Kin and Konnections: A Family History Blog

Wm. Foos, President F. W. Foos, Cashier John Foos, Vice Pres. Capital $100,000 Surplus $80,000 SECOND NATIONAL BANK Springfield , O Mar 1, 1879 To Whom it May Concern I would state that the bearer M. T. Burwell a Banker at Gibson Ford County Ills. has loaned for myself & sons, my partner & his family, within the past four years about two hundred thousand dollars, secured by Trust Deeds on lands in Ills.   I have examined most of said lands, and consider every loan Mr. Burwell has made for us safe & well secured.   I would further state our business transactions with Mr. M. T. Burwell has been entirely satisfactory, not withstanding it has been large & extending through several years. As I own an improved farm of 4,000 acres in Mr. Burwell's neighborhood & keep it stocked, it requires my presence these several times through the year thereby enabling me to judge of the value of the loans Mr. Burwell has made. Wm F...

No. 1987 FIRST NATIONAL BANK I.P. McDowell, President J.F. Taylor, Vice President T.S.O. McDowell, Cashier J.V. McDowell, Cash'r. Fairbury , Ill. April 26th 1895   Hon. M. T. Burwell Wichita , Ks Dear Sir: Supposing you to be the chief civic official of your recently adopted city.   I desire to extend congratulations for your good luck, and wish you a most successful and happy "reign." I consider it, indeed, no small honor to be invested with the amount of authority implied in the term of mayor, especially when conferred by a voluntary voice of the people I bespeak for you a wise and first government and trust that, while forbearance is an inherent virtue in your nature, you may be exacting & prompt in the administration & meting out of justice to the good people of your city. I left Denver a few days ago after enjoying a winter's sojourn there of most excellent health; for which I desire to be grateful to the ...

Burwell's Opera Hall is to be lighted with 30 incandescent electric lights.   This will be a much-needed improvement.   Gibson [Gibson City, Illinois], thanks to Mr. Burwell [Moses Thorp Burwell], has one of the finest opera halls in the State, and it needs only the brilliant lighting to be now given it to make it still more attractive. Source: Newspaper clipping from the Burwell/Tate Family Papers, 1850-1930 (K0233), Folder 1. Burwell family scrapbook and photo album, 1879-1908, photocopied.* * BURWELL-TATE FAMILY PAPERS, 1850-1930 (K0233) , The State Historical Society of Missouri, 800 East 51st Street, 306 Miller Nichols Library UMKC, Kansas City, MO 64110.  

LOCATED HERE Mr. M. L. Burwell of Gibson , Ill. , and a very interesting and ideal family, consisting of eleven persons in all, including some grandchildren, have permanently located in the city. An EAGLE reporter had the pleasure yesterday of meeting Mr. Burwell, his wife and daughter, and it can be truthfully said of them that they are most excellent people.   Mr. Burwell has invested between $40,000 and $50,000 in this county, which is a very valuable addition, but nothing as compared to the value of the addition of his family to this community, Mrs. and Miss Burwell are ladies fitted both in mind and personal appearance to grace the highest circles of society in our land.   Source: Newspaper clipping from the Wichita Eagle, the Burwell/Tate Family Papers, 1850-1930 (K0233), Folder 1.  Burwell family scrapbook and photo album.*   The eleven members of Moses Burwell family probably included: his wife, Isabella; daughter Nettie B.; son John William...

Remember the days of gathering memories through photographs, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, and autograph albums?  What happens to those keepsakes when we are long gone?  Fortunately for me, my great-grandmother's first cousin Helen Burwell Gale (1910-1994) saved her family treasures and donated them to the University of Missouri Library at Kansas City. For a description of the holdings at the University*, go to: Burwell/Tate Family Papers (KC0233) Bernice Tate Burwell (1883-1960) Collection (KC0234) I will be posting stories from the Burwell/Tate Family Papers. Helen was a dancer in the 1920s and 1930s in Kansas City.  Photographs of Helen by Baron Siroon Missakian are online as part of the Baron Missakian Collection at the University of Missouri Library Systems Digital Library.  Go to: Photographs of Helen Burwell . * The personal papers are now part of the Kansas City Manuscript Collections at the State Historical Society of Missouri, located  at...

William Burwell was an elusive figure.  He and his wife, Gertrude Bright Champion, married at a young age, had four children, and then divorced within a span of a few years in the late 1800's.  I asked my grandmother about her grandfather William.  She had no memory of him and did not know anything about him. When I started researching the Burwell line all I had was the name William Burwell that my grandmother wrote in my mother's baby book.  Generally, I knew that my mother's side came from Illinois and emigrated from England.  One of the first steps was to collect vital records.  William and Gertrude's August 1888 marriage certificate revealed that William (his name was listed as John W.), age 19, was born in Champaign County, Illinois.  His father was Moses T. Burwell.  His mother's maiden name was Goodfellow.  He resided in Normal, Illinois and worked at a fruit cannery.  Later research uncovered that his father owned the B...