The
Burk Family History
The
Burke Crest
Or a cross gules, in the dexter canton a
lion rampant sable.
Crest: A cat-a-mountain sejant guardant
proper collared and chained.
The
Burk Family Travels
James Burk is
thought to have in arrived in Philadelphia, PA in 1720-1725 from Limerick,
Ireland. In 1730 he was located in Chester County, VA. He was one of the
original explorers, adventurers and hunters in Southwest Virginia. He spent
many years in the Roanoke County and Montgomery County areas. The Montgomery
County area he frequented eventually became Pulaski County, Floyd County and
Carroll County. Burk died in 1783 in Surry County, NC but his daughter Mary
remained in Montgomery County as the wife of Jacob Shell, Jr.
From Patricia Johnson’s Irish Burks of Colonial Virginia
and New River
James
Burk of Burk(e)s Garden
In 1745 when Augusta County was
founded west of the mountains, Burk(e)s were living in the great expanse that
is today the Virginia counties of Frederick, Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah,
Botetourt and Roanoke. Those found in the first court records in 1745 were
Thomas, Charles, William and James Burk or Bourk. A Burk researcher, Dr. John
A. Kelly, says William and James were brothers but gives no proof. There is a
James Burke in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1730 and a William Burk in
Thornbury Township, Chester County, in 1729. (Chester County Historical Society
Files, Westchester, Pa.) Whether there is kinship between James, William,
Charles and Thomas Burk is unknown. Most Burks were from Ireland from the old
Anglo-Irish gentry family of Bourke. James Burk is first recorded in the
Augusta records as "Bourk" but in Pennsylvania as Burke and is said
to be from Limerick. William, known as Peaked Mountain William in this work, is
said by his descendants, to be from Ireland.
At the March 1746/47 Augusta Court
these four Burks are in road construction orders. Thomas and Charles Burk were
appointed road workers from Caleb Jones' mill down to the county line. William
Burk and Robert Frazier were to work the road from the top of the ridge to John
Terald's and James Beard's. At the April court Charles Burk is appointed a
justice. In the March 1747
48 court Thomas
Burk appears as a witness from Frederick. (CH, I, 17, 26, 35 and Kelly, Burke
Family, 15) one historian says he was from Frederick, Maryland. (Robert Ramsay,
Carolina Cradle, 76 (Chapel Hill: Univ. of N.C. Press, 1964)
A Thomas Burk was in Rock Creek
Hundred, Maryland, present Montgomery County, in 1733. (Cal. Of Mary. St.
Papers, no.1 The Black Books or Proprietary Papers 1703, Bk. II) In 1751 there
was a Thomas Burk, Indian trader, with the Miamis on the Ohio, captured by the
French. There was an old Indian trail from eastern Maryland through Frederick
county, Maryland which was the only route west. If Thomas Burk was an Indian
trader he probably would be living there near the old Indian trail.
At the March 1746/47 Augusta court
William Burk complained that Torance McMullen had a horse that was the property
of widow Fulsher of Orange. James Burk the same court day was appointed
administrator of brother-in-law Isaac Bean (Bane) of the Roanoke River
settlement. Since William and James Burk appear the same day at court they
probably are kin.
Isaac Bean or Bane was brother of
Mary (Polly) Bane who James had married. She was daughter of Mordecai and Naomi
Medley Bane who lived on 200 acres in the borough of West Chester, Chester
county, Pennsylvania, east of High Street which they bought from Richard
Thomas. (J.S. Futhey and Gilbert Cope, The History of Chester County, Pennsylvania
(Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881) They lived almost on the Great Minquas
Trading Path, an important Indian trail, key to the Pennsylvania fur
trade. The
Susquehanna Indians had used the trail prior to 1670 for their conquest of the
Delawares. Thousands of beaver skins yearly were carried over the
"Beversrede" to Fort Beverrede on the Delaware River on the site of
present Philadelphia. (Pennsylvania Historical Marker in West Chester at
Wilmington Pike and Church Street).
