My great-grandfather, James “Jim” Marion BURCHETT, was born on 13 OCT 1877 to Joseph BURCHETT and Lucinda Caroline ERVIN in Liberty Township, Bollinger, Missouri, USA. James was the fourth child of the nine children by huis mother Lucinda (William, George, Mary, Neicie, Martha, Eliza, Lorence and Thomas) as well as two half-siblings by Joseph’s second wife, Francis Jane NELSON (Bessie and Charley Lee).

James married Cilar/Cylla “Belle” KIRK in 1898 and they had three children together (Mary, Rhoda ‘Rose’ and Charles ‘Charley’). On 276 MAR 1901, James and ‘Belle’ divorced in Marble Hill, MO.  Eight years later, he married Carrie Ethel BROWN in Advance, Stoddard, Missouri, USA. James and Carrie had four children (Dorothy, James, Thomas Amel [my grandfather] and Evelyn).

James was a farmer like his father before him and had no more than a second grade education according to the 1940 census. James was said to be of medium height (about 5’5″), had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a ruddy complexion according to his WWII draft record.

Unfortunately, details of his life so far have been elusive to me. He died when my father was very young and my grandfather and his siblings are no longer living and stories were never handed down about him (at least along my particular lineage). I have read some musings on other trees thank link him through his other children. Some say he was a smart dresser and had an affinity for nice clothes, others say he was a heavy smoker (this would make sense since, according to his death certificate, he died of lung cancer).

James died at home on 1 AUG 1951 at the age of 73 in Sturdivant, Bollinger, Missouri, USA. of Carcinoma of the lungs. He is buried in Baker Cemetery in Lutesville, Bollinger, Missouri, USA.