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Below is a family biography included in History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens by James L. King, published by Richmond & Arnold, 1905.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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COL. JAMES BURGESS.
Col. James Burgess, one of the retired residents of Topeka, has been very prominently identified with the development of this city in which he located in 1868. He came to Kansas several years after the close of the great Civil War, in which he took a distinguished part and gained high rank for gallant and faithful services. Colonel Burgess was born at Springfield, Ohio, August 1, 1826, and is a son of Thomas F. and Elizabeth (Ream) Burgess.

The parents of Colonel Burgess were born in Virginia, of English extraction. His father was a saddler by trade, a business which then included the tanning of leather as well as the fashioning of it into articles of utility. Prior to the birth of our subject, the family moved to Springfield, Ohio. About 1835 the Burgess family removed to Indiana, settling first at Richmond, but removing later to Hendricks County, and there our subject obtained a little more instruction in the subscription schools, supplementing that which had been afforded him in Ohio, but, in fact amounting to very little. He learned the tanning business but not with any view of following it for a livelihood. In seeking a business opening, he entered into a partnership with a resident of Belleville, Indiana, for a short time and then for a while engaged in business, continuing until 1852, when he moved to Danville, Indiana, where he was located at the opening of the Civil War.

His first enlistment was as a private in the three-months call for troops, in Company A, Seventh Reg., Indiana Vol. Inf., but he was elected captain and served as such until he was discharged. Upon his return home, he was selected by Governor Morton as recruiting and organizing officer for his immediate (Seventh) district. As each such appointed officer had his own district, he remained there until he had succeeded in raising three regiments. In the meantime the 70th Regiment had been raised, Col. Benjamin Harrison commanding, and our subject became lieutenant-colonel under him, resigning his position as recruiting and organizing officer and going to the front with Colonel Harrison. The intimacy then established continued after Colonel Harrison became President of the United States.

After two years of service under Colonel Harrison, Mr. Burgess was ordered back to Indianapolis to report to Governor Morton for recruiting service, and the raising of the 124th Regiment was the direct result of his efforts. He was appointed colonel of this regiment and served as such through all the various army movements and in the campaign before the fall of Atlanta, when his regiment was engaged night and day. He was honorably discharged in 1865 and returned to Indiana.

In 1868 Colonel Burgess came to Shawnee County, Kansas, and settled on a farm in Soldier township, where he remained 20 years, and then took up his residence in Topeka. He built in what was then an unsettled portion of the city (now Tyler street, the heart of the aristocratic section) a beautiful home, which was erected after plans of his own, combining beauty of situation with attractiveness and solid comfort.

Colonel Burgess has been very prominent in city affairs. For 12 years he served in the City Council, during 10 of these years being a member of the committee of ways and means, and proved his thorough efficiency in promoting the needed public improvements. He also served in the Legislature one session from the north side. He was long connected with the mail service, having charge of the west side station for two years under Postmaster Henry King and from 1881 to 1885 he had charge of the north side station under Postmaster Thomas Anderson. He was the first superintendent of the mail carriers’ district appointed on the north side. In 1886 he was elected register of deeds of Shawnee County and was reelected in 1888. His political affiliation has always been actively Republican.

Colonel Burgess was married in Clark County, Illinois, August 27, 1846, to Elizabeth M. Irons, who was born in Hendricks County, Indiana, May 12, 1829. They have had five children, the two survivors being married daughters who reside at home. Nannie married John A. Van Vechten and they have three children: Alba, Burgess and Mary. The second daughter, Jessie, married S. J. Hodgins. The family is one closely united in affection.

For over a half century Colonel Burgess has been a Mason and an Odd Fellow; he is a Master Mason in the former organization and past grand of his lodge in the latter. While in Indiana he was a representative to the Grand Encampment. Although entirely retired from active life, there is no citizen of Topeka who takes a deeper interest in her continued prosperity.

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This family biography is one of 206 biographies included in History of Shawnee County, Kansas and Representative Citizens by James L. King, published by Richmond & Arnold, 1905.  For the complete description, click here: Shawnee County, Kansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Shawnee County, Kansas family biographies here: Shawnee County, Kansas

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