Stephen Evan BURT

     Stephen Evan BURT, son of John William BURT and Sarah Ann Amanda CAFFEE, was born on 28 February 1854 in Weogufka, Coosa County, Alabama.^1,2,3

Stephen Evan BURT appeared on a census, enumerated 10 July 1860, in the household of his parents John William BURT and Sarah Ann Amanda CAFFEE in Mt. Olive, Coosa County, Alabama. He was recorded as Stephen E. Burt, age 6, born Alabama.

Stephen Evan BURT moved with his parents from Alabama to Arkansas 1866 From there they later moved to Texas, and Evan apparently moved back to Arkansas when he came of age.⁴

Stephen married first Minerva Ann Summers on 24 October 1872 in Harrison, Boone County, Arkansas. Minerva was a young widow. She had been married to a man named James William Carter. They had a daughter, Georgia Ann Carter, who was listed in the household with Minerva and her family in 1870. She was, however, listed only as G.A. and her last name was not listed as Carter. Evidently William Carter died prior to 1870 and Minerva took her daughter and moved in with her parents until her marriage to Evan. They had seven children together, all born in Boone County.

Stephen Evan BURT and Minerva Ann BURT moved to Texas after they married. They lived in several areas of eastern and northern Texas between 1872 and 1886. The last place in Texas they lived was near Denton.

In about 1886, during the winter, the family migrated north into Indian Territory.⁴

Stephen Evan BURT and Minerva Ann Summers appeared as head of household on a census enumerated 7 June 1880 in Bosque County, Texas. The household was listed as S. E. Burt, a 25-year-old farmer; Minerva, his 29-year-old wife; step daughter Georgia A. Carter, 13, born Mississippi; daughter Beatrice Burt, 6; daughter Della Lee, 4; son John O. Burt, 2; and daughter Jennie, 6/12, born December in Texas. Beatrice, Della and John were all born in Arkansas.

Sue Burns in her blog "Keeper of the Dead" writes that when the families came north, they did so in the middle of the winter and rode right across the Red River as it was frozen over that year. Apparently it was a very harsh winter. They traveled with a herd of cattle when they moved north, and that they also had covered wagons for the journey. She said that the families settled first just north of what is now Velma, Oklahoma where they stayed in a “half-dugout” shelter. Later on, (by at the latest, 1888 or so) the family moved farther north, to an area near modern day Rush Springs, in Grady County.

Around 1890, Evan and Orran went to work for a Mr. Lynch B. Cochran who was married to an Indian lady and who owned land in I.T. just south of where Cox City, Oklahoma is today. On a hill on the west side of a creek that runs into Rush Creek, Evan and Orran built a store for Mr. Cochran. The settlement there was known for years as Burt, I.T. and there was a post office in the store from about 1890-1892. Mr. Cochran was the postmaster. Some printed sources confirm that the town of Burt was named after “the Burt boys, Evan and Iron” who were carpenters in the area. The hill where the store once stood is known to the old timers’ here as “Burt Mountain.”.⁴

Stephen married second Lorena Jennie Crawford on 7 February 1895 in Pearle, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory.

Stephen Evan BURT died on 6 September 1919 in Rush Springs, Grady County, Oklahoma, at age 65.¹ He was buried in Rush Springs Cemetery.