James Burk and Mary Bane declared
their intentions to marry on May 20, 1730 in the Goshen Monthly Meeting and
Isaac Vernon and David Davies were appointed to inquire if they were free to
marry. John Yarnall, Evan Lewis and others witnesses. They were liberated to
marry on June 17, 1730 with Mordecai James, Griffith Lewis of Goshen; Lewis
Rees, Lawrence Pearson of Newtown and Griffith John and John Morgan of Unwch.
as witness. By July 14, 1730, they were removing with Alexander Bane and Thomas
Evan of Goshen, Francis Yarnall, Joseph Thomas of Newtown and Samuel John and
Cadw. Jones Unwch. as witnesses. (Goshen Monthly Meeting Minutes, p. 39-40,
Chester Co. Historical Society)
James Burk must have been a Quaker
for there is no mention in this marriage transaction that he is not a Quaker.
It is surprising to find Burkes
among the Quakers. Many Burkes or Bourkes in Ireland had lost their land to
Cromwell's followers. Most Irish Quakers were descendants of these Cromwellian
settlers so it is doubtful many Bourkes would be Quakers. They had been forced
into the trades or mercantile business much like the old Jewry of Europe. The
Quakers also were noted merchants so this is most likely how Burkes and Quakers
first contacted
through commerce, as traders. James and Mary,
with some Bane brothers moved south to the Yadkin, then to Roanoke, present
Salem, when James was listed as Isaac Bane's greatest creditor. Surety for
Isaac Bean was Humberston Lyon, a notable trader from Prince George's County,
Maryland who in 1733 was living in Monocacy Hundred near present Frederick,
Maryland. A Thomas Burk was in Rock Creek Hundred. (Cal. of Maryland St.
Papers, no. 1, The Black Books-- Proprietary Papers B.B.2, Prince Georges Co.)
Humberston Lyon is noted as a New
River trader and Thomas Burk of Frederick is probably the trader on the Miami
in 1751.
William Burk in 1729 witnessed a
deed of a George Pierce in Chester County, Thornbury Township near Philip
Taylor and John Taylor. (Chester Co. Pa. Historical Society Deed 22)
Is there a relationship between James
Burke and William Burk of Chester County, Pa. and Thomas Burk of Rock Creek
Hundred, Maryland?
James Burk was in Chester County,
Pennsylvania at least by 1730, said to be from Limerick and came to America
about 1720-25. (Jim and Louise Hoge, History of Tazewell County, p. 411)
Whether he was
a Quaker or not feeling against them was running high in 1720 in Ireland. In
1719 James Cotter of the Irish gentry was hanged for an outrage committed
against a Quaker family. Cork and all the south of Ireland burst into outrage
and Quakers were marked for punishment. The passion spread to Tipperary and
Limerick, all over Catholic Ireland. A Quaker could not show himself in the
streets. Placards against them covered the walls. If traveling about the
country they were waylaid and beaten. (Albert Cook Myers, Immigration of Irish
Quakers, p. 45-46 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1969)
The Quakers were already highly
disliked by the Irish gentry such as the Bourkes because their land had been
confiscated and many Quakers now owned their land.
No matter the troubles in Ireland
James seems to have associated with the Quakers and married one. James and Mary
were on Roanoke River at present Salem in 1742 where he was in George
Robinson's militia and in December 1744 was at Daniel Monahan's estate
settlement, purchasing goods. (CH, 11, 509; CH, 111, 9)
George Robinson was from the New
Castle, Delaware area which adjoins Chester County, Pennsylvania, where James
and William Burk are in 1729, so probably they knew each other there. Robinson
was selling land on Roanoke river for James Patton so seems to be the person
who inspired James Burk to come to Roanoke river.
Naomi Burk, daughter of James and
Mary Bane Burk, was born February 1, 1745 on Roanoke near Salem. She would
marry Samuel Pepper. (Letter, Jesse Pepper, Peppers Ferry, New River,
Montgomery County, Va., undated in author's collections)
James Burk owned land on both North
and South Fork of Roanoke, later sold to Dr. Walker and Andrew Lewis so was
probably where Lewis later lived at present site of Mohawk Rubber plant. Burk's
main tract was on the bottom land on the south side of the river, now South
Salem, beside Thomas Tosh. (Elizabeth Woolwine, Mark Evans Family (Privately
printed 1941, VPI & SU) He was appointed road worker in November 1746 on
the road on the ridge dividing waters of New River from those of South branch
of Roanoke to end in a road leading over Blue Ridge. Neighbors helping were his
brother
law James Bean
(Bane), Ephraim Vause, Mathusalem Griffith and sons, and James Campbell, the
overseer. (CH 1, 24, 355)
Mathusalem. Griffith, Mark Evans,
Tobias and Martin Fry were Pennsylvanians accused in Maryland on 1 October 1736
of having tumultous meetings. (Archives of Maryland, 1732
53 (1908) Proceedings
of Council, 106) They had fled what is known as the Maryland "Border
War" and came to Roanoke.
