Famous Unrelated (as far as we know) Burnetts

Compiled by E. Sue Terhune
([email protected])

 MARY COUTS BURNETT
(ca. 1856-1924)

Philanthropist

Mary Couts Burnett,was born in Parker County, Texas around 1856, one of five daughters of James R. Couts, a banker, and grew up in Weatherford.  She first married Claude Barradel, and was widowed. Then, around 1892 in Weatherford, she married Texas rancher and widower Samuel Burk Burnett, after which the couple settled in Fort Worth. Mary and Burk's life together did not go well. Mary was apparently never comfortable with the frontier life, and tensions also resulted from Burk Burnett's close relationship with his granddaughter, Anne Burnett Tandy, the daughter of Thomas L. Burnett, Burk's son from his first marriage. Mary and Burk had one son of their own, Samuel Burk Burnett, Jr., who died in their Fort Worth home in 1917. During the course of their marriage Mary became convinced that her husband was trying to kill her.  He attributed these fears to hallucinations, had his wife declared legally insane, and confined her in a private home in Weatherford.

She stayed there until the day of her husband's death in 1922, when she escaped from her confinement, returned to Fort Worth, and quickly succeeded in having her insanity status revoked with the assistance of her physician, Dr. Charles H. Harris. She next challenged her husband's will, in which he had left the bulk of his estate to his granddaughter Anne, and in 1923 was awarded half of his $6 million fortune.

Mary immediately  began organizing her plans for the distribution of her inheritance upon her death. One has to wonder if Mary was plotting revenge on her deceased husband. One story has it that Burk Burnett, a notoriously rough-edged character, had plainly expressed that no church or school would ever get any of his money so that Mary's gesture may have been one of defiance towards her late husband.  She ultimately decided that Texas Christian University in Fort Worth would receive most of the $3 million. Though she had no immediate ties to the school, her father had been an admirer of Addison Clark, co-founder and first president of the school, and had, in fact, contributed money to the school. Mary was interested in seeing her money remain in Fort Worth and both Dr. Harris and her lawyer, William J. Slay, approved of her decision.  Her gift to TCU, at that time one of the  largest fortunes ever left to an educational institution in Texas, was announced in December 1923, and a board of trustees, which she chaired, was established to administer it.

At her death, Mary's sisters and their representatives challenged her will by claiming she was insane when she authored it. An out-of-court settlement was reached, with TCU retaining the majority of the initial gift with the stipulation that part of the bequest be set aside for the construction of a building bearing her name. Work on a new library, began soon after the gift was announced and she was able to see the Mary Couts Burnett Library partially constructed by the time of her death. The library was dedicated in March 1925.

She was described by one historian as "a woman of refinement and culture with a strong interest in education". In addition to her gift to TCU, the trust also provided $12,000 for the Dixon Colored Orphanage in Gilmer, for the teaching of domestic science.  Mrs. Burnett also stipulated that her body be made available for medical researchers at her death. She died in Fort Worth on December 16, 1924, shortly after suffering a stroke.  Her funeral was held on December 18 in her Fort Worth home and she was ultimately buried with her son and husband at East Oakwood Cemetery, Fort Worth.

SOURCE:
http://libnt1.is.tcu.edu/www/AboutUs/mary.shtm

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 Betsy Colquitt, Prologue: The TCU Library to 1983 (Fort Worth: Mary Couts Burnet Library, Texas Christian University, 1983).   Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 16, 17, 1924.  Colby D. Hall, History of Texas Christian University (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1947). Jerome A. Moore, Texas Christian University: A Hundred Years of History (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1974). WALKING TCU: A HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE by Joan Hewatt Swaim. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1992.

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