CHARLIE BURKETT DIED OF WOUNDS AS A RESULT OF BEING SHOT IN THE STOMACH WITH A MACHINE GUN IN FRANCE WWl, BURIED IN LEE CEMETERY 1919.

I, ARNOLD BURKETT CONTACTED THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION AND GOT A GRAVE MARKER FOR CHARLIE, MY GRANDFATHER'S BROTHER, SON OF PETER BURKETT, CIVIL WAR VETERAN, BURIED IN LEE CEMETERY, 1911.

I HAD MY WIFE PATTY HOLD IT AND TOOK A PICTURE OF IT, THEN PUT IT ON CHARLIE'S GRAVE. I HAD TO MAKE A CEMENT BASE ,  THEN LAY IT ON WHILE THE CEMENT WAS SOFT, THAT IS WHAT HOLDS IT, PLUS KEEPS IT FROM BRFEAKING WHEN WALKED ON.

CHARLIE BURKETT DIED OF WOUNDS AS A RESULT OF BEING SHOT IN THE STOMACH WITH A MACHINE GUN IN FRANCE WWl, BURIED IN LEE CEMETERY 1919.

MY GRANDMOTHER DIED 1911 AND IS BURIED AT THE OLD MAHONING CHURCH CEMETERY.
MY GRANDFATHER SILVANUS SAMUEL JONES BORN IN ENGLAND 1879, DIED 1926.
HE WAS 9 YEARS OLD WHEN HIS PARENTS CAME TO AMERICA FROM STAFFORDSHIRE,
ENGLAND, HE IS BURIED AT CIRCLE HILL CEMETERY IN PUNXSUTAWNEY, PA.
INFORMATION BY ARNOLD,
FAMILY HISTORIAN

 

FINDING GRANDMOTHER JONES :

MY MOTHER NEVER KNEW WHERE HER MOTHER WAS BURIED TILL ABOUT 1957.
MY MOTHER WAS BORN 1908, HER YOUNGER BROTHER SILVANUS DIED OF THE PLAGUE AND THEN HER MOTHER PASSED AWAY WHEN MY MOTHER WAS VERY YOUNG, THEN MY MOTHER LEFT THE PUNXY AREA AT A YOUNG AGE, THEN HER FATHER PASSED AWAY.

MANY YEARS PASSED, ALMOST 50 BEFORE MY SISTER BOBBI AND I STARTED MAKING TRIPS
AS TIME PERMITTED IN SEARCH OF GRANDMOTHER JONES FINAL RESTING PLACE.
AS THE STORY GOES, GRANDMOTHER JONES WAS ILL AND WENT TO STAY WITH HER PEOPLE IN THE PLUMVILLE AREA AND WHEN SHE PASSED AWAY THERE WAS A FLOOD AND SHE COULD NOT BE BROUGHT BACK TO PUNXY FOR BURIAL, I WAS STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL AND WE MADE WEEKEND TRIPS CHECKING WITH RELATIVES AND CEMETERIES, BOBBI WROTE ALOT OF LETTERS TO PEOPLE WE GOT NAMES OF THAT MIGHT HELP,  WE A LOT OF TIMES STOPPED IN GEORGEVILLE TO VISIT WITH NORMAN AND WIFE FREDA HAAG BURKETT, SOMETIMES HAD SUNDAY DINNER WITH THEM, WELL

WE WERE RUNNING OUT OF PLACES TO LOOK FOR GRANDMOTHER JONES, AND BEING AS NORMAN WAS FAMILIAR WITH THE AREA AND HANDY TO PLUMVILLE, WE QUESTIONED HIM, NORMAN SAID, I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE SHE IS BURIED, HE WAS A CARETAKER OF SEVERAL CEMETERIES AND THE OLD MAHONING CHURCH CEMETERY JUST OUTSIDE PLUMVILLE WAS WHERE GRANDMOTHER JONES WAS BURIED.

IN A FEW MINUTES, NORMAN HAD US AT GRANDMOTHER JONES GRAVE, ALL THOSE YEARS MY MOTHER WAS DEEPLY SADDENED, ESPECIALLY MEMORIAL DAY WHEN SHE COULD NOT PUT FLOWERS ON HER MOTHERS GRAVE, OUR SEARCH WAS FRUITFUL THAT DAY AND IT WAS JUST BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY, OUR LOST SHEEP WAS FOUND,
OUR JOURNEY AND SEARCH ENDED, AND OUR MOTHER WAS THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD.

