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Individual Page


Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. James Andrew Burns: Birth: 1795 in Greene County, Georgia, USA. Death: 08 JAN 1846 in Perry County, Missouri, USA

  2. Catherine Jane Burns: Birth: 1797 in Greene County, Georgia, USA. Death: 1828 in Perry County, Missouri, USA

  3. John Burns: Birth: 1800 in Greene County, Georgia, USA.

  4. Samuel Burns: Birth: 1803 in New Madrid District, Territory of Missouri. Death: 1862 in Missouri, USA

  5. Joseph David Burns: Birth: 1805 in New Madrid District, Territory of Missouri. Death: SEP 1862 in Perry County, Missouri, USA

  6. William Burns: Birth: ABT 1809 in New Madrid District, Territory of Missouri. Death: 26 APR 1845 in probably Jackson County, Illinois

  7. Elizabeth Ann Burns: Birth: 16 DEC 1813 in Cape Girardeau District, Territory of Missouri, USA. Death: 16 JAN 1890 in Milton, Umatilla County, Oregon, USA

  8. Priscilla Burns: Birth: ABT 1816 in Cape Girardeau County, Territory of Missouri.


Notes
a. Note:   H108
Note:   Jane Grier (spelled Greer by some branches of the family) was not a native of Pennsylvania as indicated by one of her children, but all her Grier step brothers and sisters were born at Muddy Creek, York County, Pennsylvania, before the family moved south to take advantage of new opportunities for land grants and head rights offered in the Carolinas and Georgia.
  Several articles and historians state that a man by the name of Boyce put out a contract on Jane which resulted in her murder. Another account claims that her death was accidental as the intent was only to frighten her. However, her death was certainly not accidental as she was stabbed to death by her assailant, a Shawnee tribal member known as Little George. So in an ironic and historic twist of fate the murder may have been arranged by Thomas Boyce who by marriage was a relative. However, it must be remembered that this was only an allegation and Boyce had in the past been a Constable for the Circuit Court in Cape Girardeau County.
  There was an Inquest into the death of Jane Burns by David Green, Coroner in Cape Girardeau County, and the matter was considered by a jury of twelve with James Evans acting as foreman. The witnesses who appeared and gave testimony during the proceedings included Rebecca Hudson, Jones Abernathy, and Robert Abernathy. Jones Abernathy is the father-in-law of James Andrew Burns, Jane’s oldest son. Of course a key witness had been eliminated with the death of Little George. The expenses for the Inquest were reported in the Independent Patriot, Jackson, December 22, 1821, at page 4, column 2-4. Apparently there was insufficient evidence to support the issuance of an Indictment.
  Thomas Boyce was a native of Delaware and was reared in Greene County, Georgia. He came to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, as a young man and married Susannah Davis who is also a native of Georgia and a member of the Davis family related to Mary Caldwell Davis Grier. Consequently, Thomas Boyce was not a stranger to the Burns household and he is actually her great nephew because his aunt is Mary Davis who is the grand daughter of Mary Caldwell Davis Grier. Even in the absence of an Indictment the genealogical knots are beginning to unravel, albeit somewhat frayed and torn by the facts concerning her death.
  In respect to the date of the murder there is confusion regarding the year of the murder as it occurred in 1820 rather than 1822. Using primary sources that other historians have not cited, it became clear that the accepted year of 1822 was erroneous and was implied by a newspaper article revisiting the incident on October 5, 1893. The Jefferson City Daily Tribune published that the murder of Jane Burns occurred two years prior to 1824. The correct facts were reported in the Jackson Herald , a contemporary newspaper published in Cape Girardeau County in 1820 which stated that . . . on the 16th August Mrs. Jane Burns, wife of Mr. Andrew Burns, residing about a mile and a half from that place was murdered by a Shawnee Indian named Little George. The murderer has not been taken. . .
  Another article appeared in the Missouri Intelligencer, September 23, 1820, page 2, col. 4: Jackson, Missouri. Aug 25. Horrid murder - It is our painful duty to state, that Mrs. Jane Burns, wife of Mr. Andrew Burns, was murdered on Wednesday evening last, at his residence about one and a half miles from this place, by a Shawnee Indian called Little George. Pursuit has been made after the murderer, but he is not taken yet.
  News of the incident spread like wildfire and was even reported in the Saturday, October 14, 1820 edition of The Plough Boy, a newspaper published in Albany, New York.
  From Houck's Spanish Regime-History of Southeast Missouri, pages 231-232 ...
 In 1820 in Cape Girardeau County, Mrs Jane Burns was murdered by a Shawnee Indian named Little George, one and one half miles from Jackson.  At the time this caused great excitement and the chief of the village on Apple Creek was notified that the criminal must be delivered over to the authorities.  The Indian, who had fled to Arkansas, was captured on Crowley's Ridge by a party of other Indians sent out by the Chief, and his head cut off, brought back in a sack to Jackson, & stuck on a pole near where the murder was committed, where it remained until it rotted down. The Indians claimed that this Indian had been hired to commit the crime by a white man named Boyce, which Mr. Norman thinks more than probable.
  From Goodspeeds History of SE Missouri, page 238 [which does not provide the date of the murder] ...
 On one occasion a Shawnee named Little George, who lived at the Big Village in Perry Co, killed the wife of Andrew Burns, a farmer living 3 miles north of Jackson.  Mrs Burns and a young lady were sitting together under a tree near the house when the Indian stealthily approached from behind and, catching Mrs Burns by the hair, dragged her a short distance away and stabbed her with a butcher knife. News of the murder spread like wildfire and intense excitement prevailed throughout the settlement. A company of militia went out from Jackson to the BIg Village and took two or three of the leading braves as hostages for the surrender of the murderer. He had made his escape, but this act of the settlers put the Indians in pursuit and in a few days they returned from the swamp country with a human head which they asserted was that of Little George.  It was accepted as such and was placed upon a pole in Jackson where it remained for several months. It was supposed the murder was planned by a white man and that the murderer was bribed to commit the deed....
  And yet another version . . . obviously the name was mis-interpreted by the writer & should be Burns instead of Boon, but remember that Elizabeth Ann Burns married second Banningsen Boone so the writer may be excused for confusing her maiden name with Boone:
 Little George & another Shawnee Indian were scouting around and came to the spring of Granny Boon. It is on the right hand side of the Perryville and Jackson road, as you go toward Jackson.  It has changed now, but there was a spring and spring-house just over the fence and a large locust tree with long thorns, standing near.  Granny Boon was at the spring churning.  Little George and the other Shawnee Indian came and talked in a very ugly and unbecoming manner. They then caught her and scalped her, cut off her head, hung it on the thorn tree, and took the scalp with them. This so incensed the Indians, they killed Little George, chopped off his head, put it on the end of a long pole and carried it into Jackson.  Mrs Willie Knox Fenwick says that her grandparents saw this head on the end of a pole in Jackson.
  Notes from a manuscript © 2006 and 2017. All rights reserved.


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