June-- I've been adding in the material from the book you loaned me, "Burnett-Baker-Beaman and Related Families", to my database, and I stumbled across something I thought you and some of the others might be interested in. I have a friend from the list, Jo Olive, who is going to Shelby County Kentucky for Christmas, so I'm cc'ing this message to her in hopes she might be able to check it out for me. I'll send you an image of the map to which I refer, in a separate message, so as not to crash the list server. Let me know what you think about this. Folks, There is a book called "Burnett-Baker-Beaman and Related Families", published in 1978 by Blanche Miller Burnett, which refers to the lineage of James Cunningham Burnett (1776-1839), who is in my direct ancestral line. As many of you know from visiting my website, my great-uncle, Milton Burnett (age 98) and I went to Kentucky in the summer of '96 to research the Burnett tree. We found a copy of an 1808 land deed where J.C. bought land on the waters of Beech Creek, from John and Polly Mack. (Polly Mack was a Burnett). Milton and I decided to go looking for this land, and while we were at the courthouse, one of the clerks brought our attention to a small sheaf of photocopied maps from an 1882 Atlas of Henry and Shelby County, Kentucky. On the map of Harrisonville Precinct No. 7 was a reference to "J.C. Burnett Res., Spring, & Cem." at the extreme bottom of the map. We went to the site and took some pictures, but the land descriptions in the courthouse didn't match up very well. After I got home, I filed the map in my Burnett file, and didn't think too much more about it. About a month or so ago, June Bork and I corresponded with each other about the BBBRF book, because I'd not been able to find a copy of it, and it covered a lot about the Indiana branch of this family, on which my info was pretty thin. June graciously loaned me her copy, and I began transcribing information from it this week, after my law school finals were over. On page 25 of the book, there is a detailed account of the author's search for the James Cunningham Burnett farm in Shelby County, over three summers in the 1970's, and she mentions that her search was based on an 1882 Atlas of Henry and Shelby County. I pulled the photocopies of the maps out of my file and discovered that they were from THE VERY SAME ATLAS, and had been brought to my attention by someone in the SAME OFFICE where Blanche Miller Burnett had begun her research! Intrigued, I began looking the map page over, and discovered the answer to a 20-year-old mystery! Felix Grundy Burnett, James Cunningham's son, inherited part of the farm when his father died in 1839. He bought out his siblings' shares, including his brother Pryor's (my ancestor) and remained on the farm. The original deed from 1808 contained only metes-and-bounds references, but Felix's 1839 deed also referred to adjoining landowners. The metes-and-bounds land description in Felix's deed contains references to "Munson Hedden" and "Allen Robertson" as being adjoining landowners. If one looks at the Harrisonville Precinct 7 map, about four and one-quarter inches above the reference to the J.C. Burnett Res., Spring & Cem., there is a reference to a J.J. Burnett residence near the "t" intersection of two roads, and directly above and also to the left of this residence are references to Munson Hedden. Just to the left and below the second reference to Munson Hedden is a reference to "A. Robertson", who is probably the Allen Robertson referred to in Felix's deed. Between the upper reference to Munson Hedden and J.J. Burnett is a reference to B.Q. Morton. Felix Grundy Burnett married Mary Joanna Morton, so it is likely that B.Q. Morton was Felix's father- or brother-in-law. In this same area, adjoining one of Munson Hedden's parcels, are references to several Shepherds as landowners. James Cunningham Burnett's son, James(also named James Cunningham) married Permelia Shepherd, and he and Permelia are buried in a nearby cemetery. Also in the immediate area is a parcel owned by "Ware, Hedden & Jongs". In J.C.'s estate settlement there is a reference to a note owed him by a Charles Ware, and the Ware name figures prominently in later family history, as Elizabeth Burnett, J.C.'s niece, married Dr. Ware Stokes May. Dr. May's father was probably from Pittsylvania County, VA, as was James Cunningham Burnett. With all of these indicators, I believe that the original James Cunningham Burnett farm, for which Blanche Burnett searched, has been found, and I'm hoping that it can be physically located! Kevin K. Stephenson 1600 Kentucky St. #2 Lawrence, KS 66044 (785)865-1586 Data/Fax:(785)865-2555 E-mail: [email protected] website: http://falcon.cc.ukans.edu/~kevin2/homepage.html