In 1712 Mathusalem Griffith was in
Gwynedd, a Welsh settlement commonly called North Wales. He petitioned for a
road from the Welsh Tract to Philadelphia. These Welsh had passage on the
Elizabeth and Robert. Most of them were not Quakers but some became Quakers
after arriving in Pennsylvania. (Howard M. Jenkins, Historical Collections
Relating to Gwynedd, A Township of Montgomery Co., Pa. 1698, p.285 (Philadelphia:
p.p., 1897)
During this period on Roanoke James
Burk had a hunting camp on a beautiful stream in Floyd and Carroll counties now
called Burke's Fork. (Burke's Garden, Louis and Jim Hoge, History of Tazewell
County, p. 412) He was a noted hunter trading his skins. The "Trader’s
Path" came down from Pennsylvania to Roanoke River to the Big Lick where
it joined the "Carolina Road" from the Yadkin River. On the Yadkin
the road crossed at the Shallow Ford where there was a settlement of Quakers. A
road from eastern Virginia coming through Bedford County terminated at Big
Lick. So James Burk had settled near a crossroads for trade.
Traders were known as a wild and
careless lot. In 1747 James "Bourk" was noted in the Augusta Order
Book as "a common swearer" and "profaner of God's name." At
the same time Colonel Thomas Chew and Valentine Sevier were accused of the same
offence. Both Chew and Sevier were from Maryland and Orange County, Virginia,
and active in land speculation; this probably had to do with a land dispute.
(CH, 1, 28)
But James Patton President of the
Augusta Court and a large land speculator, knew Burk was a man he could use to
explore the land he had opened for land speculation on the Roanoke river and
further west.
In April 1745
Colonel Patton got a 100,000 acre grant on the New and Holston rivers known as
"the Great Grant." When given permission by the Virginia Council to
survey land he came to Roanoke river to James Campbell's house and sent for
James Burk. When Burk arrived Patton asked whether he had found good lands and
Burk said yes. Patton asked him to go with him and show him the land promising
to give him a "valuable consideration" and they agreed in James
Campbell's presence that Burk should have a plantation for so doing. Burk said
he had found a place called "Burk's Choice". Patton drew up an
agreement to this effect with Burk and Campbell witnessing. Later it was lost
but Campbell remembered that "Burk insisted the agreement was written the
way he wanted it and would not go until it was." (Botetourt Court
Deposition, James Campbell, Aug. 9, 1773)
Burk's grandson Jesse Pepper of
Pepper's Ferry on New River later wrote, "Grandfather Burk was a great
hunter; he would take his knapsack filled with bread and a little salt and a
few potatoes and go to the woods, west of this place (Pepper's Ferry), which
was all a wilderness at that time and stay several weeks; on one of these
excursions among the mountains, he got into a beautiful valley and having a few
potatoes in his knapsack, he found a place clear of timber and planted his
potatoes. The next fall he returned and found them growing." (Jesse
Pepper, undated letter in author's collections)
E.L. and A.S. Greever wrote in
"Burk's Garden-A Sketch" that James Burk and another hunter trailed a
large buck from Poor Valley over the mountain into the basin that came to be
known as Burke's Garden. (Roanoke Times, Dec. 1, 1969)
Letitia Preston Floyd says the other
hunter was Morris Griffith, step-son of Burk. (History of Burke's Garden, p.
408) There is a Gose Knob in the Garden which on early maps was "Morris
Knob". (Louise and Jim Hoge) The Greevers record that Burk first saw the
elk on Elk Creek in Grayson County and gave chase, wounding it on Cripple Creek
but the elk ran on and finally came to a stream whose banks were heavily
covered with reeds. Burk named this Reed Creek. The elk, with Burk in pursuit,
continued crossing mountain after mountain and into the west end of Burk's
Garden where he killed it. Others say he finished the elk on Elkhorn. The
pursuit lasted three days. So goes the Greever's story.
