Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 402
THOMAS A. BURLING

Thomas A. BURLING, of Harrison Township, forms the subject of this notice. He is a native of Cambridgeshire, England, born September 19, 1837. He is the son of Thomas and Mary (BURKITT) BURLING, who died in England, the father August 21, 1884, in his eighty-eighth year, and the mother December 7, of the same year, aged seventy-six years. The father served in the British Army twenty years and one month, and was in the East Indies sixteen years. He served as Corporal and was commissioned Sergeant previous to his discharge. He enlisted August 20, 1816, and was discharged September 14, 1836. He was a Royal Arch Mason, and belonged to the Wesleyan Church. He was a tailor by trade, and possessed of many sterling qualities. He and his wife reared a family of eight children -- Thomas, our subject; Lucy, wife of James BECKWITH, a resident of Harrison Township; James, a resident of New York; Amram, a resident of Fordham, England; John, deceased; Sarah Ann, wife of Samuel GIBBONS, of London, England; Mary J., wife of J. B. KIRBY, of London, England; and an infant deceased.

Thomas, our subject, was reared a subject of the Queen, and in 1854, when he was seventeen years of age, he emigrated to this country and located in New York City for several months and then came to Rochester, where he worked for a man by the name of John Todd, on a farm. He remained at this point until 1855, and then came West to Illinois -- Dunton Station, now Arlington Heights -- where he had two uncles living. He remained there two years, and then went to Freeport, Ill., and spent two years at farm labor. We next find him in Aurora, Ill., engaged with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, but after six months went to Chicago and engaged with the Illinois Central Railroad, as a fireman. He remained with them until 1866, and then came to Clinton, Iowa, with the Chicago & Northwestern Company, as an engineer, and ran the first locomotive that rolled over the rails into Council Bluffs, during the month of February, 1867. He was with the Northwestern Company until December 31, 1880, and soon after purchased his farm consisting of two hundred and four acres, on sections 9 and 17, and has added thereto until he has three hundred and twenty-four acres, which is all finely improved, and carries on general farming and stockraising, and ships his own stock.

He was married February 5, 1868, to Mary E. BROADIE, who was born in Uncasville, Conn., was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (HOLLAND) BROADIE, natives of England. The father is a resident of Freeport, Ill., and has been time-keeper for the Northwestern Railroad Company for thirty-one years, resigning his position April 1, 1891, and is a man seventy-two years of age. His good wife, who journeyed with him through the sunshine and shadow of life, lived to be seventy years old, and fell into the sleep of death, June 19, 1888. This worthy couple celebrated their Golden Wedding September 12, 1887. They were both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. They reared a family of five children -- Hamilton H., a resident of Winnebago County, Ill.; Alfred H., deceased; Mary E., wife of our subject; Anna E., wife of John MYERS (deceased); Kate, wife of D. O. CLARK, a resident of Freeport, Ill.

Mr. and Mrs. BURLING are the parents of four children, all of whom are at home at this writing -- Edward, Alfred H., Thomas Arthur, and Joseph B.

Politically, our subject is a supporter of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife belong to the Farmers' Club. Mrs. BURLING is a member of the Congregational Church at Dunlap, and also of the F.W.S. and of the West Side Mission.

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