This page will list the direct paternal line starting with my grandfather, Thomas Amel (‘Chet) BURCHETT and work it’s way backwards.
If you have any further information or corrections, please leave me a message through the Contact Form.
Thomas Amel (‘Chet’) BURCHETT (1919-1993)
James (Jim) Marion BURCHETT (1877-1951)
Joseph BURCHETT (abt 1842-1915)
Benjamin BURCHETT (abt 1809-unknown)
I will try and summarize here what I have discovered or know starting with myself and working my way back to Benjamin BURCHETT. I honestly hope I have to edit this because that means I will have made discoveries. I’ll try and keep the summary as relevant as I possibly can and not follow too many rabbit trails.
I was born in East St Louis, IL (1966) as was my younger brother Joseph Wayne (born in Belleville, IL, 1967) to Billy Joe BURCHETT and Joane Marie EASLEY. My parents divorced in 1972 and my father remarried in 1973 to Mary Ann CRITES. They had a son, my half-brother William Joseph BURCHETT (1976).
My father was born to Amel ‘Chet’ Thomas BURCHETT and Rosella ‘Rose’ Deloris SHIRRELL in Lutesville, MO. in 1947. He was the oldest of three children (Dennis Wayne and Joseph Thomas (Tom)). Dennis never married or had children and passed away in 1995. Tom had three boys (John, Thomas and Timothy).
My grandfather, Amel ‘Chet’ Thomas BURCHETT, was born Thomas Amel BURCHETT to James Marion BURCHETT and Carrie Ethel BROWN in Advance, MO. in 1919. He was the third child of four between James and Carrie (Dorothy Belle, James August ‘Doc’ and Evelyn Pansey) and had two half siblings with James first wife, Cilar/Belle KIRK (Mary, Rhoda ‘Rose’ and Charles ‘Charley’). Amel and my grandmother ‘Rose’ married in 1945 in Cherokee, KS and divorced in 1971 in St. Louis, MO. My grandfather then went on to marry two more times, first to Doris Juanita BRINSON, then to Elaine Mildred WHITNEY, both of whom he divorced. Amel served honorably during WWII and was a barber by trade. He passed away from a heart attack and complications of diabetes on 31 JUL 1993 (his son Tom’s birthday) at his home in South St. Louis, MO. and is buried at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.
James Marion BURCHETT was born in 1877 to Joseph BURCHETT and Lucinda Caroline ERVIN (IRVIN). James was the fourth child of nine with Lucinda (William, George, Mary, Neicie, Martha, Eliza, Lorence and Thomas) and the half-brother of the two children Joseph had with his second wife, Frances Jane NELSON (Bessie and Charley). James married Cilar ‘Belle’ KIRK in 1898 and they had three children together (Mary, Rhoda ‘Rose’ and Charles ‘Charley’). They divorced in 1901 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 by trade and had only a second grade education. 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.
Joseph BURCHETT was born to Benjamin BURCHETT and Elizabeth (last name unknown) sometime around 1842. His birth location is disputable, although records tend to point more towards Monroe County, Arkansas (two citable sources) rather than Missouri or Illinois. Joseph was the fifth child of seven (Eliza, George, Susan, Sally, Elizabeth and Pernecia). His four older siblings were all born in Tennessee and his two younger ones both in Missouri. His first appearance is on the 1850 census which places him in Cape Girardeau, MO. In 1865 at the age of 23 he enrolled in (what was Dallas, MO.) Union Capt. J.R. Cochran’s Bollinger County V.M.M on 17 MAR 1865 until 8 JUL 1865 serving 102 days. He married Lucinda Caroline ERVIN (IRVIN) probably sometime around 1863 as his Civil War draft record of 1863 shows him as married. Joseph and Lucinda (sometimes cited as Caroline or Lucy) had nine children (William, George, Mary, James [my great-grandfather], Neicie, Martha, Eliza, Lorence Emma, and Thomas). Joseph was a farmer and it appears he moved around southeast Missouri in Bollinger, Stoddard and Dunklin counties, probably looking for farm work. Sometime between 1893 and 1900 his wife Lucinda died – this is backup up by the 1900 census that shows him as widowed. In 1904, at the age of 62, he married a young Frances Jane NELSON. They had two children together (Bessie and Charley Lee), however, his son Charley died at age 2 of tuberculosis. Four years later on 19 APR 1915, Joseph passed away at the age of 73 due to carcinoma of the neck in Malden, MO. Sadly, his wife Frances apparently knew little about him, as almost all the fields on his death certificate state “Don’t Know.”
Benjamin BURCHETT, according to an 1850 census, was born sometime around 1809 in North Carolina. That census has nothing about his parents, as he would have been well into adulthood by then. Any North Carolina census, around the 1810 time frame, doesn’t list names of children, only head of household, which makes tracing Benjamins father nigh impossible. This also means there is no information on his siblings or his mother. There are quite a few different Benjamin BURCHETT’s floating around on family trees, especially originating in North Carolina and ending up in Tennessee and Missouri. This being said, I have been trying for years to piece together what is factual and what is conjecture. You can find the details HERE. This is where my story ends… for the time being. I truly hope that my DNA tests help break down this brick wall, but so far have not had any luck with getting any solid leads.