James Creth BURT

     James Creth BURT, son of Henry McKenzie BURT and Margaret Mims CURRY, was born on 14 December 1878 in Talladega County, Alabama.¹ He was an attorney who received his law degree in 1902 from the University of Virginia. He practiced law in Talladega.

James married Zemula Walker MILLER, daughter of Celiestine McCann, on 5 June 1906 in Talladega County, Alabama. Zem was the fifth child of Judge George Knox and Celeste McCann Miller of Talladega. Her brother, Hampton, married Madge Burt, JC's eldest sister. She was the granddaughter of George Miller and Cynthia Hamilton, and the great granddaughter of Thomas Hamilton and Ann Kennedy. The children of JC and Zem were James Creth Burt, Jr., Nellie Hall Burt, and Hampton Miller Burt. In the early 1920s , JC and Zem moved to Palatka, Florida.^1,2

With no end in sight for World War I, the United States instituted it's third and final registration. It included all men who were between the ages of 18 and 21, and 31 to 45 years of age. This added younger men than the previous registrations, those who were born between September 12, 1897 and September 12, 1900; and added an older group of men, born between September 12, 1873 and September 12, 1888. James filled out a draft card on 12 September 1918 in Talladega, Talladega County, Alabama. He was a 39-year-old attorney in Talladega. He was discribed at medium height and stout build with blue eyes and brown hair.³

James Creth BURT appeared in a newspaper article 28 July 1926 in the Our Mountain Home, published in Talladega, Alabama. J. C. Burt, well known local attorney, who has been practicing law in Talladega for many years, will leave this week for Jacksonville, Fla., to take up new work, he states to his many friends.

Mrs. Burt, who has been in [Santa Monica] California for two years, and their children will join him there and they will make their home there.

Mr. Burt has accepted a position with the Armour Fertilizer company for which his law experience particularly fits him, as adjuster and solicitor for the entire state.

James Creth BURT appeared in a newspaper article 5 January 1927 in the Our Mountain Home, published in Talladega, Alabama. The following is taken from the Palatka, Florida Daily News of December 27. "Clinging to the belief that his son was drowned in the St. Johns river, Saturday a week ago, J. C. Burt, father of James Creth Burt, 13-year-old lad for whose remains the river was dragged here for several days, stated today that he had heard absolutely no trace of the boy beyond the meager tale of the negro mill hands who claimed to have seen a boy fall from a boat into the river.

Mrs. Burt, suffering greatly from the nervous strain occasioned by the disappearance of her son expects to go to Monticello Wednesday where she will spend a month with her sister, Mrs. H. K. Miller, at the Summitt Nurseries of which Mr. Miller is owner and manager in an effort to forget the tragic assoication connected with this city. Her children, Nellie and Hampton, will accompany her."

From a second article: A two-week search for James Creth Burt, 13-year-old boy, who disappeared from the home of his parents here December 18th, was ended Tuesday, when the boy's body was found floating in the St. Johns River near the bridge and only a short distance from the city docks.

The body, though having been in the water over two weeks, has been positively identified.

The boy's disappearance was a mystery as no one could positively say that he had been seen after leaving home, although it was reported that a person resembling the lad in a vague way had been seen in a boat in the river at the time young Burt disappeared. The boy's parents were out of town when the body was found.

The funeral of the unfortunate lad was held Wednesday afternoon from the Davis chapel; Dr. J. F. Savell of the Baptist Church, and Dr. Donald MacQueen of the Presbyterian Church, officiating. Classmates of the seventh grade and a delegation of Boy Scouts escorted the remains to their last resting place in the Oak Hill East Cemetery. The following were the pallbearers: Messers, H. T. Ector, H. Blitch, J. S. Sigmund, "Bub" Taylor, Karl Barth and George F. Cagle. The floral offerings were both numerous and beautiful. (Palatka Times-Herald Obituary dated Friday, 7 Jan 1927.)

James Creth BURT died in 1964 in Florida. He was buried in Oak Hill East Cemetery, Palatka, Putnam County, Florida.