NOT QUITE SO, IT HAD ONLY JUST BEGUN, FOR I DEVELOPED A CRAVING FOR ANCESTOR HUNTING AND AFTER I GRADUATED AND HAD MY OWN WHEELS AND AS TIME PERMITTED I WAS ON THE ANCESTOR TRAIL LIKE A BLOODHOUND, PLUS I HAD BEEN GATHERING INFO FROM EVERYONE, THEN ON A TRIP TO THE PLUMVILLE AREA

ROOT DIGGING, I STOPPED BY TO SAY HI TO NORMAN AND FREDA BURKETT IN GEORGEVILLE AND THEN AGAIN STARTED ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT  THE BURKETT
FAMILY, FREDA SAID OH, WE HAVE THE BURKETT FAMILY TREE, WENT TO HER CLOSET
AND UNROLLED THIS FAMILY TREE , IT WAS ON FINE LINEN, FREDA MADE IT,
SO I MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO COPY IT, I WENT BACK ON SATURDAY WITH BIG SHEETS
OF TRACING PAPER AND MY SISTER BOBBI, PATTY AND I SPENT OVER 4 HOURS
TRACING IT LAID OUT ON THE OUTSIDE PORCH, IT WAS CEMENT, LEVEL AND SMOOTH,
PLUS OUTSIDE IN GOOD LIGHT.

MY MOTHER AND FREDA HAD A NICE LONG VISIT.

SOOOO, THE BURKETT FAMILY TREE MADE ITS DEBUT, THE BASE OR BEGINNING WAS
SAMUEL SR. AND ALL HIS CHILDREN, THE TREE HAS A SPLIT TRUNK, INDICATING MORE THAN ONE WIFE, THE RIGHT SIDE IS THE CHILDREN OF SAM SR AND SALLY HATFIELD, THE LEFT SIDE IS THE CHILDREN OF SAM SR. AND MARY MAGDALINE  DUNMIRE.
NORMAN BURKETT IS OFF SAMUEL JR. AND VAL IS OFF SAM JR. ALSO.

I SALUTE NORMAN AND FREDA HAAG BURKETT FOR THEIR GREAT CONTRIBUTION
TO THE BURKETT HERITAGE, AND FINDING MY GRANDMOTHER JONES.
CAN YOU IMAGINE THE TIME FREDA SPENT DOING ALL THAT SEWING OF NAMES
ON THAT FINE LINEN CLOTH, AND YOU KNOW EVERYTHING WAS EXCELLENT TO TRACE IT AND BE ABLE TO READ THE NAMES.

 THIS IS ALL TRUE, FIRST HAND.
TOLD BY ARNOLD BURKETT
BURKETT FAMILY HISTORIAN

 

 

Lansing Deeter

THE WOMAN ON THE LEFT IS LANSING DEETERS WIFE, BEHIND IS PATTY, ARN'S WIFE,
THE MAN ON THE RIGHT IS LANSING DEETER, BEHIND IS HIS SON.
I SHOW YOU THIS PICTURE FOR TWO REASONS
LANSING DEETER WAS A SURVIVOR OF THE JAPANESE DEATH MARCH ON BATAN,
HE WAS IN THE HOSPITAL WHEN THE JAPS OVERRAN THE AMERICANS AND McARTHUR PULLED OUT.

 THE BOARD ON THE REAR OF MY VAN IS ALL ARROW HEADS AND OTHER INDIAN
ARTIFACTS LANSING'S SON TALMAGE GATHERED FROM THE INDIAN MOUNDS IN THE AREA OF PERRYVILLE, ARKANSAS WHERE THEY LIVE.
TALMAGE GAVE A COMPLETE COLLECTION TO THE COLLEGE IN ARKANSAS, THEY MADE IDENTIFICATION OF THE TIME ERA AND WHAT INDIANS THEY WERE.

 A FELLOW I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH, JOHN POTEMPA DID THE SAME THING, GAVE PENN STATE UNIVERSITY A BIG COLLECTION OF ARROWS AND ETC, JOHN GOT THEM FROM THE FIELDS AROUND MY AREA, JUST FOLLOWED THE FARMERS AROUND THE FRESH PLOWED FIELDS AND FOUND A LOT OF THEM.

I FORGET NOW, BUT THE EASTERN ARROWS ARE MADE FROM FLINT STONE AND THE WESTERN ARROWS ANOTHER TYPE OF STONE.