Burk's granddaughter, the wife of
"Strait Back" Allison in Buncombe County, N.C., told that her
grandfather James Burk wounded the elk on Cripple Creek and followed it into
Burke's Garden arriving late one evening. The next morning he decided to give
up the chase of the elk and let it go. So goes the granddaughter's story.
(History of Tazewell, p. 408-411) in this pursuit James Burk discovered Burke's
Garden in present Tazewell. He had done this before he ever promised to go out
with Patton.
Johnston in his "Middle New
River Settlements". p. 137 says that James Burk was one of the original
Draper's Meadows settlers. This agrees with what his grandson says - that he
scouted from New River which is within five miles of Draper's Meadows. Thomas
Preston says Burk explored with Patton in 1748. William Sayers says Burk came to Sayer's house saying he was
going out with Patton to show him a beautiful tract and Patton said he would
give him 400 acres in the tract and ten pounds. (Botetourt Court Deposition,
William Sayers, June 15, 1772).
Burk says he agreed to show Patton
30,000 acres for which he was to have 400 acres in any part of the lands shown
where ever he wanted it and ten pounds. Burk was to pay the patent fee which
Patton said would be five pounds and Patton would deliver the patent to Burk.
Patton did pay the ten pounds. (Botetourt Court Deposition, James Burk, June
15, 1772).
So James Burk as guide went with
Patton and James Wood, Frederick county surveyor, assorted chain carriers,
among whom may be Peaked Mountain William Burk, since he worked for Wood, and
other speculators. (Goodrich Wilson, Smyth County p. 4-5, Radford: Commonwealth
Press, 1976)
Patton's son-in-law, William
Thompson, was a surveyor. According to Burk's grandson, Jesse Pepper, it was
the year after Burk planted the potatoes that they went out. "The next
fall he got William Thompson a surveyor to go and survey part of the valley.
Grandfather hunted to provide meat for the surveyors. One day he came near
where he had planted the potatoes, he found a fine crop of potatoes with which
he filled his knapsack and returned to camp. William Thompson who was also an
Irishman was highly pleased to see the luxury of potatoes in their camp, 50 or
60 miles from the settlements, that he swore that the beautiful valley should
be called Burk's Garden, which name it has retained ever since." (Jesse
Pepper Letter)
Patton surveyed the entire tract first
and after this Burk asked Patton to lay off his promised 400 acres. Patton
asked him if he would take a place in the Garden containing 500 acres which was
surveyed separate because Patton did not want to break up the big survey. Burk
answered he would have nothing but "Burk's Choice" - the 400 acres at
the spot he had originally chosen and where he later settled.
Patton answered that they were in a
hurry, afraid of bad weather closing in, but that Colonel John Buchanan should
lay the Garden off in 400-acre tracts and Burk should have his choice. Burk
right then told Patton if he did not get his "Choice" he would return
home. Patton answered that he could not do without him. Burk stayed with the
party and continued with it as it wound its way out of the Garden. This trek
took them down Clinch, by the Maiden Springs, on to the Elk Garden thence to
Mockinson Creek, down that all day, then across the ridges to Clinch below
Castle's Woods, then up the Castle's Woods to the end of them, thence through
the ridges to the head of Mockinson thence over the mountains to North Fork of
Holston and to Stalnaker's, who lived on Patton's Indian Fields tract and had a
Cherokee trading post. They surveyed on "this jaunt" as Burk called
it, at Reed Creek, at Burk's Garden, on the head of Mockinson, Elk Garden and
one other place. According to Burk, in the trek they passed by much more good
land than the quantity Burk had promised to show but when they got to
Stalnaker's Patton said to Burk, "Well, we have not surveyed so much land
as you expected you could show." Burk answered, "Why, I showed you
enough you might have surveyed it!" Patton answered, "Well, well,
James, I believe we can do with what we have and you may go about your
business." (James Burk, Deposition, Botetourt Court, June 15, 1772)
After Burk left Stalnaker's William
Sayers said he overheard Colonel Patton and Colonel Buchanan talking. They said
that Burk had not shown the quantity of land he was supposed to show. (William
Sayers, Deposition, Botetourt Court, June 15, 1772)
Burk continued to inquire of Patton
about his land in the Garden. Patton wrote one of his surveyors in the winter
of 1750 telling him "the only answer you can give James Burk is to write
him a complisent letter and send him the inclos'd.1'. (Letter, Patton to
Buchanan? 1750, Duke University, John Preston Papers)
The “inclos'd" was probably the
ten pounds. The following year Burk met
Patton and talked of going to live in the Garden. Patton mentioned him taking
the 500 acres instead of "Burk's
Choice". Burk again refused saying he would have "Burk's Choice"
and nothing else. Patton answered, "Well, James, in the name of God, go
and settle where you will." (James
Burk, Deposition, Botetourt Court, June 15, 1772)
Mrs. "Strait-Back" Allison
said, "When Patton saw the land, he determined to defraud Burk in making a
survey, which was made April 24, 1749.11 (History of Tazewell, p. 418) The
exploring trip to find the land would have been the previous fall, 1748, which
agrees with Thomas Preston's date.
