Joshua Jonathan BURKS (son of William & Lucinda (NORMAN) BURKS) was born Oct 10,
1847 in Arkansas. His mother died in Arkansas and William returned to Georgia with J.J.
and his sister Mary E. According to family tradition, William soon remarried, but the wife
(name unknown) was so cruel to the children that the marriage soon ended. J.J.'s father
then married a kind, loving woman (Unity) who was very good to the children. William and
Unity left Henry County and went to Coosa County, Alabama. The 1860 Census of Coosa County
lists Unity as a widow and head of a household. After William's death, Unity had her own
children, plus the two stepchildren and had no way of supporting them. J.J. wa sent back
to Clayton County, Georgia to live with his uncle Dave NORMAN. During his early years,
J.J. went to school only long enough to learn to read, but not to write. After he was
living with the NORMAN family, he went to a writing school with the help of his cousin
Yancy BARTON. (Yancy's mother was a sister to Lucinda (NORMAN) BURKS)
On Dec 24, 1871 in Clayton County GA, J.J. married Elmina MITCHELL (daughter of Thomas
& Elizabeth (RUFF) MITCHELL) in a civil ceremony conducted by A.P. Adamson, Justice of
the Peace. Elmina wa born Aug 17, 1851 in Clayton County GA. J.J. and Elmina lived in
Clayton County for approximately six years, then moved to the Brachfield Community of Rusk
County TX in the early months of 1877. There they began farming and raising their family.
They joined the Zion Hill Baptist Church in July 1877. Being active and faithful members
of that church, J.J. was ordained as a deacon on July 31, 1886. According to church
records, on Sep 2, 1893 he was recognized as "having the gift of exhortation."
On Jan 4, 1901 he was ordained as a minister and began pastoring churches all over Rusk
County.
For a time he was a circuit riding missionary, serving churches as far away as the
Flatwoods Community in the extreme southeastern portion of neighboring Panola County. J.J.
loved to sing religious music. His daughter Lee (BURKS) CRAWFORD remembered his favorites
as being some of the Sacred Harp songs such as #288 "White", #418
"Rees" and #470 "There We Our Jesus Shall Adore". On Aug 28 1913 the
family was gathered so the men could help Dr. Tim Deason cut hay. After lunch J.J.
suddenly felt ill. Someone fixed him a pallet on the porch of his house so the afternoon
breeze could help him stay cool. He laid down and requested that the women and girls go on
singing hymns as they had been doing to amuse themselves. Suddenly he turned very blue and
said simply, "I'm gone!" and he died. He was buried in Zion Hill Baptist Church
Cemetery near him home.
Elmina then became the strong head of the family, continuing to live on in the home J.J.
had built upon their arrival in Texas. A quiet, unassuming woman, Elmina loved her family
and worked hard at keeping the family unit strong. Elmina died June 21, 1940 at her home
and was also buried in Zion Hill Cemetery. Two months after her death, her children,
remembering how they had always gathered to celebrate her birthday, decided the most
fitting memorial to their mother would be to hold a family reunion each year on the Sunday
closest to her birthday. That tradition, begun in 1940, continues today with the 57th
Burks Reunion being held on Sunday, Aug 10, 1997, over a half century after Elmina's
death, reinforcing the family ties she felt were so important.
Children of J.J. and Elmina (MITCHELL) BURKS: 12
Lydia Florence Burks 1872-1951
Georgia Ann Russ Burks 1874-1902
William Clifford Burks 1876-1954
Tommie Elizabeth Burks 1878-1936
Martin Edward Burks 1880-1959
Wyatt Alden Burks 1882-1942
Lexie Jane Burks 1885-1963
Eddie Ollie Lee Burks 1888-1973
Rufus Columbus Burleson Burks 1892-1975
Stewart Joshua Burks 1892-1975
Infant son Burks 1894-1894
Emma Odessa Burks 1896-1975
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Here is another installment of my BURKS stuff. But, first, a little personal note. I began
genealogical research about 25 years ago when research was so very difficult unless you
lived near the few metropolitan areas where there were good research libraries. I remember
well how quickly the jubilation of finding a new scrap of information was replaced with
the gloom of knowing that now you had to retype many pages of data just to put the new
tidbit in it's proper place. Of course, the natural offshoot of that is that I have file
folders chock full of scraps of paper with scraps of information that never got dovetailed
into place. Early on, I assigned my research the umbrella
title of "How Did We Get From Here to There?" because that is the fascination to
me - the converging and diverging of families and locations made all the more interesting
by the melody of the "old-timey" names and the harmonious flow of the same names
repeated generation
after generation.
