BURRIS and VERNON families
from Missouri to Texas

(Last updated Jan. 7, 2018)

Thomas & Peggy (Tincher) Burris branch: 1. Isabella Blythe (1802/5 KY - MO?) 2. Prudence Lackey (1805/10 KY - MO) 3. Easter Elledge (1811/15 KY - MO?) 4. William Burris (1812 KY - 1860+ TX) 5. Nancy Hunt (1815 KY - 1860+ MO?) 6. Elias Burris (1818 KY - 1856/58 TX) 7. Hamilton Burris (1820 MO - 1860s MO) 8. Margaret McCord (c. 1825 KY - ?) 9. Jackson Burris (1830? MO? - ?)

David & Nelly (Lackey) Burris branch: 1. Elizabeth Gibson (1810 MO - 1880 TX) 2. Mastin Burris (1812 MO - 1888 MO)  3. James M Burris (1815 MO -1900 TX) 4. LewHetty Burris (1815/20 MO - 1850s TX) 5. Mary Ann Gibson (1820s MO - ?) 6. Louisa J Warden (1824 MO - 1860 TX) 7. Malinda Burris (1826 MO - ?) 8. Andrew J. Burris (1832 MO - 1879 TX)

Walter & Lydia (Barnes) Burris branch: 1. Rebecca Green (1808 KY - 1830s?) 2. Nancy Vernon (1809 KY - 1880s MO) 3. William B Burris (1811 MO - 1870s ?) 4. Alice Crabtree (1813 MO - 1860s ?) 5. Mary Crabtree Williams (1814 MO - 1892 TX) 6. Thomas W Burris (1816 MO - 1897 AZ) 7. Zachariah Burris (1818 MO - 1860+ ?) 8. Rachel Crabtree (1820 MO - 1850/51 MO) 9. Prudence Flanery (1823 MO - 1870s TX) 10. Walter Burris (1825 MO - 1864 MO)

Thomas Burris and David Burris branch:
 William Burris was born about 1812 in Estill county, Kentucky, the son of Thomas Burris (b. 1770s, died c. 1847 Cass county, Missouri). William married LewHetty Burris, daughter of David B. Burris (b. 1770s South Carolina, died 1849 Cass county, Missouri), in 1833 in Jackson county, Missouri.  

William Burris' brother Elias Burris (b. 1818 Estill co., Kentucky) married LewHetty's sister Malinda Burris but they divorced around 1846.  Elias remarried to Martha Jane Fann in 1848. William and his brother Elias may have fought in the so-called "Osage War" in 1837 from Missouri.

 William Burris was a resident of Cass County, Missouri until about 1844 when he migrated to northern Texas.   William and Hetty Burris are listed in the 1850 Census (Grayson county, Texas). William appears in Parker county's first tax roll in 1856. Afterward William is listed in Wise county where he settled near Eldorado and is given credit for its current name of "Paradise".  William's son Tarlton (b. 1834 Cass county, Missouri) served in the "Indian Wars" under Capt. Wm Fitzhugh's Texas Mtd. Batt. enlisting at McKinney. Tarlton served from December 1854 to March 1855 and fought the Comanche and Kiowa Indians in West Texas. Tarlton's brothers Mansfield Burris and James Lafayette Burris also served in the Indian Wars.   Tarlton married Symantha Montgomery about 1856.  Symantha died in 1866 and was buried near Paradise. Tarlton then married Margaret E. Armstrong on Feb. 28, 1867 "near Decatur" in Wise county. Tarlton's son Jesse was killed by Indians after 1870. Tarlton died in 1898 in Ada, Indian Territory.

 In the 1860 Census, Texas, Wise county, page 2 we have Tarlton Burris (grandson of David Burris AND Thomas Burris), Zachariah Burris (son of Walter Burris), and Nehemiah Vernon (grandson of Walter Burris) recorded as families 511, 513 and 517 giving strong circumstantial evidence that David Burris, Thomas Burris and Walter Burris are related.  [census image]

 William Burris' brother Elias Burris came to Parker county after 1850 from Cass county, Missouri.  Elias is also listed in the 1856 tax roll but died a short time after and prior to May 1858.  Elias' widow Martha Jane then remarried to Archibal Moore. They are listed in the 1860 Wise county census near William Burris and Thomas Vernon.  

