BURCHETT, Anderson A.

BURCHETT, ANDERSON, WAMSTAFF, EDWARDS, CLAWSON, COMSTOCK, WHEELIS, HAMLIN, HILEMAN, GRIMM, COLE, GREELEY

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/20/2014 at 07:21:22

History of Decatur County Iowa and Its People
Illustrated, Volumne II.
Prof. J. M. Howell and Heman C. Smith, Supervising Editors
The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company. pp. 396-98. Chicago. 1915.

ANDERSON A. BURCHETT

ANDERSON A. BURCHETT who has resided in this county since 1855, is still supervising the operation of his farm of sixty-eight acres on section 3, Richland township. He was born in Hancock county, Tennessee, January 9, 1847, a son of A. F. and Leah (Anderson) Burchett, both natives of Tennessee. Their parents were from the southern part of New England. Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Burchett removed to Greene county, Indiana, where they remained for seven years, after which they went to Kansas but did not locate in that state. In January, 1855, they came to this county with a party consisting of nine families who made the journey with ox teams and brought their goods and stock with them as they were seeking homes in a newly opened western country. A. F. Burchett settled on section 3, Richland township, and his brother-in-law, Lewis Anderson, settled in Long Creek township. Mr. Burchett was a democrat and served for years as justice of the peace. He was also township assessor and county supervisor, his election to office indicating the high place which he held in the estimation of his fellow citizens. The first Sunday school in the county was held in a log house in 1855 and he served as its superintendent. He belonged to the Camden Baptist church of Richland township, in which he was a deacon, becoming a member of that organization on the 20th of November, 1858, and so continuing until his demise, November 17, 1904. He was then seventy-five years old, as he was born March 1, 1829. His wife was born September 3, 1822, and died August 2, 1907, in the faith of the Baptist church, when she had nearly reached her eighty-fifth birthday. To their union were born eight children: Anderson A.: Rachel, who died in girlhood; Franklin, a resident of Clarke county, Iowa; Marshall, of Richland township; Mary, the wife of James Wamstaff, of Clarke county; Lucinda, who married D. T. Edwards, of Carroll county, Missouri; William, of Clarke county, Iowa; and Rebecca, the wife of J. F. Clawson, of Richland township.

Anderson A. Burchett was reared in this [Decatur] county from the age of eight years and acquired his education in the public schools. The first school which he attended was held in a log stable and the floor was of dirt. During his boyhood and youth he experienced the hardships of frontier life and his reminiscences of the early days of the county are of value to the present generation who find it hard to conceive of conditions other than those of the present. He broke the prairie land, split rails and did whatever else needed to be done in the work of developing a farm from the virgin prairie. He has always followed the occupation to which he was reared and for thirty years has resided upon the farm on section 3, Richland township, which he still owns. He has carried on general farming and his labors have yielded him a competence.

On the 4th of November, 1868, Mr. Burchett married Mrs. Narvesta Comstock, nee Wheeles (sic, should be Wheelis0, who was born in Claiborne county, Tennessee, October 11, 1840, a daughter of Josiah and Jane (Hamlin) Wheeles (sic, should be Wheelis). Her father was born in Claiborne county, Tennessee, but removed to Davis county, Iowa, where he was killed by lightning. His wife was born in Lee county, Virginia, and passed away in Davis county, Iowa. Five of the children born to their union were living at the time of the demise of the mother but Mrs. Burchett is the only one now surviving. She removed with a brother, a sister and an uncle, William Wheeles (sic, should be Wheelis), to Decatur county in 1853. They located in Richland township, where Mrs. Burchett has since resided. Her uncle subsequently removed to Arkansas, where his demise occurred. She was married in 1859 to George W. Comstock, who died four years later while serving at the front in the Civil war as a member of the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Iowa Volunteers. To their union were born two children: Allen B., who is residing in Bridgeport, Nebraska; and Mrs. Jane Hileman, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Burchett are the parents of five children: Fannie L., who died in infancy; Anna, the wife of George W. Grimm, who is residing in Richland township; W. F., of that township, who married Miss Nelie Cole; Mollie, the wife of John Grimm, of South Dakota; and Martha, twin to Mollie, who married Mr. Greeley, an editor of Grand River. Mr. and Mrs. Burchett have twenty-eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren and Mrs. Burchett has thirty-five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Mr. Burchett is a democrat and is loyal in his support of the party but has not taken an active part in politics. He served on the jury in the Vanschaick case, which resulted from the blowing up of the old courthouse at Leon. He belongs to the Camden Baptist church, of which he is a deacon, and his wife has been a member of that organization since 1858. Both are much interested in the work of the church and contribute generously to its support. During the six decades that he has resided in this county Mr. Burchett has at all times done his full share of the work of development and improvement and he takes much pleasure in the great progress that the county has made in that time.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2014