Need help trying to find Burns (Burnes) from TN

Question

Searching for years and I have never been able to find any information. It is like nothing exist beyond my father. Surely there is some family out there.  I hope someone can help.

Answer 1

"Burns" and "Tennessee" isn't much to go on, Candy. What other details do you have?

Answer 2

Trying locate my grandparents.     George Washington Burns(burnes) and Lydia Hawkins.  I don't have any dates for them. I do have a photo of George.  Was told they where from Athens, TN area, my father Luke Pledger Burns was born in Bradley Co/Cleveland TN.  Luke was born in 1906,and I was told that George & Lydia died when he was young,but I don't know Luke's age when they died.  

 

George & Lydia also had a son Walter, Anderson and a daughter Fannie.  Anderson died in the 1960's in AL, Fannie lived in/around Dalton GA.    Walter has a son who lives( and has lived in VA) but I do not know if the son was raised there or settled there.

Luke also had a cousin Jess Hooker who lived and I believe died in Concord NC.

Comments

Have you looked for census records from Bradley County, Tennessee, in 1900 and 1910? Census records can be an easy place to start,and if your father was born in Bradley County in 1906, chances are good that his family appeared there in either 1900 or 1910. You might also look for census records from McMinn County, Tennessee, in 1880, 1900, etc. (Athens is in McMinn County.)

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It turns out that the indexing of the census records for that time period in Tennessee is not particularly good -- and the enumeration sheets aren't terribly legible. I spent at bit of time looking at records to see if I could find anything.

The closest thing I found is a George W. Burns with a family that doesn't quite match the other details you have. In the 1900 census I found a George W. Burns, born July 1856 and a carpenter, listed as a head of household in Athens, McMinn County. His wife was named Minnie and there were 8 children. The same person appears again in the censuses for 1910 (as George Burns) and 1920 (as G.W. Burns) in McMinn County, with wife Minnie and a household that includes a son named Clyde who is listed in 1910 as age 5 and in 1920 as age 14. There are no other children young enough to have been born later than about 1896.

I found these records on http://persi.heritagequestonline.com. They didn't turn up in search results on familysearch.

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Yes, I have looked in almost every census I can find.  Not much luck. How is it possible they are not in any census? Even looked in several counties.

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Not the correct Burns. There a ton of George Washington Burns from TN.

Answer 3

Ms. Elkins - I am looking for information on Richmond (b. abt 1827) and Nancy (b. abt. 1826) Burnes.  They lived in Stewart County Tennessee at least in the 1850s.  Do you have any information on them by any chance?  Thanks, Morgan Parker