 Hetty Burris' older sister Elizabeth Gibson (widow of James) moved from Oregon to Paradise, Wise county, Texas in 1880 (probably by train) but died only three weeks later on Aug. 18, 1880 and was buried in Paradise cemetery.  Hetty's younger sister Louisa Warden (b. 1824 Missouri) moved from Missouri to Collin county, Texas by 1852.  Louisa died in April 1860 of "inflammation of the bowels".  Her husband John Warden (1822-1898) remarried and moved west to Parker county, Texas.

Walter Burris branch:
 Zachariah Burris (b. 1820 Missouri) and his brother Thomas W Burris (b. 1816 Missouri) were sons of Walter Burris (c.1762-1839) of Jackson county, Missouri. Thomas Burris married Sidonia Barker in 1839 in Lafayette county, Missouri. Zachariah Burris married Mary Barker in 1842 in Platte county, Missouri.  Sidonia Barker and Mary Barker were evidently first cousins.  Zachariah, Thomas, and Sidonia's brother Joshua Barker came to Texas by 1850 and are listed near each other in the 1850 Census (Dallas county, Texas).   Zachariah and two Thomas' are listed in the Parker county, Texas tax rolls 1856-7. Zachariah is listed in Wise county 1858-62. Thomas W Burris (Walter's son) and his son James M Burris had land a few miles south of Springtown (Parker county) near Veal Station road but sold their land (or the interest in) around 1859 and moved to California. The Thomas Burris still listed on the Parker county tax rolls 1858-61 is William's brother who had a wife Nancy A. Nancy A. Burris is listed in the 1863+ rolls with Thomas Burris listed as original grantee of her 160 acres. William Burris, Zachariah Burris, Thomas Burris Jr, Martha Jane Burris (widow of Elias), and Margaret Burris (sister of William) all had land around Springtown.   

The Barker family were also from Estill county, Kentucky and an older relative named Rachel Barker married Isaiah Burris in 1801.  Isaiah Burris was born 1776 South Carolina and died about 1854 in Missouri.  Sidonia's sister Margaret Barker married (1) Samuel Robinett and (2) Joseph S Amos and also moved from Missouri to Parker county, Texas.  Margaret Amos died in 1858-1859 and evidently left a daughter Margaret S Amos (born 1858).  When Zachariah Burris made a will in 1862 he mentioned his "cousin by marriage" Margaret S Amos who was only 4 years old.  Zachariah and Mary Burris evidently took care of Margaret after her mother's death.

  Nehemiah Vernon (b. 1828 Missouri) and his brother Thomas Vernon (b. 1833 Missouri) are both nephews of Zachariah Burris by his sister Nancy Burris Vernon of Miller county, Missouri. They came to Wise county, Texas in the 1850s settling near their relatives near Paradise. A terrible Indian attack on Nehemiah's family from the mid 1860s is detailed in "History of Parker County" and "Pioneer History of Wise County". Thomas Vernon moved to Collin county, Texas after 1862 where his aunts Mary "Polly" Williams (wife of John) and Prudence Flannery (wiife of John J.) were living. Mary had lived there since about 1851 and Prudence from about 1855. Thomas Vernon died in 1889 in Collin county.

 Other families:
 The William Fitzhugh whom Tarlton served under had a relative named Gabriel Fitzhugh who is mentioned in Walter Burris' probate records in 1839 in Jackson county, Missouri. The Fitzhughs migrated to Collin county about 1844 and are mentioned in "A History of Collin County" by Jacob and Lillian Stambaugh. Jacob is a great grandson of John J and Prudence Burris Flannery. The book also mentions the Warden family who also migrated to Collin county about 1844. John Warden married Louisa J. Burris mentioned above.  The Wardens "camped for 10 days.. in Grayson county" after crossing the Red River in April 1844. The 1850 census lists the Fitzhughs and Wardens 14 households apart. William Burris may have came with the Wardens but stayed in Grayson county instead?  David Burris' son Andrew Jackson Burris (1831-1879) also migrated to Grayson county.