THIS CEMETERY WAS ALL BUT FORGOTTEN, MY WIFE PATTY AND I CLEANED IT UP, CUT A PATH TO IT, AND ERECTED SIGNS. IT IS KNOWN AS THE OLD SHERMAN FARM, JONATHAN SHERMAN WAS A CIVIL WAR VET AND MARRIED TO PETER WARNER'S DAUGHTER,

IT WAS ORIGINALLY THE PETER WARNER JR. FARM, THE HOUSE WAS BUILT BY PETER WARNER AND IS IN GOOD CONDITION TODAY, I WAS IN THE HOUSE MANY TIMES WHEN I VISITED REVEREND ERNEST BAUMAN AND HIS WIFE BACK IN THE EARLY 1980'S AND CLEANED UP THE CEMETERY.

THAT IS A STRANGE CHAIN OF EVENTS ABOUT LOCATING THAT CEMETERY. I KNEW FROM RECORDS MAKING THE LITTLE FAMILY TREE THAT THERE WAS A CEMETERY IN THE WOODS WHERE PETER WARNER WAS BURIED A FELLOW AT WORK DAVID PAYNE SAID HE KNEW OF IT, WOULD CHECK WITH HIS FATHER,

SATURDAY MORNING I WENT TO ROSSITER, DAVE AND HIS FATHER WENT WITH ME, WE FOUND THE CEMETERY, IT WAS ALL GROWN OVER, THERE WAS HEADSTONES ON A LOT OF THE GRAVES, INCLUDING PETER WARNER'S WITH THE REV SOLDIER INFORMATION AND BRASS FLAG HOLDER, ALSO JONATHAN SHERMAN'S GRAVE WITH A CIVIL WAR INSCRIPTION AND A CIVIL WAR FLAG HOLDER.

NOTE : SHORTLY AFTER I CLEANED UP THE CEMETERY AND PUT A SIGN BY THE ROAD,

THE BRASS FLAG HOLDERS WAS STOLEN, THAT IS THE REASON THE VETERANS HAVE ALUMINUM HOLDERS NOW, PEOPLE STEAL THE BRASS FLAG HOLDERS. FURTHER CONVERSATION WITH DAVE PAYNE AND HIS FATHER REVEALED WHERE I LIVE, AS I TOLD THEM WAS THE OLD PAYNE FARM, A COLONEL PAYNE CAME FROM NEW HAMPSHIRE AND THIS WAS HIS FARM, WHERE I LIVE, THEN MR. PAYNE TOLD ME HE KNEW ABOUT THE FARM I LIVE ON THRU HIS GRANDPARENTS TELLING HIM, AS THEY ARE DIRECT DESCENDANTS TO COLONEL PAYNE.

MORE TO THE STORY, IN 1921 A DAUGHTER OF MY GRANDFATHER SAM BURKETT, SHE THROWED KEROSENE IN THE KITCHEN COOK STOVE AND SOME SAY IT WAS GASOLINE, BUT THE HOUSE BURNED COMPLETELY DOWN, THIS IS ABOUT A MILE AND A HALF FROM WHERE I LIVE HERE ON THE OLD PAYNE FARM.

THE PAYNE'S WAS MOVING AWAY, MY GRANDFATHER BOUGHT THE HOUSE FROM THE PAYNES, TORE IT DOWN AND REBUILT IT ON THE SAME SPOT HIS ORIGINAL HOME HAD BEEN, AFTER I BOUGHT THE PAYNE FARM MANY YEARS LATER, I FILLED IN THE OLD FOUNDATION WHERE THE HOUSE HAD BEEN, IT HAD A DRILLED WELL AND CASING,

THAT A DRILLER DID ABOUT 1910, THE WATER COURSE WAS 60 FEET DOWN, MY WELL IS OFF THIS SAME WATERCOURSE JUST A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY, I CHECKED THE WATER SUPPLY BEFORE I HAD A WELL DRILLED, I HAVE A NATURAL GIFT, I CAN DOWSE , OR WITCH FOR WATER, TELL YOU IF ITS A GOOD WATERCOURSE, AND ABOUT HOW DEEP YOU WILL DRILL BEFORE GETTING THE WATER, I ALSO CAN FIND METAL PIPES, OR DRAIN LINES, AND ETC.  PRETTY NEAT HUH. ALSO I CAN TRACE A WATERCOURSE TO ITS SOURCE, LIKE FOLLOW IT WITH MY DOWSING RODS, WATERCOURSES ARE UNDER GROUND STREAMS THAT FLOW LIKE STREAMS ON TOP THE EARTH. THAT'S NICE TO KNOW ISN'T IT.