The Burgess family of the lower Sandy Valley, is of Scotch origin,
the ancestors coming over to Virginia before the American Revolution.
Edward, the founder of the house on Sandy, came from Giles County,
Virginia, about 1800, or before. The Burgesses are kinsmen of the
Colonel Ralph Stewart family, who came from the same section in the
Old Dominion.
Edward Burgess had two sons, Edward and William. William's sons were
George R. and Edward (who were twins), Reuben, Strother, and John
(who was killed by the falling of a tree when a young man). Edward met
his death, when eight years old, by being scalded to death in a kettle
of boiling sugar-sap.
The daughters were Clara and Rebecca, who were twins. Clara married Edward
Winfield; Rebecca married Louis Riggleston. They moved to Iowa, and did
well. Permitta, another daughter, married a McGranahan; Nancy, married a
Mr. Williams, and went West. Sarah, the youngest, married a Mr. Donohoe,
and moved to Kansas and got rich.
The William Burgess branch have all come to the front as good citizens and
fine business men and women. Reuben was a little "off," but never lost his
integrity. George R., who married into the noted family of Spurlocks, is
perhaps the best representative of his father's family. At least he is
better known in the valley than his other brothers and sisters. For forty
years he has been a magistrate, and has represented his county in the
Legislature of the State. He is now an old man, stricken in years, and
full of honors. He reared a large family of children, many of them now
occupying a front rank in the mercantile, professional, and social walks
of life. Two sons are doctors; one is a lawyer and State senator in West
Virginia, while still another was a minister in the Methodist Church,
South, though now dead.
Mr. George R. Burgess and wife enjoyed their golden wedding in the Summer
of 1886.
Edward Burgess, the brother of William, was at one time sheriff of
Lawrence County, and like his brother, reared up a large, respectable
family, who, together with their descendants, are among Lawrence County's
best and most prominent citizens. George Burgess, who married into the
prominent family of Johns, was a man of rare integrity and honor, and
left to his large family of children a priceless name and much wealth.
Edward and Gorden were noble men, and left large families to bless the
county. The Burgesses are Methodists. In politics, they are divided.
Most of them, however, are Democrats. A promising son of Edward Burgess,
the third in line of that name, was an officer in the Union army
and fell in defense of the stars and stripes.
William Ely, The Big Sandy Valley (Catlettsburg, KY: n.p., 1887), pp.225-227.
