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Jason Harmon: Gooleys aren't only Burtons with designated nickname "(There's) solid documentation for another Burton family known as the 'Cooks' " One photo with this story By Jason Burton bjeharmon@hotmail.com I had written a previous article about the descendents of Ambrose Burton being known as "Gooley's". They were not the only Burton family to be designated a nickname. As early as 1870, we have solid documentation that their was another Burton family known as the "Cooks". The 1870 census of Adair County Lists the family of Isaiah Burton and his wife Mahala Burton with the surname "Cook" instead of Burton. Ten years later when the enumeration of Adair County was completed once again it showed the same family with their correct surname as Burton. Adair Countians love a good tradition and this one stuck with the descendents of Isaiah Burton all the way to the present time. Less dispute about the origin of the Cook nickname than with Gooley The origins of the Cook nickname is an interesting story and comes with a little less dispute than the Gooley nickname. Isaiah Burton served in the American Civil War. He enlisted as a private in the 3rd Kentucky Infantry. It has been hinted by family members that Private Burton cooked the meals for the soldiers. His military pension is difficult to read, but it appears to list his occupation in the military. It is possible that it says Cook, but I can't be 100% certain. What is certain is that 5 years after the Civil War, Isaiah Burton and family were known as "The Cook Burton's". In 1867 Isaiah "Cook" Burton married Mahala Burton. Mahala Burton was the daughter of William Frank Burton and Polly Long. The newlyweds set up housekeeping immediately. Isaiah and Mahala had one of the smaller Burton families which included four sons and one daughter. Isaiah died quite young sometime between 1877 and 1880. He would have been close to 40 years of age. He was layed to rest in the Bear Wallow Cemetery and has a military headstone. Gid "Cook" Harlan Burton was the third son of Isaiah and Mahala Burton. Gid was a small farmer and picked up extra money doing odd jobs to help provide for his family. One of the people he did odd jobs for was my grandfather, Nolan McGaha. After his work was done for the day my grandmother would invite him in the house for supper. Gid would come to the kitchen table wearing his typically large hat. He would take his hat off at the table and place it on his chair, then he would sit on his hat while he ate supper with the McGaha family just down the road from the old log church. Gid "Cook" Burton married Belle Bryant Gid was married to Belle Bryant. She came from a very large Bryant family and her ancestors were among the first settlers in the county. Six of Belle's 10 brothers and sisters married into Burton Families. Gid and Belle had nine children, but only seven reached adulthood. The children that reached maturity were Betsey Ann Burton who was the wife of Milton Giles, George Beatley Burton who married Osie Burton and left Adair County for Edinburgh, Indiana, Fannie Burton who was mentally handicapped, Willis Dolphus "Jack" Burton who was married to Marie Long and died a young man when he suffered a heart attack in 1955, Oris Burton who married Vontress Withers and also resided in Edinburgh, John Henry Burton was the youngest of the family and currently resides in Edinburgh with his wife Agnes Stapleton. Gid Burton died in 1956 at the age of eighty and was laid to rest in the Bear Wallow Cemetery. Nelse "Cook" Lee Burton was an ardent Republican The eldest son of Gid Burton who I have not yet mentioned was Nelse "Cook" Lee Burton, better known as Pa Nelse. My memories of Pa Nelse begin when he was already a man over eighty years old. Like many Burton men, Pa Nelse was a ardent Republican. If people were speeding in front of his home on HWY 206 then it had to be a Democrat behind the wheel. When Nelse Burton was a young man he married into the Gooley Burton family. He married Leedie Cowan, who was one of the many grandchildren of Ambrose Burton. Nelse and Leedie Burton owned a farm near the Bloomington Church. They raised tobacco, corn and even had pumpkin patches. After twelve years of marriage, Leedie died of T.B., leaving five children behind. While Leedie Burton was on her deathbed she called the family circle close and gave instructions for her children to be split up and raised by her mother and close relatives. Nelse didn't wish to break up the family and promised to break his back in the fields and raise his children. The next two years were especially hard ones. The children were without a mother and