SONS OF DEWITT COLONY TEXAS Children of David and Mary Ann Zumwalt Burket Edna | Nathaniel Boone | Isaiah | Mahala | John Henry | Barthalomew Howard | Sarah Ann Since the stable and last homeplace of David and Mary Ann Zumwalt was on the Guadalupe River near Hochheim and that in turn was passed to youngest daughter Sarah Ann Burkett and Little Berry Green, a large number of Burkett and Green descendants cluster and are buried at Hochheim, DeWittCo, TX. The three oldest children Edna, Nathan, Isaiah and possibly a Delilah who died young were born in Missouri. Maxine Burkett Seltzer in The History of the Burkett-Gilliam Generations lists two children not mentioned by other sources who were not included in the distribution of the Burkett estate. They are Katie Elizabeth Burkett (1834-1884) and Lela Burkett (b. 1842, possibly m. a Freeman). According to Seltzer, Katie Elizabeth Burkett was born 24 May 1834 in GonzalesCo and died 18 Nov 1884 in Hochheim, DeWittCo, TX. She married J.L. Crawford (1834-1912; m. 1. Deliah Weeks) bef. 7 Dec 1845. James Leslie Crawford was the son of James A. (1800-1861) and Rachel Morris (1806-1879) Crawford. The Crawfords are known for donation of the 5 acre plot for the Hochheim Cemetery and school. All are buried in the Hochheim Cemetery. J.L. and Katie Burkett Crawford had children L.E. (b. 1854; m. Mary Jane), Addie (1863-1869), Minnie (1868-1895; m. Lawrence), Annie L. (1873-1919), J. Wiley (1874-1927), Elizabeth Jane (1880-1912), Ethel Lee Crawford (1881-1881) and Thomas E. (1849-1939). Edna Burket (abt 1819 HowardCo, MO-aft Nov 1850 TX) married Simon Wesley Cockrell (b. abt 1811 KY, son of John R. Cockrell) on 12 Feb 1838. The marriage is recorded in WashingtonCo records although family legends refer to a marriage in Hochheim, DeWittCo, TX. It is thought that Edna was dead in 1845 when the Burkett estate was partitioned and Simon Cockrell received a portion for his wife. However, the 1850 Federal Census for CaldwellCo lists family 91: Cockeral, Simon 36 KY; Edney 31 MO; Mary Ann 12 TX; William W. 10 TX; Francis M. 6 TX; Ophelia C. 3 TX. Simon and Edna had children Mary Ann (b. 1838), William (Bill) W. (1840-1923), Francis (Frank) M. (b. 1844), Ophelia C. (b. 1847) and Polly (See Children of Edna & Simon Cockrell). Simon Cockrell is thought to be the individual of the same name who was wounded at the Battle of Salado and whose narrow escape from death at the hands of Córdova's Indians is the subject of multiple personal accounts of the battle. In 1837, Simon Cockrell received 320 acres bounty land in GuadalupeCo for service to the Republic of TX 3 Jul to 3 Oct 1836. He received 640 acres bounty for service in VictoriaCo. For 1847-1848, he is listed on the Texas Ranger muster rolls serving 25 Oct 1847 to 3 Oct 1848. He is on numerous land transfers in Lockhart, CaldwellCo between 1850-1853. In 1861, he was a Pvt. in the 9th Cavalry, FayetteCo, TX under Capt. R.N. Butler, Texas Troop, CSA. Family stories described him as born in 1811 in KY. He had dark eyes and hair and was 5 feet 8 inches tall. His father was believed to be John R. Cockrell. Ray's Austin Colony Pioneers refers to the Cockrell's as early settlers in the Austin Colony, ending up around Flatonia on the west side of the Colorado. They are referred to as old Tennesseans from around Nashville related to the empresario Sterling Robertson. It points out that S.W. and J.A. Cockell (Cockrill) lived in WashingtonCo in the days of the Republic. S.W. married Edna Burkitt and J.A. married C.R. White. Simon Wesley Cockrell was a notorious character in Burket family legends. A letter written in 1927 from Mary Ann Roseanna Green Rae (granddaughter of David and Mary Ann Zumwalt Burket) to sister Margaret Mahala Green Braud/Woodrome tells the following story: "Dear Sister: ------The half-breed Indian who married her <Mary Ann Zumwalt Burket> daughter, Edna, gave her more trouble than the rest. Edna married him through fear. He had sworn to kill grandfather and her brothers too if she did not marry him, therefore she was afraid. Grandmother begged her not to marry him, not to give her pure young life to this brute of a man. She said, 'Mother, I know he will kill my father and all my brothers so I will give my life to save theirs, you need them, mother.' He took her to old Squire Moore. His house was the first between