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The following is a piece my grandmother Lee (BURKS) CRWAFORD wrote for me in 1966. Lee
(1888-1973) was the daughter of Joshua Jonathan and Elmina (METCHELL) BURKS.
The head of the Bruks family as we know it in Ruck County TX was born in Arkansas where
his mother passed away from this life when he was nine weeks old. When his father, witha
little sister and Joshua, returned to Georgia where he remarried. Not ever having heard
Papa say, I don't know how soon, nor how long they lived together, but she treated them
badly. Papa remembered that well enough. He said that once when his father was away on
business (I suppose) he left the house and went into a corn field that was in roasting ear
and crawled into a hollow log and spent the night while bears came to eat the corn. He
said he was more afraid to return to the house and his stepmother than of the growling
bears. His father separated from this wife and later married another who was very kind and
good to him. After a few years his father passed away. Joshua was nine years old at this
time.
The kind stepmother had little children of her own, so she had to let the larger
stepchildren go for she could not care for them all. Joshua went to his Uncle Dave Norman,
who was his mother's brother. Only once did the kind stepmother have to scold Joshua. He
was near her when she hit him once with a wet cloth which was in her hand. He said it did
not hurt him other than to hurt his feelings badly. When he was having to leave her to do
to another place to live, he said she washed his face and hands, combed his hair and then
gave him a goodby kiss. I don't recall ever hearing Papa say what her name was, or even
what his own father's name was. Isn't it pitiful we don't know that?
Our Father went to school only enough to barely learn to read and could not write. He said
a writing school was beginning near by and he wanted to go, but Uncle Dave said, "No,
you must plow." So as he was plowing a cousin of his came along and, seeing him,
stopped and asked why he wasn't going to the school. This cousin was Yancy Barton. Yancy
said, "Well, you are going. I will pay your expenses and see that the plowing gets
done." Except for the goodness of that cousin, Papa would not have known how to
write.
Cousin Yancy Barton's sister, Elizabeth, became the wife of Joshua Crow. I remember them.
Some of their descendants are living near and most of our family knows them. R.E. Rogers
is their grandson. Maud Crow is their grandson. Rev. T.A. Crow who taught science in
Beckville High School is a great grandson. Dr. John Rousseau's children are great
grandchildren of Joshua and Elizabeth Crow.
Levi Crow married Ollie Burks, she was a sister of our Father's father. Will Jones who
lives in Henderson and his sisters are grandchildren of Aunt Ollie and Uncle Levi.
Our Father married Elmina Mitchell near Christmas of 1871. She was a true Christian young
lady and I have often said that she preached the Gospel as much (if not more) than he did.
He being a proud man and having a large family which he was proud of and he wanted them to
be well cared for, thought that he must stay at home to make a living for them. Mama said
that he left Georgia and came to Texas running from the call to preach. But the Lord had
laid his hand on him and sent one chastisement after another on him until he was middle
age. Mama told him to go and preach, that she and the children could do the farming, the
two older sons (or should I say three) being almost men, so he surrendered to preach and
was ordained by the Missionary Baptist Church of Zion Hill in Rusk County.
So, the Rev. J.J. Burks began to pastor churches, to name a few of them: Pleasant Hill,
north of Henderson; County Line, 4 or 5 miles east of Kilgore; Sulphur Springs, west of
Mt. Enterprise; Sweet Gum Grove, some miles west of Minden and many others.
To the best of my memory he was elected missionary for the Mt. Zion Association for
1907-1908. This included Panola County also. His work was mostly east of the Sabine River
in what is now the Deadwood Community of Panola County. Often times he would be gone from
home six or eight weeks without us hearing from him. Let's call to memory here that in
those days travel was by horse power, which is different. If the minutes of this
association could be found, they would probably yield more information.
