This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Cooke Burroughs Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hAC.2ACE/999.1002.1 Message Board Post: Dear Roane - Thanks for your note. Yes, I am well aware that the public records are relatively empty of information on Elzy Burroughs in Gloucester County. He shows up in the Mathews County census of 1810, and extensively in Princess Anne records after he moved there in 1810. My knowledge of the Burroughs presence in Gloucester County is from more unusual sources. A recent report being compiled by the Mathews County Historical Society regarding the history of New Point Comfort Lighthouse, built by Elzy Burroughs, includes extensive information on the construction phase of that project. The report includes the following: "Elzy Burroughs was first mentioned in a letter from Philip Tabb, Gloucester County, Virginia, dated December 15, 1801, in which Tabb commends Mr. Burroughs "as an honest industrious man, who has worked much & faithfully for me & my neighbors." The report goes on to state the following: "Elzy was supported in another petition from Modecai [sic] Cooke, Wm. Booth and Thomas Baytop, Gloucester Courthouse, Virginia, dated January 23, 1802: The bearer Mr. Elzy Burroughs wishing to engage in more extensive business than can be obtained in the circle of his own neighborhood we the undersigned tho' strangers to you beg leave to recommend him to you as an honest industrious sober diligent man and who in our opinions will faithfully execute and perform any contract he may engage in; this we are authorized to declare from our own knowledge, Mr. Burroughs having been considerably engaged in doing public work at this place which he executed in a neat handsome and workmanlike manner. Thus much we have thought proper to declare of Mr. Burroughs's integrity ability and promptness, indeed we might add more but we deem it unnecessary." Moreover, consider the following reference to Elzy Burroughs and Mordecai Cooke in the papers of Christopher Tompkins of Mathews County: 1996 by University Publications of America. Slavery in Ante-Bellum Southern Industries Series C: Selections from the Virginia Historical Society Part 1: Mining and Smelting Industries Found at http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/guides/african_american/southern_industries/slavec1.htm "Section 3 consists of ten items, deeds, 1804-1822, to John Patterson (for land in Mathews County, Virginia) from Richard Billups (concerning the glebe, Kingston Parish [witnessed by Henry Degges, John D. Jarvis, and Robert Larus] and bears affidavit of John Patterson), Joshua G. Brown (witnessed by George Brown, Richard Brown, and Peter Foster), Josiah Lilly Deans (bears deed of Elzy Burroughs to Josiah Deans (witnessed by Mordecai Cooke, Benjamin Dabney, Josiah Lilly Deans, and Taylor Williams] and affidavit of John Patterson),..." The Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe has information on Elzy Burroughs as builder of the Old Point Comfort lighthouse that is located there which identifies Elzy as a resident of Gloucester Court House, Virginia. The above material does not prove that Elzy was a resident of Gloucester County. He may have been a resident of Mathews County doing business in Gloucester. Moreover, Mathews had only split from Gloucester ten years earlier in 1790, so there may have been some confusion between the two counties by these sources caused by that fact. Nevertheless, this is what I have to work with. The purpose of my original post was to determine if anyone else has seen a connection between these two men, Elzy Burroughs and Mordecai Cooke, and, more importantly to me as a researcher of Elzy Burroughs, to determine if anyone researching Mordecai Cooke might have run across information that sheds a bit more light on the important but enigmatic Elzy Burroughs. FYI - I will also be posting this to the Gloucester message board. Again, thanks for your note. Best regards, Bill Burroughs ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roane Hunt" <lrhunt@inna.net> To: <billb@mathewsva.net> Sent: Saturday, March 30, 2002 8:18 PM Subject: Re: [VAGLOUCE-L] Re: Mordecai COOKE; "Mordecai's Mount" > Hi, > > There was not surname like "Burroughs" in the Gloucester census of 1784 or > 1810. Howeve, Mordecai Cooke was listed in both census. > > Roane Hunt >