Burrell Pitts Jr. (1812 - 1853)

Born 1812 in Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Hows) Pitts — married 20 Dec 1829 in Davidson, Tennessee, United States

Descendants

Died 1853 at about age 41 in Greenwood, Kansas, United States

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Biography

From The Pitts Family History ^[1] Burwell "Burrell" Pitts, Jr. was born in 1812 in Tennessee near Nashville. He married Elizabeth House in Robertson Co., TN, Dec 20, 1829 (marriage certificate states the marriage was performed in Davidson Co., TN). She was born in NC in 1808 and died in MO, May 15, 1894. She was a sister to Catherine Hause (Hows), who was born in NC in 1807 and married Nov 18, 1826, Barnabas Pitts, a brother Burrell. They lived in TN until four of their children were born; Andrew Jackson in 1830, William in 1832, Louisana in 1836 and Louisa Jane in 1838. They moved north to KY where uncles and cousins lived and where there was much talk of moving to MO. Two of John's sons were already in Missouri and several other relatives were preparing for the trip. Thomas was born in 1842 in KY. Burrell & Elizabeth then went to MS where other members of the Pitts and Skinner families lived in Franklin and Leake Counties. John Barb was born in MS in 1845. They returned to KY in 1846 or 1847 in time to prepare for a continuation of their travels to MO. It is not known if they waited until the fall of 1848 when the large caravan of Pitts and related families came, or if they migrated earlier.

The urge to move evidently was a very strong and when the news of the discovery of gold in CA was heard, they were anxious to be off to seek their fortunes in the gold fields. Andrew Jackson, their oldest son, had met Saryann Melissy Pitts, the daughter of Young Mimms and Elizabeth Pitts, and the urge to seek gold was not as strong as the urge to marry Saryann Melissy and settle down to MO, so February 27, 1852 they married and remained in Missouri.

Burrell, Elizabeth and the rest of their family of three sons and two daughters joined a wagon train in the Spring of 1853. Burrell became ill and died only a few weeks after they started. He was wrapped in bedding and buried near the little blue river close to the Kansas-Nebraska line. The wagons were driven over his grave to make its location less obvious to wild animals and especially to the Indians, who had been known to dig into graves seeking scalps.

After the death and burial of Burrell, the wagon master tried to persuade Elizabeth to join a returning wagon train and go back to Missouri. She could not be persuaded and they made the entire trip to California where she made their living cooking in a mining camp, assisted by her children. Louisana married Thomas Edward Sunderland in about 1856, in California and remained there until her son Thomas Edward Jr. was born in 1865. Louisa Jane married W.W. Rust and raised her family in California. The family were still in California when Major Burrell Pitts died in September 1855.

Elizabeth and her three sons secured passage on a freighter, sailed around Cape Horn to New Orleans and came up the Mississippi on a flat boat to near St. Louis where Andrew Jackson Pitts met them with a team and wagon and returned them to Hickory County. They were living with Andrew Jackson when the 1860 census was taken, William had married a sister to Andrew Jackson's wife, who now had shortened her name to Melissa Ann. William's wife was Massiddann or "Sid" as she was known. ^[2]

Birth

1812 Near Nashville, Davidson Co., TN ^[3]

Census

1840 Trigg Co., KY Census (him or his father)

Burrell PITTS, page 307

1850 St. Arke & Green Twp., Hickory Co., MO Slave Schedule (him or his father)

Burrel Pitts, page 63

Death

1853 Near Little Blue River, KS-NE border

Sources

1. ↑ Pitts Family History Media
2. ↑ Biography source; Pitts Family History, Volume 1, by Josephine Pitts Gambill, page 61
3. ↑ Birth source; Pitts Family History by Josephine (Pitts) Gambill, Vol. 1, page 61

Acknowledgement

• This person was created through the import of PittsPenn_2010-09-21.ged on 22 September 2010 by MG Pitts.