William Ewing Burris Jr (1843 - 1882)

Born 1 Jan 1843 in Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Sara Elizabeth McNamee — married 3 May 1864 in Harrison Co., MO

Descendants

Died 19 Apr 1882 at age 39 in Bethany, Harrison, Missouri, United States

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Biography

William Burris Jr served in the United States Civil War.
Enlisted: 22 Sep 1861
Mustered out: 18 July 1865
Side: USA
Regiment(s): 23rd Regiment, Missouri Infantry

William was born in 1843. He is the son of William Burris and Lydia Morris.

1862 POW Libby Prison

Burris Cemetery, Missouri

• Fact: Residence (1850) Harrison, Missouri, United States
• Fact: Military Service (1861) Missouri, United States
• Fact: Military Service (from 22 September 1861 to 18 July 1865) 23rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry Tennessee, United States
• Fact: census (1870) Cypress, Harrison Co., MO
• Fact: Residence (1870) Missouri, United States
• Fact: census (1880) Johnson, Ness Co., KS
• Fact: Burial Burris Cemetery, Harrison Co., MO

William bore the same name as his father and was destined to have the same short life his father had five years shorter. Disabilities as a result of his service during the Civil War caused his demise at only 39, leaving a wife and seven children. William was born 1 January 1843 in Harrison County, Missouri and was only 9 when orphaned. We are not sure if William went to school or where he went to school. The only record we have is his signature on papers signed during the Civil War, 1861 1865. He did have a good signature: He was not found in the 1860 census but according to his pension papers he was working for his uncle George BURRIS Jr. in Cypress Township at that time. William enlisted in the Civil War 22 September 1861 in the 23rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and served in both E and A companies. On his transfer to Company A he was made corporal. On 6 April 1862, he was listed as missing in action, Pittsburg Tennessee. He was captured at the battle of Shiloh and sent to Libby prison, but paroled May 28 at Huntsville, Alabama. On 1 January 1864 he was at McMinnville, Tennessee to reenlist as a veteran. In action on 3 August 1864, his unit was charging Rebel lines. The men had to double quick in support of a skirmish charge and William became over heated to the point of insensibility, which resulted in "permanent affliction". He was sent to the 3rd Division, 14th Corps, hospital. William's brother, George W. BURRIS III, was in Company E of the 23rd and pension papers indicate that the two brothers served together. ("We were mess mates", said George) But George and William's enlistments do not coincide with each others. However, both were mustered out with their companies at the war's end, 18 July 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky. In the Spring of 1864, William was back in Harrison on furlough. He was visiting his Uncle George. George and his wife, Elizabeth, had Sarah, a niece of Elizabeth's, working for them as a house servant. Sarah Elizabeth MCNAMEE was born I March 1849 in Liberty Township, Jackson County, Ohio. Her parents were Hiram and Mary (HENRY) MCNAMEE of Mitchelville. At the time, Uncle George was a Justice of the Peace, and it was he who performed the ceremony, the date was 3 May 1864. Then it was back to the war. After his discharge, William and Sarah set up home in Harrison (145 acres in Section 22, Cypress Township). This is where their seven children were born. William's health was very bad. Among other things he had "misery of the heart". On 2 January 1877 he applied for a pension, saying, "I don't know whether I shall be able to hold onto my little home, as I am now almost entirely unfit to perform any labor" and he was only 33 years old! He and Sarah did lose their Cypress Township farm. They made plans to try homesteading in Kansas. On 12 January 1880, he wrote the pension board: "If my claim lays until I go to Kansas, it will be very unhandy both for me and the government". (The government was not sure his disabilities were service connected) By the 1880 census, a few months later, he and his family were in Newby, Ness County, Kansas. On 8 April 1880 he wrote from Newby, "I've been four years in my attempt to get a pension. I've gone down in health and property. I was compelled to let my home sell and I've come to Kansas and taken claims. My family here is a wife and seven children and nothing to support them on longer than one month. I have taken Kansas land under the Homestead Act which requires I be on the claim within six months of homesteading, which expires April 20, and if proof is needed, I'd like to get it in the community I've lived in since the war and, second, I need the money very bad". They did go back to Harrison County, but not thanks to the government. Somehow they managed it on their own. In spite of all his hardships and poverty, William never did get his pension. Less than a year after their return to Harrison, William died. "He died in a chair in a smothering spell", recalled his brother George. He died 19 April 1881 and is buried in the Burris Cemetery. One of the family legends told is that his brother George camped at the cemetery for a week after his burial, armed with his rifle to foil grave robbers. Sarah was only 32 at the time of William's death and had seven youngsters ages 2 to 13 to support. Sarah applied for a widow's pension, but it was denied on the grounds that it had not been proven that William's death was war related. Sarah wrote back that there was no proof because his brother and sister had refused to allow an autopsy, and therefore had made her miss out on the pension. From the book "Burris".

Sources

"United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDZZ-SYB : accessed 27 April 2015), William Burress in household of William E Burress, Harrison county, part of, Harrison, Missouri, United States; citing family 334, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"Missouri, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FF13-VMQ : 4 December 2014), William Burris, 1861; from "Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations From the State of Missouri," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing military unit Twenty-third Infantry, A-R, NARA microfilm publication M405 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1964), roll 784.

"United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M467-ZDJ : 17 October 2014), Wm Burris, Missouri, United States; citing p. 4, family 25, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 552,277.

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MF56-C59 : 14 July 2016), William E Burris, Johnson, Ness, Kansas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 391, sheet 352D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0391; FHL microfilm 1,254,391.

"Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV6-9L16 : 13 December 2015), William Ewing Burris, 1882; Burial, Mitchellville, Harrison, Missouri, United States of America, Burris Cemetery; citing record ID 14886358, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

Marriage Record- Near Bethany, MO., 3 May 1864, Sarah E McNamee to William Burris by Geo Burris, ESQ., Burris Family Collection

William Burris & Descendants, Research Book compiled by Edwin Wilkinson and John W. Burris, https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/264667-william-burris-1763-1846-research-book-burris-and-allied-families-two-hundred-thirty-years-1763-to-1995?offset=6

"Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 16 November 2017, 23:04), entry for William Ewing Burris Jr(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:273W-FBK); contributed by various users.