Descendants of Peter Burr (who was born 21 Oct 1727 in Fairfield, CT; who migrated about 1748 to the Virginia Colony west of the Blue Ridge Mountains; and who died 20 Jan 1795 in what was then Berkeley County, VA) are having a homecoming. Descendants of the families of various spouses and friends of Peter Burr are also invited. In fact, we will welcome anyone who has an interest in this family and who may help us to further discover historic and genealogical information.
Many names were associated with Peter Burr during the time he lived in the house that today is the oldest wood frame house in the state of West Virginia. We would love to interact with descendants of people who would have spent some time as visitors or extended family in the old house.
Peter Burr's sons- and daughters-in-law included:
- John Cowan (ca. 1747-1804) married Abigail
- William Biggs (ca 1759-1828) married Sarah
- Iscerna (Hannah) Sewell (1769-1838) married Peter III
- Nancy McGarry (1781-1847) married James
- John McGarry (1777-1850) married Ann
- Margaret Young (1788-1852) married William
- Daniel Smith married Mary
- John Conklyn married Miriam
- John Melvin married Jane
- John Miller married Hannah
- Samuel Reed married Elizabeth
- Thomas Embly married Esther
Others of Peter Burr's friends included:
- Thomas and Robert Rutherford
- General William Darke
- and others
While the homecoming is primarily for descendants of Peter Burr's children, we will eagerly welcome others who have an interest in the family and who would like to help us further discover our roots or preserve the treasured 258-year-old house.
The homecoming in 2010 will be held for a full week including both Saturdays. DO NOT lock me into the following date yet, but I am leaning strongly toward scheduling the homecoming for October 9 -17, 2009. One difficulty is the fact that I do not know when the annual Harvest Faire will be scheduled, and I want us to have the ability to enjoy that event. It is usually held on the 2nd or 3rd Saturday of October. By scheduling the homecoming for the week in between those two Saturdays, we increase the chances of being there for the annual event.
We will stay at the same hotel as last year for a very important reason. The General Manager of the Holiday Inn Express in Ranson is now on our Board of Directors. He has already been very nice to us and we are going to be very nice to him. This next event, I will not be providing all the meals. There will also be more time for site seeing, and I hope to have info available for you about other possible tours to be arranged or at least info about sites related to any of the following:
- Local History as it Related Specifically to the Burr Family
- French and Indian War period in the area
- Revolutionary War period
- Civil War sites
- Transportation in the Area including the railroad and C&O Canal
- A day in Harpers Ferry
- A day in Shepherdstown
There will also be a service project planned. This will allow family, friends, and local community to have opportunity to contribute significant hands-on service toward helping to make the site more useful and valuable to visitors in the future. Again do not hold me to these plans, but I am looking at the log barn as being the area of greatest need at this time. We hope to get electrical installed in the barn before the homecoming and then unskilled manpower would be extremely useful in chinking and plastering the interior walls. This is work that can be done by people working together who are physically able to do anything between limited to various amounts of more strenuous work. With 20-40 people helping, we can recreate an experience similar to the way early settlers came together to build a house in a day with numerous people helping. We can also utilize the process to do other activities as the early settlers did: prepare meals for the work crews and celebrate in various ways. We can turn the hands-on experience into an interpretive period reflecting colonial values and traditions.
Okay, I assume the comment section at the end of this blog will allow readers to contribute thoughts in reply to the above info. Let's see if it works. Here is the place I would most like to hear your thoughts.
Tell me what you think.
Joyce Cole, Reliving History, Inc.
Descendant of Peter Burr's son, William, and his wife Margaret Young Burr
My mom says I was related to Aaron Burr.
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