Burgess, Edward D. (1851-1930)

BURGESS, LANNING, SLADDEN

Posted By: Debbie Greenfield (email)
Date: 10/28/2016 at 09:08:14

Daily Freeman Journal, Webster City, Iowa, Monday, May 12, 1930

E.D. BURGESS DIES AT HOME

Widely Known Librarian of Kendall Young Library Dead.

79 YEARS OF AGE

E.D. Burgess, 79, died last night at 10:30 o'clock at his home at 902 Willson avenue. He had been in poor health for some time and the past winter suffered much from heart attacks. He was taken to his bed during one of these attacks last Wednesday and this was the immediate cause of his death.

Funeral arrangements will not be made until relatives in the east have been heard from.

Mr. Burgess came to Webster City when a lad of six years and had lived here ever since. He was widely known and had been prominently identified for many years in various ways in the development of the community. He had been librarian at Kendall Young Library for 32 years - since the establishment of the library in 1898. That he stood high in the estimation of Kendall Young was evidenced by the fact that the will of Mr. Young designated that he should be the librarian. He had a strongly literary mind and was especially well fitted for this place. He took few vacations and had been in continuous management of the library practically every day of the 32 years that he had served as librarian. He was also a member of the board of trustees, having also been selected for this place by Mr. Young and named in his will for the place.

Mr. Burgess was born in 1851 at LaFayette, N.J., and was a son of Jesse Raymond and Huldah Lanning Burgess. The family came to Hamilton county in 1857 and settled in Webster City where the father practiced medicine until his death.

After he obtained his grammar school education, Mr. Burgess entered the University of Iowa and attended within a few months of graduation. He studied civil engineering and followed the profession until 1878. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar of Iowa and practiced in this state for 20 years prior to taking the place of librarian.

In 1884 Mr. Burgess was married to Miss Elizabeth Bassett Sladden, a daughter of W.C. Sladden, of Webster City, who survives him.