Patton then went to Michael
Doughearty's house in the forks of James River and told him he had given Burk
the 400 acres. James Davis told later that he heard Patton say after several
families settled in the Garden that none of them should have the land except
James Burk. (Michael Doughearty, James Davis, Depositions, Botetourt Court,
June 15, 1772)
James Burk's first wife Mary (Polly)
Bane Burk had seven children but died in 1750. There was a terrible flood on
Roanoke in August 1749. She might have been a victim. Neighbors Peter Kinter,
wife and child were washed away.
One spectator said, "Entire
hills were swept down and leveled and several tracts of bottom land, all
inhabited, were filled with so much sand and gravel they can no longer be lived
on. Houses and barns were carried away and with them a great deal of the crop.
The Roanoke was a mile wide at several places and the water rose to 15 feet
above dry land."( Samuel Eckerlin to Alexander Mack, Sept. 1749, Johnson,
Patton and Colonists, p. 63)
The flood was about midnight, August
25. Mathusalem Griffith, James Burk's neighbor made his will on September 11.
He may have been injured in the flood for during the winter he died leaving
wife Lucretia and six children. (CH,III, 16)
By August 1751 James Burk had
married Lucretia and their families together totaled thirteen. Lucretia was
Welsh listed in the marriage records of Christ Church, Philadelphia, as Lyky
Rees when she married Mathusalem on February 2, 1730 (Pa. Archives, Series II,
v.8, 93, 116).
James Burk took his family to
"Burk's Choice". He built a cabin, cleared land and planted potatoes.
They lived there about four years and moved "in the time of the Indian
War." (James Burk, Deposition, Botetourt Court, June 15, 1772)
Burk's children were Mary, Sarah,
James, Joseph, Naomi, Benjamin and two other daughters, one md. Coleman and the
other Brookshire, their given names not known. His will mentions 8 children.
The Griffith children were Morris, eldest; John and Benjamin and three daughters,
Elizabeth, Hannah, Lucretia. (James Burk Will Surry Co., N.C., Bk 1, 1; Nov 4,
1782; Griffith Will Bk 1, 239 CH,III,16 and CH,I,47)
In May 1753 James sold 117 acres of
the Goose Creek tract on Roanoke to James Bane. Burk had probably already gone
to "Burk's Choice" in Burke's Garden where he built a cabin and made
improvements on Burk's Creek which still retains its name.
About Valentine's Day 1756, James
was still in Burke's Garden but had evidently sent his family out in 1755 when
the Indian war began. This February day James discovered Indians near his
house, so he mounted one of his horses and tried to avoid them. They shot his
horse and he outran them in a foot race. He ran through Walker's Gap, across
Poor Valley, through the gap in Brushy Mountain into Bear Garden near Ceres.
After crossing Walker's Mountain he went east to the cabin of Alexander Sayers
where he learned that Indians had just killed Robert Looney. He hurried on and
got to Andrew Lewis's army gathering at Fort Frederick at Dunkard's Bottom on
New River (present Claytor Lake). Lewis's force was to march against the
Shawnee towns on Ohio. Burk said that Robert Looney had just been killed by
Indians on Reed Creek and he himself had lost six horses to them but escaped.
