William Charles Joseph Burrus was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee on December 28, 1815. He was the son of Joseph and Sophia (Rucker) Burrus. He grew up on the Burrus family plantation in Rutherford County, Tennessee.
The extent of his schooling is unknown but Mr. Burrus did study law and became a prominent land owner and political man in Tennessee serving in the House 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1843-1853 General Assemblies as well as the 29th Senate General Assembly 1851-1853. He carried the title of Captain, but his military experience is unknown.
The Biographical Directory, Tennessee General Assembly 1796-1967, shows that he married a Miss Ready but that information is incorrect as it was his brother, de LaFayette, who married Eliza Ready. William C. J. Burrus never married because he fell in love and fathered children by a slave women. Nancy Brown, was a slave of mulatto and Indian extraction that his father had purchased at a Nashville auction. Apparently William C. J. Burrus held his concubine in high esteem as he never married and they bore three sons together: James, John, and Preston. William C. J. Burrus forbade a slave suitor from an adjoining plantation to come near his "wife". James remembers his parents as having "lived together in affectionate and respectful companionship."
The haromonious family was disrupted in 1860, just before the Civil War, when William Burrus died. Nancy and her three surviving sons were divided with his other property among his heirs. In a file at the Fisk University Special Collections Library contributed by James Dallas Burrus indicate that there was a will by C. J. Burrus that indicated that he wanted his slave wife to inherit his estate, and that Rutherford Courts did not recognize the claim and her children became the property of their paternal uncle. President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation gave them freedom, and John with his mother and brothers, settled in Nashville, Tenn. (For further information on the children of William Burrus, see their bios on this site and the fine young men they became. )
William C. J. Burrus is buried in the Burrus Family Cemetery in Cherry Acres Estates on Cider Drive in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Also in this cemetery are his parents, Joseph and Sophia Burrus. What was once the plantation of his parents is now a subdivision. The cemetery is located in this subdivision on the property and near the home owned by Mr. George Gerdel who restored the cemetery.
The extent of his schooling is unknown but Mr. Burrus did study law and became a prominent land owner and political man in Tennessee serving in the House 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1843-1853 General Assemblies as well as the 29th Senate General Assembly 1851-1853. He carried the title of Captain, but his military experience is unknown.
The Biographical Directory, Tennessee General Assembly 1796-1967, shows that he married a Miss Ready but that information is incorrect as it was his brother, de LaFayette, who married Eliza Ready. William C. J. Burrus never married because he fell in love and fathered children by a slave women. Nancy Brown, was a slave of mulatto and Indian extraction that his father had purchased at a Nashville auction. Apparently William C. J. Burrus held his concubine in high esteem as he never married and they bore three sons together: James, John, and Preston. William C. J. Burrus forbade a slave suitor from an adjoining plantation to come near his "wife". James remembers his parents as having "lived together in affectionate and respectful companionship."
The haromonious family was disrupted in 1860, just before the Civil War, when William Burrus died. Nancy and her three surviving sons were divided with his other property among his heirs. In a file at the Fisk University Special Collections Library contributed by James Dallas Burrus indicate that there was a will by C. J. Burrus that indicated that he wanted his slave wife to inherit his estate, and that Rutherford Courts did not recognize the claim and her children became the property of their paternal uncle. President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation gave them freedom, and John with his mother and brothers, settled in Nashville, Tenn. (For further information on the children of William Burrus, see their bios on this site and the fine young men they became. )
William C. J. Burrus is buried in the Burrus Family Cemetery in Cherry Acres Estates on Cider Drive in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Also in this cemetery are his parents, Joseph and Sophia Burrus. What was once the plantation of his parents is now a subdivision. The cemetery is located in this subdivision on the property and near the home owned by Mr. George Gerdel who restored the cemetery.
William Charles Joseph Burrus was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee on December 28, 1815. He was the son of Joseph and Sophia (Rucker) Burrus. He grew up on the Burrus family plantation in Rutherford County, Tennessee.
The extent of his schooling is unknown but Mr. Burrus did study law and became a prominent land owner and political man in Tennessee serving in the House 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1843-1853 General Assemblies as well as the 29th Senate General Assembly 1851-1853. He carried the title of Captain, but his military experience is unknown.
The Biographical Directory, Tennessee General Assembly 1796-1967, shows that he married a Miss Ready but that information is incorrect as it was his brother, de LaFayette, who married Eliza Ready. William C. J. Burrus never married because he fell in love and fathered children by a slave women. Nancy Brown, was a slave of mulatto and Indian extraction that his father had purchased at a Nashville auction. Apparently William C. J. Burrus held his concubine in high esteem as he never married and they bore three sons together: James, John, and Preston. William C. J. Burrus forbade a slave suitor from an adjoining plantation to come near his "wife". James remembers his parents as having "lived together in affectionate and respectful companionship."
The haromonious family was disrupted in 1860, just before the Civil War, when William Burrus died. Nancy and her three surviving sons were divided with his other property among his heirs. In a file at the Fisk University Special Collections Library contributed by James Dallas Burrus indicate that there was a will by C. J. Burrus that indicated that he wanted his slave wife to inherit his estate, and that Rutherford Courts did not recognize the claim and her children became the property of their paternal uncle. President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation gave them freedom, and John with his mother and brothers, settled in Nashville, Tenn. (For further information on the children of William Burrus, see their bios on this site and the fine young men they became. )
William C. J. Burrus is buried in the Burrus Family Cemetery in Cherry Acres Estates on Cider Drive in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Also in this cemetery are his parents, Joseph and Sophia Burrus. What was once the plantation of his parents is now a subdivision. The cemetery is located in this subdivision on the property and near the home owned by Mr. George Gerdel who restored the cemetery.
The extent of his schooling is unknown but Mr. Burrus did study law and became a prominent land owner and political man in Tennessee serving in the House 25th, 26th, and 27th, 1843-1853 General Assemblies as well as the 29th Senate General Assembly 1851-1853. He carried the title of Captain, but his military experience is unknown.
The Biographical Directory, Tennessee General Assembly 1796-1967, shows that he married a Miss Ready but that information is incorrect as it was his brother, de LaFayette, who married Eliza Ready. William C. J. Burrus never married because he fell in love and fathered children by a slave women. Nancy Brown, was a slave of mulatto and Indian extraction that his father had purchased at a Nashville auction. Apparently William C. J. Burrus held his concubine in high esteem as he never married and they bore three sons together: James, John, and Preston. William C. J. Burrus forbade a slave suitor from an adjoining plantation to come near his "wife". James remembers his parents as having "lived together in affectionate and respectful companionship."
The haromonious family was disrupted in 1860, just before the Civil War, when William Burrus died. Nancy and her three surviving sons were divided with his other property among his heirs. In a file at the Fisk University Special Collections Library contributed by James Dallas Burrus indicate that there was a will by C. J. Burrus that indicated that he wanted his slave wife to inherit his estate, and that Rutherford Courts did not recognize the claim and her children became the property of their paternal uncle. President Lincoln's emancipation proclamation gave them freedom, and John with his mother and brothers, settled in Nashville, Tenn. (For further information on the children of William Burrus, see their bios on this site and the fine young men they became. )
William C. J. Burrus is buried in the Burrus Family Cemetery in Cherry Acres Estates on Cider Drive in Rutherford County, Tennessee. Also in this cemetery are his parents, Joseph and Sophia Burrus. What was once the plantation of his parents is now a subdivision. The cemetery is located in this subdivision on the property and near the home owned by Mr. George Gerdel who restored the cemetery.
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