us and Hochheim on the right side of the road. It was still there when I was married. Aunt Edna was a beautiful woman, so mother and grandmother said, fair complexion, brown eyes, jet black hair hung in curls. Mother had one of her curls of hair. It was nearly a yard long. Aunt Edna had three girls and two boys by this half-breed. The boys names were Frank and Bill. The girls names were Mary Ann, Ophelia and Polly. Polly was the baby and was buried when Edna was. Grandmother talked to me so much about them and never did she talk without shedding tears. This was her greatest sorrow. Ophelia was a sweet girl, the exact image of her mother. After Aunt Edna's death, grandmother kept the children two years, then Cockrell came and got them and took them to the Indian camp. They had many hardships to go through, he took little Ophelia off and told them at camp he was going to kill her but he put her down in he road some miles from Lockhart. Dr. Herff of San Antonio, was driving home from a patient and found her crying in the road. She was five then. Dr. Herff asked her about her mother. She told him she had no mother, that her mother was dead. Then he asked about her father and she said, 'My pa don't want me, he said he would kill me if he found me again.' Dr. Herff put her in the buggy and took her home with him in San Antonio. They asked her many questions. She did not know her father's name, but she knew Grandmother Burkett. The doctor and his wife had no children so they adopted Ophelia and was sending her to school. Our uncle John Steen took a load of turkeys to San Antonio on Christmas to sell them. When he drove up to Dr. Herff's to inquire if he wanted to buy one, this little girl came out and Uncle John recognized her. She climbed up on the wagon wheel. Uncle says, 'Doctor, where on earth did you get this child?' The doctor told him he had picked her up on the road eight miles out from San Antonio. Uncle finished the sale of his turks, came home and got grandma and Aunt Mahala and took them out there and they both knew the child. But as the old people had learned to love her, they thought it best to let her stay. The Herffs gave her a fine education and at the age of 20 married young Dr. Thomas. At birth of her first child, she died. A little boy was left to the old people to raise. I can remember her. She came to stay with us a while before she married. Grandmother, mother and aunt Mahala gave her a fine quilt apiece to take back with her. Mother gave her her mother's hair, it was so like her own. This took place before your birth, dear sister, just before we left Moulton the last time. ------" Nathaniel Boone Burkett (1820 MontgomeryCo, MO-1898 Yoakum, DeWittCo, TX) who left his unfinished memoirs Early Days in Texas, married 28 Jan 1847 Catherine Bunting (1830-1917). They had 14 children. Nathan Burkett was involved in pursuit of Cordova from Nacogdoches to the border in 1838. He served in Capt. Mathew Caldwell's Ranger Company and with Capt. Cameron's Victoria "Cowboys." He was with Cameron's troup at the confrontation with Gen. Canales at Lipantitlan in 1842. He fought in the Battle of Salado and was with Capts. Caldwell and Hays in the pursuit of Woll's army to the border and numerous other encounters with Indians. In 1863, Burkett served as private with the Texas Troops, CSA under Capt. J.F. Spears. Family legend says that Nathan was one of the first two men to be baptized by immersion into the Baptist faith in the Guadalupe River. He is buried in the Burkett Cemetery which is on private land on Nathan's portion of the original David Burkett league. The Burkett Cemetery and the Strange Blue Lights of Moulton
The N.B. Burkett marker, listing six persons is the largest in the cemetery, is enclosed in a rusting fence (see photograph below). Ms. Schonfeld, a delightful host who stayed with us the entire excursion, related that most visitors in the area are not interested in the cemetery and markers, but the local legend about sighting periodically a strange ghostly bluelight that flies over the cemetery at night. She confirmed the authenticity of the legend as witnessed by herself. She showed us the site of a well that had been filled in which is assumed to be at or near the old Burkett homeplace. There is also an old windmill and water tank nearby that she believes is "very old.".
