William Carroll Burks
(1818-1904)
by Don Burks
Rev. William Carroll Burks was for many
years actively engaged in the work of the ministry of the Primitive
Baptist Church, he retired at Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas.
William was born on the 7th
of March, 1818 in Talbot County, Georgia and is the son of James Lyon and
Martha (Robinson) Burks. His father was a native of Lincoln County,
Georgia and served as an orderly sergeant under General Jackson in the war
of 1812. He was in Capt. Moses Thompson’s Company of Tennessee
volunteers and was in the battle of Talladega and also the Battle of Horse
Shoe, the latter in the Creek Indian war. James Lyon Burks served four
terms (1831-1834) and again, a single term, in 1839 as a representative
for Talbot County in the Georgia legislature. In 1845 he became a resident
of Scott County, Mississippi, where his death occurred in 1866, at the age
of seventy-six years. His mother, Martha (Patsy) Robinson, was the
daughter of John and Lydia Robinson, a wealthy farmer in Georgia. Her
brother, Luke, was a noted Primitive Baptist preacher. Her brother, John
was a member of the Georgia legislature for twenty-two terms, finally
refusing to serve longer on account of his age. Jesse Jones Robinson, her
youngest brother, was a lawyer, he came to Texas in 1826 and located in
Sabine County where he became very successful.
At the age of twenty-two years William
started out in life for himself, operating his father’s farm until 1843,
when he moved to Russell County, Alabama. After one year in Russell
County, he went to Chambers County, Alabama where he remained for the next
three years before moving to Tallapoosa County, where he spent four years.
He then moved to Leake County, Mississippi and remained there until
November, 1872 when he became a resident on three hundred and twenty acres
of wild land on Holmes Creek in Comanche County, Texas. He lived in
Comanche County for a period of ten years and then moved to Pottsville,
Hamilton County, Texas. He remained in Pottsville until his death on
December 3,1904. William is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Hamilton
County, Texas.
On the 22nd of December, 1840
in Talbot County, Georgia, William Carroll Burks was united in marriage
with Miss Sarah Jane Weathers. Sarah was born in Georgia, October 11,
1819, daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Malney?Manley?) Weathers. Sarah’s
father, Daniel Weathers served both as a senator, in 1847, and as
representative, in 1842, of Talbot County, Georgia. Sarah died on February
27, 1902. She is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Hamilton County, Texas.
William Carroll and Sarah were the
parents of:
 | Daniel Weathers Burks was born
November 19, 1842 in Georgia and died in August of 1862. |
| James M. Burks was born July 20, 1845
in Alabama and died in August of 1862. |
| William Milton Burks was born June
27, 1847 in Alabama and died in the fall of 1865. |
(All of the above sons died from the
effects of Confederate service in the Civil War)
| Jesse Robinson Burks was born March
12, 1850 in Alabama. He died on June 27 1919 in Comanche County,
Texas. He was buried in Shiloh Cemetery, Comanche Co., Texas. He was
married to Mary Browning "Brownie" Lassetter, daughter of
Benjamin and Mary Ann (Haralson) Lassetter, on November 4, 1873 in
Comanche Co., Texas. Mary Browning "Brownie" Lassetter was
born on February 4, 1849 in Alabama. She died on September 12, 1921 in
Comanche Co., Texas. She is buried in Shiloh Cemetery, Comanche Co.,
Texas. |
| John Franklin Burks was born August
31, 1850 in Mississippi. He died on December 12, 1924. He is buried in
Shiloh Cemetery, Comanche Co., Texas. He married to Kate
"Kittie" Brodie on September 23, 1875 in Comanche Co.,
Texas. Kate "Kittie" BRODIE was born on June 6, 1859 in
Texas. She died on May 26, 1939. She is buried in Shiloh Cemetery,
Comanche Co., Texas. |
| Thomas Jefferson Burks was born
November 22, 1854 in Leake Co., Mississippi. He died in 1926 in
Hamilton County, Texas. He is buried in Pottsville
Cemetery, Hamilton
County, Texas. Tom married Alice Umelia
Goggin, daughter of William
Hugh and Adeline (Lyons) Goggin on October 22, 1878 in Hamilton
County, Texas. Alice was born on June 15, 1858 in DeKalb Co., Alabama.
She died in 1930. She is buried in Pottsville, Hamilton Co., Texas. |
| Sarah Frances Burks was born July 22,
1855 in Leake County, Mississippi. She died on July 15, 1927. She is
buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Abilene, Taylor County, Texas. She
married Percifer Benjamin on December 1, 1874. Percifer Benjamin
Lassetter, son of W. Benjamin and Mary Ann (Haralson) Lassetter was
born about 1852 in Alabama.. |
| De Lainey was born December 13, 1857
and she died in 1875. |
| Andrew Jackson Burks was born
December 3, 1860 in Leake City, Mississippi, he died March 16, 1929.
He is buried in Burnt Branch Cemetery., Burnt Branch, Callahan County,
Texas Texas. He was elected as first Justice of Peace in Cross Plains.
He was married February 27, 1879 in Comanche Co., Texas to Lee Ann
Fisher, daughter of Isaac Newton and Rachael Amanda (Wells) Fisher.
Lee Ann Fisher was born November 3, 1862 in Cherokee, San Saba Co.,
Texas and she died January 11, 1942. She is buried in Burnt Branch
Cemetery., Burnt Branch, Callahan County, Texas. |
In early life William Carroll Burks
became a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, of which he was ordained
deacon in 1845 and on 27th of November, 1858 was ordained a
minister and engaged in preaching for the remainder of his active life. He
was the first minister of Shiloh Baptist Church in Comanche County, Texas.
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