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“Richard Burgess,
father of Henson T. Burgess, was born in MD, and united in marriage to Elizabeth Twig in the same state, and emigrated to
Perry Co., Ohio in the year of 1812, carrying all their possessions and belongings through the wilderness on horseback, and
a temporary home was built on arriving, of split puncheon, until a site was cleared for the little log cabin on the forty
acres each of them had entered … “
(Obituary of Henson Twigg Burgess. “Democrat Sentinel”, Logan, Ohio, 13 June 1907)
Richard Burgess and his
wife Elizabeth Twigg migrated to Ohio from Maryland between 1810 and
1812. They, along with Richard’s siblings Joseph, John, Mary, and Thomas,
settled their families in the Hocking Valley
during the first half of the nineteenth century.
Richard had settled in
Madison Township, Perry County (then Muskingum County)
by 27 Feb 1813, when the county's duplicate
tax records listed him as the proprietor of 80 acres. He was listed in the Muskingum tax records until 1818, when Perry
County was formed.
Richard's household appears
on the 1820 census in Madison Township, Perry County, Ohio. About 1824, Richard moved his family to Falls Township in neighboring
Hocking County. Eventually Richard and Betsy had eleven children, eight sons and three daughters. His household appears
in Falls-Gore, Hocking County on the 1830, 1840, 1850, and 1860 censuses, changing as his children grew up, married,
and began their own families. In 1870, after Betsy had passed away, Richard is shown living with his son Henson, and is noted
as infirm. He dies in 1872.
Richard’s
son Andrew Jackson Burgess was born in Perry County in 1823. He grew up on Richard's farm in Hocking County, eventually acquiring his own farm east of
the family homestead. Jackson married Elizabeth Taylor in 1845. Their household was listed on the 1850 and
1860 censuses. Jackson and Elizabeth had eight children.
In 1868, Jack married Lydia (Hartman) Morehead of Perry County.
What happened to Elizabeth? Elizabeth is the only wife mentioned in the 1883 Hocking history, published 15 years after Jack
and Lydia married. Lydia is listed in her father's household on 1850 Perry County census, in Samuel Morehead's household in
1860 Perry County census, and in Jackson's household in 1870 Hocking County census. This family is my current puzzle.
Jackson and Lydia had four children that I know of. By 1876, the area of today's village of Gore contained 2 villages,
Hamlin and across the road, Burgessville. Jack and Lydia lived on a farm several miles southeast of Burgessville.
Jackson and Lydia's son Amos was born in Hocking County in 1870.
He married Estella Lanning and they had 5 children. Amos worked in the coal mines and rented his home next door to his
father, eventually acquiring his own farm.
One of Amos and Estella's children was my grandfather, David
Edgar Burgess. David is listed with his parents on the 1900 and 1910 censuses. In 1910 at age 16, he was working
as a coal miner. About 1917, he married Goldie Edna Lambert. By 1920, David and Goldie were renting their
home next to Goldie's parents, and David had escaped the mines to work in the oil fields.
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