Papa loved good milk cows for his family to have at home. This needed and succulent food
was always the best that could be had back then in those days so many years ago. He also
usually raised horses and mules and kept the best for the use of his family. The stock was
well cared for and always ready when called on for service. As each daughter married, or
became mature, they were given a heifer or milk cow of their choice from whatever was in
the herd. Of course, since farming was the general occupation back then, as each son
became about 18 years of age, Papa began to look around for a work animal - horse or mule
- to give that son. Also, on the morning of each son's twenty-first birthday, Father would
have a special talk with them about what they might do in the future and whether or not
they desired to further their education, if so he would help them financially as far as he
was able.
I remember Mama saying that Papa had half brothers that were fine looking men, large men,
who were good singers.
When our father was home, at a certain time every day, he would walk off, crossing the
road that was in front of the house and go down a cow trail that led through the forest
and into the cow pasture. Many times I wondered why he was going or where he went. Oft
times he asked Mama to accompany him. Years later I learned that he went to a large tree
where he knelt to commune with our heavenly Father.
Father loved singing, especially church hymns. He said, "When you sing these, do so
in rememberance of me." He loved children and to play and joke with them. He also
loved company. Often, while sitting on the front porch near noon, he would see some friend
going down the road. Papa would call and stop them and invite them to eat with us, knowing
that Mama most always had plenty cooked.
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The following is a piece written in 1978 by Allen (CRAWFORD) WATSON describing her parents
Chester Cortez and Lee (BURKS) CRAWFORD:
Eddie Ollie Lee Burks, eighth child of the Rev. J.J. Burks and Elmina Mitchell Burks
married Chester Cortez Crawford on December 22, 1909. Lee's father, the Rev. J.J. Burks
performed the ceremony in the open hall of his home in the Brachfield Community of Rusk
County, Texas.
Lee was born, raised and married all in the same house. She was a good reader even in her
early years, often reading from the Bibly for her father when he was tired from working so
hard in the fields. When she finished the school at Patrick Community, she spent six weeks
in Henderson at a summer Normal. That enabled her to get her teacher's certificate so she
could teach school. The taught at Liberty School in the eastern edge of Rusk County for
two years. Tehn she taught at Brooks School in the western edge of Panola County. After
teaching one year there she married and devoted her time to rearing her family that
eventually grew to include four boys and three girls. She was well known for being and
excellent cook and a talented seamstress.
Lee's love of reading was a constant thing and her knowledge of the Bible and her school
teaching experience made her a valuable member of her church. She did not give up teaching
Sunday School classes or holding women's Bible Study lessons until forced to by declining
health and failing eyesight after she was past eighty years of age.
Chester was born and reared on a farm the was located along the Panola-Rusk county line.
He quit school when he was in the fourth grade, but continued his education by a life-long
habit of constant reading. In 1914 he left his wife and two children with her parents in
Brachfield while he went to barber college in Houston. He and his brother Sam Crawford had
a shop together for several years in the Pine Hill Community in Rusk County. Then Chester,
with a growing family, began to work his farm for five days a week and cut hair with Sam
on Saturdays. In 1920 Chester opened his own barber shop in Beckville in Panola County and
soon moved his family there. In his later years he worked in a barber shop in Carthage
and, having never owned a car or learned to drive, he hitch-hiked to and from work
regardless of the weather.
Chester and Lee lived out the balance of their lives in Beckville. They were devoted to
each other, to their expanding family and to their church. Although both have now passed
on, they are still remembered by their family and by a host of friends.
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When Elmina (MITCHELL) BURKS (1851-1940) and her husband, J.J., came to
TX in 1877, she brought with her a notebook in which she had written
down receipes given to her by her mother and other women in Clayton Co,
GA. The following is her receipe for Old Fashion Tea Cakes. In later
years, Elmina's daughter Lee (BURKS) CRAWFORD (1887-1973) adjusted the
receipe to conform to moderm measurements.
OLD FASHION TEA CAKES
1/2 cup butter 1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs 2 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter and sugar until smooth, add eggs and beat well. Add
vanilla and beat well. Sift one cup of the flour together with the
baking powder and add to mixture, beat well. Add remaining cup of flour
and beat well. Knead on a well-floured surface, roll very thin and cut
with cookie cutter. Bake in a hot oven just until edges of cookies
start to brown. Immediately upon removal from the oven, sprinkle tops
of cookies with sugar.