I am at a loss in looking up this information on a great great great
uncle of mine...Jacob Hart Burris. Jacob Hart Burris was born in Indiana on
November 8, 1863. He died on July 20, 1919 in the Roaring River area of
Barcy County, Missouri. I believe he and his parents came to Eagle Rock,
Missouri together with his sisters and brothers. There he met and married a
woman by the name of Mary E. Cole. Mary and Jacob had two sons, named
Daniel, and Oliver Burris.
Jacob was a sheep herder, and was told that Idaho was a beautiful place
to go and raise his sheep. So he packed up his family and headed for Twin
Falls, Idaho. Unfortunately (I do not have any idea about the year in
history, but he came right into the hostile environment, during the
Cattleman-Sheepman Range wars, "Fence-cutter's war" and the Squatter's
Homestead Act. If you have any idea of the years of this, it would be
greatly appreciated.
I believe in the early 1900's) But the naiive Jacob built his home and
out-buildings and
settled in. They were very happy to be starting a new life in Twin Falls,
Idaho. And in the beginning sent pictures and letters back telling what a
beautiful country Idaho was, and how they were excited about beginning this
new life
in such a beautiful and promising place.
It didn't take long for Uncle Jakey as he was called, to find out, as a
sheepherder and a Squatter, he wasn't very welcomed in Idaho. But having
come so far, especially with an invalid wife, and two young sons, not to say
his herd of sheep, he really couldn't return home to Missouri, and thought
that he would just try to bare under it all and wait it out, things might
get better. Even though I am sure he was quite fearful for his family, but
such a long way from home in Missouri.
Unfortunately for Uncle Jakey having returned from town one day getting
their supplies he came home and found a devastated and quiet homestead. The
sheep lay dead everywhere. Upon entering the barn, he found
his youngest son, age 12, "hanging from the rafters."
Further inspection revealed his invalid wife Mary, and her wheel-chair,
wedged partly down "their hand-dug well". Mary was drowned. Oliver the
oldest son (age 16) had
subsequently "lit out for Pendleton, Oregon" on his favorite horse,
determined to never return to Idaho.
Uncle Jake Burris, his dreams for a new beginning, dashed and
heartbroken....walked back home with his few possessions on his back to
Missouri where he spent his remaining years.
His niece Franciea (Pyles) Tiffany, told her son Mike, years later, that
her husband's
father, Jack Tiffany, had known of the Burris story from his youth as he was
from the Twin Falls area. Jack and Francie's new husband Tiff, took her
out to the Burris family homestead.
Francia said that she found things just as her uncle Jakie had left them,
and just as she had expected them to be, at that time, no one had taken over
the land and done anything with it.
Has anyone heard of this story before? Can anyone tell me more about
these times in Idaho? I need a bit of a history lesson here..... Jake
Burris didn't die on the homestead, but Mary E. Burris and her son Daniel
did. Would they have had a record of their deaths? Newspaper articles on
the incident? Anything? Or because of the situation, and the strength and
the influence of the vigilantes, would such things even have been reported?
Any information would be most welcomed.
bob
bobette(a)foxinternet.net