I was only seven years old when Dad sold out and left South Texas. He was surrounded by Bohemians and sold to one M. Novak. Their customs were strange to the settlers from the States, and few of them spoke English. He bought sheep, goats and horses and loaded two wagons. Dad drove one, Mother drove the other one. He shipped the furniture to Coleman. Then we took off. It was a slow go as the sheep had to eat as we went along. Dad would go ahead and pitch camp and Mother would prepare the meals on an outside fire and wait for the boys to bring up the herd and bed them down. It took three months to make the trip. We finally got to our place and pitched camp west of present Burkett. Dad and brother Dave hauled lumber twenty miles to build our house. Dad was a carpenter by trade. We landed in August, and a cousin. Joseph, son of Uncle Barth, that came with us took down with typhoid fever and Mother took care of him till he died. Then Mother, Dave and Kate all took down with it. Mother was buried on Christmas Day on the coldest day they ever saw, in the Cousin Bill Wesley Cemetery in Coleman County. Her gravestone reads: Elisabeth C. Burkett. (Might have been New Years Day instead of Christmas Day). On 29 Aug 1882, John Burkett bought 1280 acres of land from Max Mass in ColemanCo for $1408, $704 in cash and the balance on credit. This plot was 20 miles northeast of Coleman and 3 miles southeast of Burkett on the south side of Pecan Bayou. As mentioned above in 1883, typhoid fever struck the family taking cousin Josiah Burkett who planned to travel back to his home in LavacaCo and Elizabeth Caroline Burkett who nursed him and others. Sons Arthur David and Kate (Catherine) recovered. Elizabeth Caroline Leazer was the daughter of John William and Dovie Minerva Walker Leazer who came to Texas from North Carolina about 1847. Her youngest sister, Mary Jane, married Bartholomew (Bart) Burkett. In 1893, John Henry returned to DeWittCo, TX to marry the widow of Gid Mahaffey, a school teacher with 3 children. ColemanCo records indicate she left John Henry Burkett before his death and was not mentioned in his estate. The Cemetery referred to above by Eudora became to be known as the Burkett Cemetery after the death and burial of John H. Burkett in 1894. Son David erected a fence around the private plot where several Burketts are buried. In 1976 the site was on the Knox Ranch, also known as the Will Gould Place, at the west end of Sunset or Burkett Road. Margaret Burkett (1836 GonzalesCo, TX-1849). According to the 1850 census, Margaret was blind. She was included in the 1845 distribution of the Burkett estate.
After Bart Burkett's death in 1901, his property was partitioned among is heirs. Widow Mary Jane conveyed her part in 1918 to daughter and son-in-law B.C. and Eudora Burkett Neighbors with whom she lived until her death in 1920. David
Burket-Index | DeWitt Colony Expansion | Burket Land Grant |
Lying practically on the current Lavaca and Fayette County line on the 
The Burkett
Cemetery is listed in Volume I of LavacaCo Cemeteries. The following burials are listed: J.H.
Baugh, N. H. Baugh, Catherine Burkett, J. M. Burkett, Lydia C. Burkett, N. B. Burkett,
Nicy Ellen Burkett, Alexander Humphreys, and Josia
The
family ranched their inherited land, then sold 216.25 acres in LavacaCo, TX on 29 Jul 1882
to M. Novak for $2800 and moved to ColemanCo. Daughter Nancy Eudora Burkett wrote in 1960
from DeLeon, Texas