William Caroll Burrus:
 William Carroll Burrus was born 12 December 1831 in Missouri, son of Jacob & Charlotte Martin Burrus. He lived in Cooper county, Missouri Wise county, Texas and Collin county, Texas. He has a biography in "A History of Collin county". He "started a store in Weston in 1854" and later owned a flour mill in McKinney. Jack Stambaugh, in his outline of Flannery descendants, wrote "John Flannery once worked at a mill owned by a Mr. Burris who was a relative of his wife (Prudence Burris)." William's biography says during the Civil War he served in company B, 15thTexas cavalry and that he was made a lieutenant later in the war. In Wise county a William C. Burris appears in a muster roll dated 1862 as a private under Captain Pickett. "Pioneer History of Wise County" mentions Captain Pickett's company reported to McKinney where the 15th Texas Cavalry was organized, they reached Little Rock where a second reorganization occured and W. C. Burress was made a lieutenant. In Wise county a W.C. Burris was a signer of a July 1866 petition asking for more army protection from "hostile Indians and...reckless white men & negroes (who) are constantly committing crimes..." William Burris was also a signer of the petition. William moved back to Cooper county, Missouri where he married Mary Catherine Guyer in 1869. William was listed in the 1870 Missouri census for Cooper county next to his brother Thomas Jackson Burrus. He was listed age 35, born Missouri, occupation miller. Mary was age 22 and their infant was 3 months old. About 1875 William came back to Collin county. Mary died in June 1879 and was buried in Pecan Grove cemetery, McKinney, Texas. William remarried to Mary A. Covert in 1888. William died 29 June 1911 in McKinney and was buried in Pecan Grove cemetery. William's brother Thomas died 8 July 1909 and was also buried in Pecan Grove cemetery.

 This Burrus family is found on the 1850 Missouri census for Cooper county listed under the misspelling of "Barnes".  William and Jackson's sister Eliza married Michael Bannister Hickey in 1858 who was the son of Middleton Hickey and Jestine Burrus. Middleton and Jestine can be found on the 1850 Missouri census for Jasper county on page 374 while John and Mary Burris Williams (d/o Walter) can be found on page 376.  Note that John and Mary had a daughter Jestin (Jeston) born in late 1850.  John Williams had came to Missouri from Overton county, Tennessee (1840 census) in the 1830s.  

From  the book "Biography of the Guyers":

Page 10 "In the spring of 1811-12 several families came to Cooper County. Among them were Walter, Val and David Burress (Burris) and their families.. "

Page 42 "In the spring of 1811, Walter and David Burress (Burrus) came to Cooper County. Hawkins Burress came to Moniteau Creek in 1818... David Burress and David Burress Jr voted in the first election held in Lamine County [Township]. They came from Tennessee at the same time Captain Stephen Cole, cousin of Daniel Morgan Boone, came to build a fort on the Missouri River. Note the spelling of 'Burrus'. They were the brothers of Jacob Burrus, father of William Carroll Burrus, Jacob was born in Overton county, Tennessee and moved to Cooper County in 1828. He died there in 1848. His wife was Charlotte Martin who was also born in Overton. She died in 1879. They had ten children and William was their fourth child." 

The writer provides no evidence for linking two different lines that have very different origins.  The line "They came from Tennessee at the same time Captain Stephen Cole" clearly doesn't  apply to Walter and David Burris who came from Clark (Estill) county, Kentucky in 1809.  There is no record (that I know of) that links Walter and David Burris with a Val Burris.

At the moment there is no absolute proof that the Cooper county, Missouri "Burrus" line is related to the other Burris branches in South Carolina and Kentucky other than the circumstantial evidence of proximity in Cole, Cooper and Jasper counties, Missouri. More research needs to be done in Missouri and Tennessee and Virginia to find the links.  

Information from:
Lance L Hall, 7841 Ella Young Dr., Ft Worth, TX 76135
Judy Wundrach, Denver, CO
Candi Seaton, PO Box 218, Plains, TX 79355
Jack Stambaugh, Dallas, TX
"Pioneer History of Wise County"
"A History of Collin County" by Jacob and Lillian Stambaugh, 1958
"History of Parker County ..." by G.A. Holland, 1937
Federal Census records
Tarlton Burris' Indian Wars Pension Record
"Burris/Burrus" by John W. Burrus
"Biography of the Guyers"
Ancestry.com