(William Preston, Sandy Creek Expedition Journal, Feb. 1756)
On February 24 Andrew Lewis's force
in its advance toward the Ohio villages, crossed two mountains and arrived at
Burke's Garden discovering plenty of potatoes which the soldiers gathered in
the deserted plantations.
The Burks probably did not return to
the old Roanoke River neighborhood among the Griffiths, Vauses and Banes at
Ephraim Vause's Fort Vause (present Shawsville). Stepson Morris Griffith was
captured there August 14, 1755 and taken to the Shawnee villages on the Ohio.
He said he spent 20 days traveling to their Towns, that not more than 300
warriors were in their Great and Little Towns on the Scioto. He was well
treated, employed in planting corn and building cabins. There were 100 English
prisoners there but only six men among them. He met George Brown now called
Gascothepe, who had become a Chief among the Shawnees who said they proposed to
send a messenger to Virginia to sue for peace. The French supplied them with
ammunition but it was very scarce and the French traders sold them goods at
extravagant prices. Morris escaped home to Virginia and testified before the
Council in Williamsburg in January 1757 when they were planning another
punitive expedition against the Shawnees. ( Preston Register, CH 11,510; Morris
Griffith, Deposition, Ex. Journals Council of Va. 11, 24)
In the summer of 1756 Fort Vause was
burned by the French and Indians. So if the Burks had been near they fled.
There was a Goose Creek Quaker settlement in Bedford and they next appear there
where a daughter marries and on 28 February 1758 James Burk avoids militia
duty. Col. John Buchanan wanted him as a militia man but on that day James
hired William Hand as a substitute. (Virginia Soldiers in the Revolution, p.
227) Because of his peaceful faith, to escape involvement in the frontier
Indian war he took his family to North Carolina.
By 1760 James Burk's family were in
Cumberland County, North Carolina and James sold another hundred acres on
Roanoke to Dr. Thomas Walker of Albemarle. In May 1767 Burk's land on Roanoke
sold to Bane passed through Walker into the hands of Andrew Lewis. (CH, 111,
455)
When the Indian War was over in 1763
James Burk led his family back to Burke's Garden where they stayed ten' days
but hearing of another Indian War starting (Pontiac's War) they left the Garden
never to return.
After the war they may have returned
to Roanoke river for a time. During some period when they lived on Roanoke
according to Mrs. "Strait Back" Allison, Burk came every season back
to his Garden.
Even before the Indian War Burk had
persuaded two brother-in-laws to settle in this remote region. One was named
Davis. One settled on Walker's Creek and one at Sharon Springs but they left
for fear of Indians. Burk would stay in the deserted Davis cabin before
crossing the mountain to go into the Garden.
The 1748 surveying trip had run 1300
acres on the headwaters of the Holston for James Davis called “'Davises
Fancy". This is probably the brother-in-law whose wife must have been a Burk.
There was in New Castle County, Delaware, a John and Ann Davis who are the
ancestors according to one genealogy of Jefferson Davis. Did they have a son
James Davis who married James Burk's sister? If Peaked Mountain William Burk
was brother to James Burk then he was brother to a girl who married a Davis. Is
this the Burk-Davis connection to Jefferson Davis?
One time when James Burk had his
entire family with him they were sleeping in the deserted Davis cabin when an
Indian party surrounded the place but peeping through cabin cracks thought they
saw 30 sleeping forms and believing they were outnumbered, fled. It was only
Burk and his family, and rolls of skins and barrels of supplies the Indians
saw, but the Burks escaped death through this mistake. ( Burkes Garden, Louise
and Jim Hoge, History of Tazewell County, p.418)
Burk made so many trips back and
forth between Sharon Springs and the Garden that the road between those two
points today is called "Burk's Road." In the old Fincastle Surveyor's
Book on March 31, 1774 the road from Ceres to Brushy Mountain was called Burk's
Road. ( Ibid. 292 and Letter, James Bane to author)
During the Burk's sojourn on the
Roanoke river the older Burk girls were marrying.
