Porter Burnett Simonds (1898 - 1968)

Born 31 Aug 1898 in Duncanville, Dallas County, Texas, USA

Ancestors

Son of Henry Clay (Simons) Simonds and Lurinda Charlotte Buck

Husband of Nellie Pearl Stanley — married 3 Oct 1922 in Anson, Jones County, Texas, USA

Descendants

Died 2 Aug 1968 at age 69 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Shari S [send private message]

Biography

Biography below composed by great-granddaughter Shari S:

Burnett Simonds never liked his first name. He thought "Porter" evoked a sense of servitude, and so, as a teenager, he changed it to Thomas, in honor of Thomas Jefferson.

However, he was generally known as Burnett or "T.B." (which his four brothers didn't hesitate to point out had its own bad connotations). It was only long after Burnett's death that the family discovered that he'd originally been named for his mother's great-uncle, who in turn had been named for Burnett's great-great-great-grandmother.

Despite all this fussy talk of names, Burnett was an easygoing man. His life's work was in the painting trade, where he gained his notable skills under his father H.C., who allegedly had traveled to Germany as a young man to apprentice to master craftsmen.

Whether that story is true remains a puzzle for Burnett's grandchildren and their descendants today. Burnett's father Henry was a teller of tales, something he claimed to get from his Irish roots (which were also played up beyond the truth), and Burnett and his four brothers were just as deft as their lively father in spinning yarns. Four of the five boys were writers, especially of poetry, with Burnett favoring funny and shocking verses.

Born in Duncanville, Texas, in 1898, Burnett lived with his Texan father and Missouri-born mother and near both of his grandmothers in the Fort Worth/Grapevine area for his youngest years. By 1920 his immediate family was living on Burnett St in Fort Worth, which - knowing his parents' sense of whimsy - could well have been a deliberate choice.

The Simonds family moved often as H.C. sought out painting work and business opportunities, but they always remained near Fort Worth. This changed in the early 1920s when a physician advised that the family move away from the city and to the drier climate west to alleviate the asthma from which Burnett's mother Louie suffered.

It was near Anson in Jones County that Burnett met his future wife, Pearl, in an auto camp. At age 24, he married this east Texas girl of 17 in Anson, and their first son was born there in 1924.

Burnett's mother passed away from asthma complications in 1925, and by the next year the young couple was back in downtown Fort Worth, their family having increased to include a daughter and another son. Work was difficult to find, though, and soon they moved south to Port Arthur, near Pearl's businessman brother. As the Depression grew worse, they traveled around Texas, picking fruit and doing whatever work could be found.

The family was back in Fort Worth by the mid-1930s, and there Burnett remained, self-employed as a painter until his retirement. His children were all married and living nearby by the beginning of the post-war years, and over the years plenty of grandchildren kept Burnett and Pearl's eventual home in Azle near Eagle Mountain Lake full of the fun and good humor for which the family was known.

A lifetime of work with chemicals and sometimes less-than-ideal ventilation took its painful toll on Burnett, whose last two years of life were marred by emphysema and heart disease. His last days were spent in North West Hospital. He passed away on a Friday afternoon, family at his side, a few weeks short of his 70th birthday.

Sources

• Family Bible. Originally owned by Henry Clay and Louie (Buck) Simonds. Now in possession of their great-grandson C. Simonds.

• Texas, Deaths, 1890-1976. "Thomas Burnett Simonds". Digital image of original death certificate: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KS1N-XRF

• World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. "Porter Burnett Simonds". Johnson County, Texas. Digital image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=WW1draft&h=17789468&indiv=try

• United States Federal Census. 1900. Texas. Tarrant County. Page 11a. Sarah F. Buck household (grandmother). Digital image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1900usfedcen&indiv=try&h=44253082

• United States Federal Census. 1910. Texas. Tarrant County. Page 3b. H. C. Simons household. Digital image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1910USCenIndex&indiv=try&h=126169082

• United States Federal Census. 1920. Texas. Tarrant County. Page 5a. Henry Simon household. Digital image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1920usfedcen&indiv=try&h=13136887

• United States Federal Census. 1930. Texas. Jefferson County. Page 39b. Thomas Simonds household. Digital image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1930usfedcen&indiv=try&h=62582509

• United States Federal Census. 1940. Texas. Tarrant County. Page 9a. Thomas Simonds household. Image of original document at Ancestry.com: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1940usfedcen&indiv=try&h=157981622

• Marriage record for T. B. Simons and Pearl Stanley. Anson County, Texas. 3 October 1922. First Baptist Church. Photocopy of record provided by county clerk and in possession of great-granddaughter Shari S.

• Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1932. "Charles Burnett Simonds" (son). Database hosted at Ancestry.com. Digital image of original document.

• Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1935. "Billy Urban Simonds" (son). Digital image of original document at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-17253-78338-29?cc=1803956

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7768962/porter-burnett-simonds: accessed 24 September 2023), memorial page for Porter Burnett Simonds (31 Aug 1898–2 Aug 1968), Find a Grave Memorial ID 7768962, citing Nelson Cemetery, Azle, Parker County, Texas, USA; Maintained by Shari (contributor 46848189).

• Paternal and Maternal relationships are both confirmed by an autosomal GEDmatch comparison between a grandchild of Thomas Simonds , GEDmatch kit # A862784, and J Simonds, GEDmatch kit # T674090, (compare kits), his 1st cousin 1x removed. Their most-recent common ancestors are Henry Simons and Lurinda Buck, the parents of Thomas Simonds and grandparents of J Simonds. Predicted relationship from GEDmatch: first cousins once removed, based on sharing 383.6 cM across 17 segments.