Uncovering Aunt Emma Burns Emma Burns Roscoe Warren Recent discoveries about my great-aunt Emma Burns (1892–1969), older sister of my great-grandfather, James Lee Burns , have illuminated her place in our family’s story. Through a DNA match with her grandson and records from FamilySearch.org , we’re piecing together Emma’s life and her deep ties to our Burns family across generations and places. Emma’s Origins and Family Ties Emma Burns was born in 1892 in Mississippi according to her death record from Cook County, Illinois. As far as birth order she's younger than Bessie Lewis Butler and James Etta (Jeanette) Smith Brown who were born in 1888 and 1890 respectively. Emma was older than her younger brother Turner Burns . Her story, once unknown to us, has emerged through diligent research and family accounts. Her death record names her father as Steve Burns , corroborated by Turner Burns’ Social Security records and a Hinds County, Mississippi, marriage record for Aggie Andrew...

Ancestry DNA FAQs DNA, Discovery, and the Elusive Burns Lineage One of the last conversations I had with our Tribal Historian (my mother and recognizing her role as the family historian) involved a very special person who was OK with taking one of these AncestryDNA tests. Why is this person, special? They're are as close to Mr. James Lee Burns (who I like to refer to as our Tribal Chief) and the former Ms. Emma Lee Hunter as we're going to get. Out of respect for their privacy, I’ll keep their identity confidential unless they give explicit permission to share. Some DNA matches may already know who they are. Building Connections Through DNA Exploring our family’s genetic history has been thrilling, especially for the Burns lineage. I’ve connected with descendants of James Lee Burns’ brother and sisters (my great-uncle and aunts), who have helped shape my family tree while I’ve shared insights for theirs. These collaborations have uncovered new stories and leads about our Burns...

Aggie Andrews (1868-1944) I had some other posts to share but this was too good to ignore. What if among other last names such as Andrews, Burns, or Farrow that Mama Aggie also went under another family name. And the evidence I have already found just fits about where she was recorded on the US Census as a baby. In the 1870 US Census she was found in Hinds County, Mississippi with her parents Turner (Surner) and Maria Andrews with her brother Abram. The key fact is that this record was taken near the town of Utica, Mississippi.  And then the same record in Utica where this family were known as Roach this time in the 1880 US Census. How did I find them? I decided to look for who I presume is one of Aggie's kinfolk known as Simon Andrews - who is known as a minister. Found a record of him and just started to look for whatever I can find of Aggie and her family and found a match. Now we have an interesting wrinkle in our family history. If Turner Roach is the father of Aggie Andrews ...

Before going into this our Tribal Historian - the last time we really talked about this subject - wanted me to acknowledge that this story was considered by her largely  hearsay . So far we have found very little information on my great-aunt Hattie other than what was mentioned by our Tribal Matriarch or whatever was said by my grandmother Gurtine Howard. Hattie was the sister of my great-grandfather and our Tribal Chief James Lee Burns. She was the product of a relationship between Aggie Andrews and an unknown father. She's also said to be biracial and was able to pass for white during the most difficult time for race relations of the 20th Century. Aunt Hattie??? The only noted sighting of Hattie was at the funeral for her nephew Cornelius Brown which through research took place in 1990. I'd be very curious to know how old she was at that time, our Tribal Chief at that point had passed away about two years earlier. Unless there were other children out there we didn't k...

The 2024 Hunter/Burns Family Reunion took place in Montgomery, Alabama the capital city of the Yellowhammer State. Montgomery, AL is known for it's civil rights history as it was host to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. In 1955, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived at the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and led a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery. It was there that Ms. Rosa Parks had refused to give up her seat to a white passenger and of course it was also know that Black passengers after paying their fare were forced to enter the bus through the back doors. It was a shame not to have been able to attend this reunion and see some of the historic sites there especially those concerning the Civil Rights Movement. Expected on the itinerary was visiting the city of Selma, AL which was the site of a march to Montgomery, AL that a protest for voting rights for Blacks. That march was dramatized in the blockbuster film Selma released in 2014. Anyway here's some swag that will be shown ...

My mother Lois Diana Burns Jenkins passed away after 10:00 PM on Monday, August 26, 2024. Until her very last breath she fought a long courageous battle against an illness. One of her last acts as our Tribal Historian ( Emeritus ) was to take an Ancestry DNA test and made many discoveries with regards to her maternal grandmother's family (Emma Hunter Burns). I was glad even as she was in the hospital in May that she was still willing to do so. She was also in on a call with a member of the extended family another act to help expand knowledge of her maternal grandfather (James Lee Burns) family's roots. Something written about briefly on this blog. She was a longtime banker who first started at the First National Bank of Chicago where she was a Trust Officer and then later became a Vice President at the Black-owned lender Seaway National Bank of Chicago. She graduated from JFK High School in Mound Bayou, MISS and after a period of part-time study she gained her undergrad degr...

Aggie Farrow - Find a Grave  It was a bit of a task to find out when Mama Aggie Andrews had passed away and some semblance of where she had passed away. Or even to have some confirmation of when she was born. All we have are census records to show that she was around. I found her in 1870, possibly 1880, 1900, 1920, and 1930. She was emergency contact for her son Turner when he was part of the WW1 US Army. Another son Will who joined the US Army listed her as someone he needed to support on his draft card. We found that she had married a Mr. James Farrow in the 1920 US Census. Which leads credence to family legend as recorded by our tribal historian. And now we know about when she was born and had passed away. She lived a long life I wonder how many of her grandchildren got a chance to know her. Sadly most of the ones I could haved asked has since passed away. Both Mama Aggie and Mr. Farrow died in 1944. Perhaps there's a way to find out if there is an official record for Aggie a...