1)
Sarah Burk married Samuel Wilson in Bedford County. He died in the Battle of
Point Pleasant
2)
Naomi Burk called Ami, found her step-mother Lucretia, "not
pleasing", so went to live with her sister Sarah Wilson in Bedford. There
she was married to Samuel Pepper at Goose Creek, near Liberty (Bedford
Courthouse), on 13 March 1764. In the spring of 1764 Samuel Pepper and Naomi
moved to North Fork of Roanoke River and the next spring to New River, where
they established Pepper's Ferry. Samuel was the son of Dr. Robert Pepper whose
wife, Samuel's mother, came to New River and died at Pepper's Ferry. (Jesse
Pepper Letter) Dr. Pepper's sister married a Pearis and was mother of George
Pearis and Richard Pearis, Cherokee Indian trader See Giles Defense - 1780 for
more on George Pearis and the Burks.
3)
Mary married Joseph (Murphew -Marphew- spelled Murphes in her father's will) at
Goose Creek, Bedford. (IGI, Genealogical Society of Utah). Murphew is a very
ancient Irish name.
4)
Daughter who married William Brookshire
5)
Daughter who married a Coleman
In these years of the 1760's James
Burk demanded of Colonel John Buchanan his title to "Burk's Choice"
and offered to sell to Buchanan for fifty pounds, saying that if he had title
he would not take one hundred pistoles for it. Buchanan replied that fifty pounds
was more than he could get for the whole of Burke's Garden. He told Burk to
leave it to court arbitration. Burk flatly refused. Buchanan died in 1769.
After this James sold his land in Burke's Garden to William Ingles and John
Draper for fifty pounds. But because the title was confused a court battle of
many decades continued until the Ingles could legally claim "Burk's
Choice". (James Burk, Deposition
and John Draper, Deposition, Montgomery Co., Va., 1794)
The Burk family definitely thought
that the Patton faction had tried to cheat them according to Burk's
granddaughter Mrs. "Strait Back" Allison.
For all his effort James Burk got
little from his Virginia explorations. He lost his first wife after moving to
Virginia, his Roanoke River land was inudated; he lost property to the Indians;
his step
son, Morris
Griffith, was captured., he sold his land on Roanoke hastily because of Indian
wars and he could never get title to "Burk's Choice" in Burke's
Garden, though he was the discoverer and had led land speculators to it. For
his effort he got only ten pounds and much worry.
When the American Revolution came
along James Burk took the opposite side from the land speculators, Prestons,
Buchanans and Thompsons, with whom he struggled over "Burk's Choice".
James Burk, already associated with Quakers who did not believe in fighting,
became a Loyalist, supporting the King. During the Revolution he was in the
upper Yadkin region known as "the Hollow" near the Shallow Ford where
there was a large Tory settlement. He supported the Tory efforts and
disinherited his son James Burk because he fought for the Americans. In his
will he says "by the disobedience and undutifulness of my Eldest son James
Burk I have had just cause to denie him or his heirs any portion of my living".
He left him five shillings. (Josephine Pepper N. Fagg, "Pre
Revolutionary
Settlers on the Roanoke River, Blacksburg, Montgomery News Messenger Aug 5,
1976 and James Burk, Will.)
James Burk of Burk's Garden had a
son Joseph who dies after 1782. His wife comes to New River and lives near
Samuel Pepper. What happened to Joseph? Family legend says "he drowned in
New River about 1785". There is another Joseph Burk who was captured with
Mark Atkins and hung at Bemas Camp in Henry County toward the end of 1779.
(James Boyd Pension Application S12269) He had roamed the mountains near Surry
- his origins are a mystery. In 1761 James Burk lived on 440 acres in Surry
County, North Carolina on Burk's Creek sometimes called Forbush or Joseph's
Creek on the Yadkin in "the Hollow". Living nearby were Benjamin and
John Griffith in February 1783 when James Burk died. (Jim and Louise Hoge,
History of Tazewell, p. 418)
James Burk's daughters have been
discussed. His sons follow:
1)
Joseph who md. Margaret Grant, 29 Dec. 1766 Rowan County, N.C., and lived on
New River where the family say he was drowned near Pepper's Ferry 1785. He was
still living in 1782 when his father made his will. After Joseph's death Samuel
Pepper went security for marriages of Joseph's children who follow.
