for a few months
Haynes Good Burnham died May 9, 1980
Robert Louis Burnham died Sept 28, 1961
John Henry Burnham Born in 1906 and died in 1995
(exact dates are born 16 Feb 1906 and died 9 Mar 1993)
FAMILY RECORD
Deaths
John C. Burnham Departed this life June the 22nd 1865
D. R. Burnham Died October 20th 1872
Rebecca J. Burnham Wife of T. C. Burnham Died Nov 5th 1875
Mary Burnham Wife of T. C. Burnham Died April 17 1901
T. C. Burnham Died July 20th 1906 aged seventy four years
T. J. Burnham departed this life Feb. 23, 1955 (was 87 years old)
Mary Elizabeth Burnham departed this life Dec. 8, 1972 (She was 88
years)
Little Berry Burnham departed this life Feb. 13, 1949 at age 85
(Omitted from these words are the marriage of Virginia Burnham Fletcher
to her second husband, William Williamson, and
the birth of their daughter Jenney Williamson. Jenney is buried
in a place of honor beside her grandfather T. C. Burnham.
To date, I have not located the grave of Virginia Burnham
Williamson. More about that mystery to come.)
And now I add the
record of my dear Aunt Lois:
Lois Mildred Burnham born 5 Sep 1908 departed this life 15 Aug 2003 at
the age of 94 years.
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