Nelse was struggling to make ends meet for money and food. Nelse "Cook" Burton and Maude Simpson-Foster shared similar hardships In 1938 Nelse re-married to, Maude Simpson-Foster, a woman who shared the same similar hardships that he faced. Grandma Maude had five children of her own and had lost her husband, Charlie Foster, to pneumonia less than two months after Nelse had lost his wife. She and Nelse were both members of the Purdy Seperate Baptist Church and instilled the values of God and honesty to their children and step-children.Nelse and Maude then had three more children together.The couple would kneel down at their bedside and pray for nearly an hour before going to bed. In the mid-1950's Nelse and Maude kept the farm near Bloomington and built a new house on HWY 206 in Burton Ridge. Their neighbors and friends were Boadie and Therie Burton, George Thomas and Mary Burton and Lester and Agnes Burton. This would be their final home together. Neither Nelse nor Maude drove a car. Pa Nelse would sometimes ride on his team of horses to tend to the old farm, but more often he would walk the distance beside his horse and team to the old place. Pa Nelse didn't have a lot of faith in machinery and farmed the old fashioned way. Maude and Nelse were both tedious workers and knew the rewards of getting things done the hard way. Grandma Maude was . . . filled with homespun wisdom Grandma Maude was a stern woman and was filled with homespun wisdom. In 1946, my grandpa, Ervin Harmon, was home from the war and wanted to ask for Maude's daughters hand in marriage. He called upon the Burton home and said, "Maude, what would you think of me and your daughter, Jewel, getting married?" Maude's reply was, "I think you are tying a knot with your tongue that you can't undo with your fingers." Pa Nelse cut his grass with a simple man-powered mower Pa Nelse cut his grass with a simple man-powered mower. When he finally broke down and bought a gas powered mower, he called on the help of his grandson, Cliff Harmon, to help figure out the new contraption. Cliff was getting frustrated with the mower and quipped, "This is enough to make a preacher cuss." Grandma Maude was sitting on the porch and answered back, "Well, then HE wouldn't be a very good preacher, now would he?" Pa Nelse died in 1985 at the age of eighty-one. Grandma Maude then spent a lot of time staying with her children in Indiana and Columbia. Her son-in-law, John Edward Streeval, even had a small home built for her beside his, when she would stay in Adair County. When Grandma Maude was over ninety she moved into the nursing home in Columbia and stayed there until she passed away in 1995. Murrell Burton's auction of personal property brought surprisingly high prices Nelse "Cook" Burton and Grandma Maude Burton both are buried under a stone that seems to be always graced with flowers in the Bear Wallow Cemetery. In accordance to Maude and Nelse's will the farms and belongings were auctioned off and the proceeds would be split among their12 living children. The auction seemed to be a real monetary success as Murrell Burton Commented. I will certainly remember an old antique bed that sat upstairs of the home place fetching more than one thousand dollars. I think everyone was very pleased that the house on HWY 206 was purchased by their granddaughter, Beverly Foster-Bryant and her husband, Larry. How could Pa Nelse and Grandma Maude know that things that they probably just considered as "Old Stuff" be so valuable? Thanks to those who helped with this article I would personally like to give thanks for this long overdue article to the following people: Clifton Harmon, Jewel Foster Burton, Martha Burton Wheat, Mamie Burton Stapleton, John Henry Burton, Versie Foster Streeval and Donald and Deenie Bryant. A thankful remembrance to those who blessed me with stories and are now no longer with us, such as, John Edward Streeval, Ervin Harmon, Emma Dile McGaha and of course Nelse and Maude Burton. This story was posted on 2006-01-03 06:09:15
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More articles from topic Local History:
CYRUS/Adair County, 1900 An Adair CO, KY war: The Burton-Harmon Feud Ambrose Burton's enormous family touched Adair CO, KY, long after his death CYRUS/Oil's well that ends well CYRUS: Christmas 1944 fire destroyed Corner Drug Store LETTER: Cyrus finds interesting parallels in 1949 newspaper CYRUS: Milltown, as seen by Keith Marcum 35 years ago Cyrus/Christmas in Columbia, 1948 First Female Traffic Ticketeer For Adair CYRUS discovers ''Ghost of Campbell Ridge'' View even more articles in topic Local History |
 
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