Burrous Private Burial Place

N. W. 1/4 of S.W. 1/4 section 21, T, 25 N., R. 2 E., DEER CREEK TOWNSHIP, CASS COUNTY.

Vague rumor dribbling in to the L'Anguille Valley Memorial Association (of Logansport) from older residents of southern Cass County, and to the effect that there is, or at least half a century or more ago used to be, a little pioneer day cemetery on the "W. Burrous farm in the Abe Smith neighborhood" of southeast-central Deer Creek township of southern Cass County, at last --- in July of 1942 --- resulted in a field work trip to that vicinity and some little inquiry among presentday residents of that region and the patriarchs of the neighborhood.


From the venerable ABRAHAM SMITH, rural route 2, Galveston, Indiana, a substantial citizen of the immediate vicinity, who observed his 88th birthday several months ago and from a daughter of his, we obtained information that as late as actually about 1900, there was a small pioneerday burial- place on the high south terrace-rim of beautiful Deer Creek, near the north edge of the N. W. 1/4 of the SOUTHWEST QUARTER of Section 21 of southcentral Deer Creek township. Though now there remains seemingly no [surface] vestiges of it, this little burial-place ---- measuring perhaps only about ten feet square --- was then inclosed by a decaying (or rotting ) RAIL-FENCE, and contained certainly at least ONE very old slab, the grave-marker of a grave dug there sometime BEFORE THE BIRTH, in 1854 of the said Mr. Abraham Smith. But in about 1901 or 1902, a substantial white-frame farmhouse (now occupied by Miss Mary Burrous) was erected just west of this historical spot; and with the disappearance of the little rail-fence, the [perhaps crumbling or broken] little old slab, and any other grave-markers there may possibly have been, likewise disappeared. The Smiths, who live in a huge brick residence only half a mile east, and who are thoroughly acquainted with this vicinity, declare that the only marker they recall having seen was an old slab for perhaps an unnamed infant, who was a son of William Burrous, Sr., and a brother of William Burrous, Jr., the latter of whom became the father of Miss Mary Burrous, who today resides on this old Burrous farm. Mr. Abraham Smith's daughter recalls distinctly having herself seen the little slab and it's inclosure, and says it was a short distance east of the well (pump) [which is immediately east of the Burrous house] and hence perhaps about midway between the rather high and steep south terrace-rim of Deer Creek, and the county-highway which angles in an easterly-westerly direction just south of said (sizeable) stream. .... Miss Mary Burrous professes to have heard that there had been exactly such a tiny burial-place in the immediate vicinity, but "has always understood it was west, rather than east, of the present house, and in a small 
apple-orchard.

NAME                         BORN             DIED                             REMARKS
(infant) Burrous     Born and died prior to about 1853         Son of William Burrous, Sr.

On page 733 of the late Thos. B. Helm's (1886) "History of Cass County Indiana," in his chapter on this Deer Creek township, we find mention of a "William and Priscilla Burrous, natives of Maryland, the former of Irish and latter of English descent," and of a grandchild of his named William O. Burrous. Persons interested in this pioneerday northern Indiana family should consult also Dr. J. Z. Powell's (1913) "History of Cass County, Indiana," v. 2, pp. 1005, 1006, 1008-9, and 1083, despite the fact that the name seems to have changed (by at least some) to Burrows, instead of Burrous.

The following diagram shows approximate location of the old Burrous Private Burial-Place, which is the subject of this present report.

Fieldwork was by Messrs. George W. Harness, 420 Burlington Avenue, Logansport, Indiana, and R. B. Whitsett, Jr., Secretary of L'ANGUILLE VALLEY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION, 500 Front Street, Logansport, both of whom regret that a fuller report does not seem feasible at the present time.

END OF REPORT

This L'Anguille Valley Memorial Association Report was input by Rebecca Miller, Feb. 14, 2007 for the Cass County INGenWeb Project.