Daniel Burnet
Daniel Burnet | |
|---|---|
 Daniel Burnet signature, 1813 | |
| Born | July 11, 1763 or 1768? Carolinas |
| Died | May 7, 1827 |
Daniel Burnet (July 11, 1760s – May 7, 1827) was an American plantation owner, surveyor, and Mississippi legislator.
Biography
[edit]He was the oldest of nine children born to John and Catherine Devonport Burnet,[1] English settlers of the Carolinas.[2] His gravestone is generally transcribed as birthyear 1763,[2] but a family bible record says 1768.[3] His dad rode with "the Swamp Fox" of the Carolinas Francis Marion during the American Revolutionary War.[2]
He emigrated to Spanish Natchez in 1790 and settled near the Grindstone Ford.[2] He was granted approximately 2,000 arpents by the Spanish government,[4] and he built a mill on Bayou Pierre that lent its works to the placename Grindstone Ford.[1] A sawmill was in place by 1792 and he wanted to add a gristmill.[5] He assisted Stephen Minor and William Dunbar "in surveying the boundary between West Florida and the Mississippi Territory".[6]
He was appointed U.S. postmaster at Grindstone Ford on the Natchez Trace in 1805.[4] He was a commander of the Claiborne County militia.[2] He served on a "frontier committee" to negotiate with the Choctaw in 1813.[7] He served as president of the Mississippi Territory legislative council from 1805 to 1809, and was speaker of the house from 1813 to 1815.[2][6] He represented his county in the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1817.[6] He served as an Indian treaty commissioner in 1818 with the Choctaws.[6]
He died May 7, 1827 in Claiborne County, Mississippi.[8] One obituary said he was 50 years old when he died.[8] He is buried at Grindstone Ford Cemetery.[2]
Richard Saunders to Liberia
[edit]The executor of his estate was Samuel Cobun, widower of Burnet's late sister, Margaret.[9][3] Cobun reported in a letter of 1835 that Richard Saunders, who was a "very estimable and much respected mechanic, a Cotton Gin and Mill Wright," had hired himself out and bought his freedom from the estate at a rate of $250 a year for four years, as well as buying a woman and her six-year-old son for $1,125. The family had recently departed from New Orleans for Liberia.[9]
Personal life
[edit]Daniel Burnet's "intelligent and fascinating" sister Mary Burnet married Frances Nailor and then Dr. Thomas Anderson of Vicksburg.[2] His brother John Burnet (1782–1843)[3] served in the Mississippi Territory legislature.[2] His brother Amos Burnet (1789–1824)[3] was a delegate to the 1817 constitutional convention from Hancock County in the Pearl River district.[10]
His first wife was named Patterson.[2] His second wife was Agnes Wilson Humphreys, grandmother of Benjamin Grubb Humphreys.[2][11] Anges Wilson Humphreys Burnet was said to be some relation of Founding Father James Wilson.[12]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 Cotton, Gordon (May 10, 1992). "Time Has Erased Contributions of Col. Daniel Burnet". The Vicksburg Post. p. 33. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Cotton, Gordon (July 21, 1974). "Daniel Burnet: Time Has Dimmed the Lustre". The Vicksburg Post. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- 1 2 3 4 Mississippi Genealogical Society (1956). Cemetery and Bible Records, Volume III. Allen County Public Library, Internet Archive. Jackson, Mississippi: Mississippi Genealogical Society. pp. 143–144.
- 1 2 Rowland, Dunbar (1907). Encyclopedia of Mississippi v. 3. Contemporary biography. Southern Historical Publishing Association. p. 327.
- ↑ Louisiana Studies. Louisiana Studies Institute, Northwestern State University. 1968. p. 61.
- 1 2 3 4 Sydnor (1937), p. 148.
- ↑ "Col. Pitchlyn, Capt. Folsom, Maj. Pitchlyn (son of Col.) , Mushulatubbee, Pushamataha". The Semi-Weekly Mississippi Free Trader. April 11, 1842. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- 1 2 "Married & Died". The Weekly Natchez Courier. June 1, 1827. p. 3. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- 1 2 "Apr 23, 1835, page 2 - Vermont Chronicle at Newspapers.com™". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2026-03-25.
- ↑ Napier, John (October 3, 1999) [1952]. "Pearl River Convention Aids Statehood Grant". The Picayune Item. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-03-24.
- ↑ Rainwater (1934), p. 234.
- ↑ "Benjamin Grubb Humphreys and Family Papers (Z/2032)".
Sources
[edit]- Rainwater, P. L. (September 1934). "The Autobiography of Benjamin Grubb Humphreys August 26, 1808–December 20, 1882". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 21 (2): 231–255. doi:10.2307/1896893. JSTOR 1896893.
- Sydnor, Charles S. (July 1937). "Historical Activities in Mississippi in the Nineteenth Century". The Journal of Southern History. 3 (2): 139–160. doi:10.2307/2191879.