William Burgess of Ninety Six District, South Carolina
[Haplotype R - M269]
Note: This family is genetically related to:
Rev. William Burgess of Franklin Co., Alabama
NOTE: Some researchers have attempted to insert another (fourth) William Burgess in this chain of descent, showing one with the wife Mary Wingard, and the other with Elizabeth Turner; however, census and other records are more consistent with the structure displayed below. Mary Wingard Burgess supposedly lived until 1864; however, she does not appear in 1850-60 censuses of Pike Co., Alabama.
William Burgess Sr. was born about 1744. He married Eleanor Heath about 1765 (she was born about 1750, remarried Thomas Dixon after her husband’s death, and died in 1797). He purchased 50 acres of land from Catherine Maclemar on 6 July 1773. Listed in the 1779 census for Ninety Six District, South Carolina (the part that became Newberry Co., South Carolina, in 1785); he lived on the north side of the Saluda River. He enlisted in 1775 in Capt. Samuel Wise’s Company of Rangers, 3rd Regiment, South Carolina Continental Line, and also served in the South Carolina Militia following the fall of Charleston. He died in early 1785 in Ninety Six District; his will (Newberry Co. Will Book A, p. 497, dated 8 January 1785, probated 7 March 1785) mentions his wife and three children (noting that the latter are all minors), and makes his widow co-executor with William Moor and Bartlet Satterwhite; he notes two plantations owned by him, including one on Goose Pond Creek and one on the Saluda River (which is noted in a later document as a 250-acre estate purchased by William on 15 January 1777 from Richard Golding; this plantation was sold by William Burgess (Jr.) and Howell Cobb to Abraham Dyson on 6 September 1800). On 15 June 1785 his widow received the eight pounds, eleven shillings, and five pence due to him for his service under Colonel Anderson “as Private since the reduction of Charlestown.” He had earlier been paid thirty-nine pounds and ten pence for the delivery of horses to South Carolina state troops in 1781-82, and another nineteen pounds and seven shillings for supplying sixty pounds of pork for a “party of Colonel Hampton’s Dragoons and Command.” Eleanor Burgess Dixon later sold her one-third share of her husband’s estate to her son-in-law, Howell Cobb, on 16 December 1799. William had three children: two daughters (Abigail Burgess [1772-1824], who married Howell Cobb, and secondly William Thomas; and Sarah Burgess [who died before 1800]), and one son:
*1. William Burgess Jr. (1766?-1851) of Pike Co., AL
Only Son of William Burgess Sr.: William Burgess Jr.
William Burgess Sr. was born about 1766 in Georgia (the age and place according to the 1850 census). The fact that he was not named a co-executor of his father’s estate suggests that he was underaged at the time of his father’s death. He married Elizabeth Turner about 1792 (she apparently died between 1840-50). He is listed in the 1790-1820 censuses for Newberry Dist./Co., South Carolina, and from 1830-50 in Pike Co., Alabama (in 1840 as William Burgess Snr.), where he settled with his family and former neighbors about 1821 (a number of Newberry Co. residents emigrated en masse). He died there in May 1851, having had one daughter (Ellender Burgess, born 30 March 1797 in Newberry Co., married William Wingard on 26 October 1819 in Lexington Co., South Carolina, emigrated to Pike Co., Alabama with her father, brother, and other relatives, settling in the region called “Wingard,” and died there on 25 April 1885 [buried Wingard Cemetery]; in the 1880 census she claims that both she and her parents were born in South Carolina)—and one son:
*1. William Burgess III (1793?-1856) of Pike Co., AL
Only Son of William Jr.
William Burgess III, also called Billie Burgess, was born about 1793 in Newberry Co., South Carolina (the age and place from the 1850 census). He married Clarinda Loveworth Knight on 28 February 1826 in Pike Co., Alabama (she was born about 1807 in South Carolina), and possibly Mary Wingard, sister of William Wingard, at an earlier date (see the Note at the head of this entry). He is listed in the 1840-50 censuses for Pike Co., Alabama (in 1840 as William Burgess Jr.); he may also be listed with his father in 1830, although no wife is noted (one unverified account says that William supposedly lived in Texas, then part of México, during the years 1829-33). He died in Pike Co. on 2 November 1856, according to an obituary in the Troy Independent America (12 November 1856)—“Died at his residence on Olustee Creek in this county, Sunday evening, the 2nd of Nov., William Burgess, in the 59th year of his age. Mr. Burgess was among the first settlers in Pike County….” John W. Pruitt was appointed administrator of his estate on 9 December 1856. He had four sons:
1. William M. Burgess (1831-1862?) of Pike Co., AL, who was killed before 9 May 1862 while serving in the Confederate Army during the Civil War (his unit has not been identified; his widow, called “Lucinda Burgess,” was appointed executor on 9 May 1862 in Pike Co.—Estate Settlements, Book #1, p. 721-25); he married Sarah Lucinda Hufham on 17 March 1853 in Montgomery Co., Alabama (she was born 1837, and died 1893; she remarried his brother, Squire, about 1865); on 27 February 1870 the Alabama Assembly passed a private act (#176) authorizing Squire and Sarah to sell William’s real estate; William had five children, who were raised by his brother and his wife, including three sons: Green L. Burgess (1855-1912) of Covington Co., AL; Joseph P. Burgess (1859-1870+), and James Burgess (1862-1880+)
2. James M. Burgess (1836-1862) of Pike Co., AL, who married his first cousin, Mary Ann Elizabeth “Polly” Wingard (1836-1862), about 1854; he served as a 1st Lieut. in Co. D, Hilliard’s Legion (59th Alabama Infantry), Confederate Army, Civil War, dying in service on 30 October 1862, leaving no children
3. Richard Burgess (1840-1906) of Escambia Co., AL; he served as a Corporal in Co. D and Co. K, Hilliard’s Legion (59th Alabama Infantry), Confederate Army, Civil War; he is listed in the 1867 Voters’ List of Pike Co.; he is buried in Union Cemetery, Escambia Co.; he married Catherine Oliver on 24 November 1859, and left numerous children
*4. Squire Hagan Burgess (1842-1916) of Pike Co., AL
Fourth Son of William III
Squire Hagan Burgess was born on 14 February 1842 (or 1845) in Pike Co., Alabama. He married Sarah Lucinda Hufham, widow of his brother, William M. Burgess, about 1865. He served as a Private in Co. I, 15th Alabama Infantry, Confederate Army, during the Civil War, and later received a pension. He is listed in the 1870-1910 censuses for Pike Co. (in 1870 as Samuel Burgest), but is not in the 1867 Voters’ List. He was serving as a Justice of the Peace for Pike Co. in 1894. He died there on 22 August 1916, having had five sons:
1. John Edward Burgess (1868-1939) of Pike Co., AL
2. Lester Thomas Burgess (1870-1951) of Pinellas Co., FL
3. Reese Clifton Burgess (1874-1952) of Pinellas Co., FL
4. Milton Hamilton Burgess (1878-1958) of Hillsborough Co., FL
5. Edgar Spain Burgess (1880-1934) of Marion Co., FL
John Edward Burgess is the ancestor of E. L. Burgess.
Test results received from one representative of this line match the markers of male descendants of William Burgess of Franklin Co., Alabama; they have a common male ancestor, name unknown.