1. Jonathan md. Sally
Cooper Nov. 6, 1805 (MCM, 109)
2. James md. Betsy
Cooper dau. John Cooper Dec. 14, 1814 (MCM, 143)
3. Mary md. Jacob Shell
Jr. Dec. 28, 1787 (MCM, 22)
4. Sally md. Richard
Havens Dec. 17, 1789 (MCM 32)
5. Rebecca
6. Naomi md. Bolling
Rogers Feb. 8, 1798
7. Nancy md. Jacob
Douglas 4 Oct 1798 (MCM, 77) (Montgomery County Marriages, 1777-1853, p. 74, 109)
2)
James (disinherited)
3)
Benjamin Burk md. Mary Eliot (dead by 1782
James mentions Ben's widow in his Nov. 1782
will. She was in Montgomery Co., Va. He was involved with the Carolina Tories.
Captain Ben Burk was killed at the Shallow Ford of the Yadkin. (Dorman,
Virginia Pensions, v. 20, p.44) He is probably the "cousin named
Burk" that was killed by George Pearis. Ben's children follow.
1. Josiah, ancestor of the Lee
County, Virginia, Burks.
2. Samuel md. Ann Sovain Nov. 30,
1812 Jesse Pepper security
3. Elizabeth
4. John md. Mary Cloud Aug. 11, 1786
Bird Smith security
5. Benjamin
6. Thomas (Montgomery Co. Va. Will
1797 mentions all siblings)
7. Hamar or Honour md. John Salman
Peterson July 27, 1790 (MCM 34; History of Tazewell, p. 412; Gerald Purcell
says James Burk had a son Thomas Burk who was at the "Battle of Big
Meadows" in 1754. (Gerald C. Purcell, 163 Seminole Dr., Marietta, Georgia,
30060) This seems doubtful. He was probably brother of James and possibly
father of Ursula who married the Purcell.
Other Burks marrying (Montgomery Co,
Va.,Marriages, 49, 56,72,258, 281, 301),probably grandchildren of James Burk:
Joseph Burk md. Jane Reyburn, James
Reyburn, father Dec. 17, 1794 Wilson Burk; Mary Burk md. Sam Sperry Sept. 24,
1793, security Ben Sperry; Margaret Burk md. John Douthat 24 July 1837;
Jonathan Burk security; John Burk md. Effie Boaine Sept. 30, 1797 William
Longely gdn.
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The Burk Family in
the Montgomery Co., VA Census Records
1787 Montgomery Co., VA Personal Property
Tax-List “A”
1-W,M
16-21 2-Blacks 16+
3-Blacks <16 4-Horses,
Mares, Colts and Mules 5-Cattle
Burk,
David Self 0 0 0 0 2
1787 Montgomery Co., VA Personal Property
Tax-List “C”
1-W,M
16-21 2-Blacks 16+
3-Blacks <16 4-Horses,
Mares, Colts and Mules 5-Cattle
Berk,
John Self 0 0 0 2 3 - N River
Berk,
Thomas Self 1 2 2 10 23 Possibly brother of Joseph Burk
Birk,
John Self 0 0 0 1 2 - Greasey Creek
Berk,
Margret Self 0 0 0 2 10 - [not tithable] Joseph Burk’s widow
1810
Montgomery Co., VA Census
p.
12 Burk, Jonathan Son of Joshua Burk
Male 2, under 10 1,
age 26-45
Female
1, age 16-26
p.
18 Burk, Marg’t Wife of Joshua Burk, mother of Jonathan
Male 2, under 10 1, age 16-26
Female 4, under 10 2, age 26-45 1, age
45+
p.
30 Burk, Sam’l
Male 1, age 26-45
1820
Montgomery Co., VA Census
p. 169A Burk, Jonathan Son of Joshua Burk
Male 2, under 10 2, age
10-16 1, age 26-45
Female 2, under 10 1,
age 26-45
1830
Montgomery Co., VA Census
p.
50 Burk, Henry F.
Male
1, age 20-30
p.
53 Burke, Jonathan Son of Joshua Burk
Male 1, age 10-15 1, age
15-20
2, age 20-30 1, age
30-40 1, age 50-60
Female 1, age 5-10 1, age 10-15 1,
age 15-20 1, age 40-50
p.
54 Burk, Nancy in Blacksburg
Female 1, age 20-30 1, age 30-40
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