Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 243 - 244

JACKSON BURNAUGH, a man well educated and intelligent, and one of the most thrifty farmers of Grant Township, came to this section of country when the site of Valley Center was marked simply by a railroad section house.  For some years he was employed as a teacher in the districts of Grant Township during the winter season, driving frequently to and from a distance of five miles.  He was also Township Assessor at the same time, and from the fact that he was well informed and had a good understanding of business methods, was frequently called upon in the adjustment of both personal and business matters, with which, as a rule, the ordinary pioneer is not entirely familiar.

      With Mr. Burnaugh, as with most of the men coming to this section of country at that time, the main object was to secure possession of a tract of land which in the future he hoped to transform from a wilderness into a fertile farm.  He devoted himself to his lands during the seasons of sowing and reaping, each year being marked by steady progress, and we now find him in possession of one of the most desirable homesteads in the county.  It is pleasantly situated, about two miles from Valley Center, in the southwestern part of Grant Township, and admirably adapted to general farming and stock-raising.  In the latter industry Mr. Burnaugh has been particularly interested, and has a choice assortment of high-grade horses and cattle, together with Poland-China hogs.  The farm is laid off with beautiful hedge fencing, the buildings are tasteful and substantial, and a flourishing orchard, together with trees of the smaller fruits, serves to provide the household with the luxuries of the season and also add to the embellishment of the premises.

      The birthplace of our subject was in Clermont County, Ohio, and the date thereof July 16, 1835.  He was the first-born child of William and Hannah (Osborn) Burnaugh, also natives of the Buckeye State, where they spent their entire lives.  The mother died while a young woman, in 1840, at the age of twenty-three years.  William Burnaugh survived his wife a period of thirty-seven years, his death taking place in the fall of 1877, when he was sixty-eight years old, in Brown County, Ohio, where he mostly lived.  They were the parents of three children, the two younger being girls, named Sarah and Mary; they are now in Ohio.  The maternal grandfather, Josiah Osborn, a native of Ohio, served in the War of 1812, receiving a land warrant for his services which entitled him to locate in Illinois.

      Our subject was crippled in boyhood by white swelling, and thus being unable to engage in active farm labor was given a good education, completing his studies in the college at Lebanon, Ohio.  He was engaged as a teacher in his native State during the summer season for a number of years, being employed in both district and town schools.  To this profession happily he was well adapted, and made of it a gratifying success.  When about thirty-two years of age he was united in marriage with Miss Phebe Ann Slayton, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride in Brown County, in 1867.  Mrs. Burnaugh was born in 1848, and was the daughter of John and Jane Slayton, natives of Ohio and among the early pioneers of Brown County.  She also had been well educated, and was expecting to assist her husband in the profession which he had adopted, but their plans were broken in upon by the sudden death of the young wife, which occurred two weeks after her marriage.  Mr. B., after this sore bereavement, continued as a teacher in his native State, and in the fall of 1870 was married to Mrs. Eleanor (Cachard) Burr, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the year 1843.

      Mrs. Eleanor Burnaugh was the third child of Charles and Caroline Cachard, the father a native of England, and the mother born on the water between England and Scotland.  She also was finely educated, having been a pupil in the academy at St. Martins, in Brown County, Ohio, and made the acquaintance of our subject during the session of a teachers' institute held in that vicinity.  They remained in the Buckeye State three years after their marriage, and in the spring of 1873 Mr. Burnaugh, who had already visited this State and selected his location, put up his present residence, and was joined by his family the following summer.

      The first purchase of our subject in this State consisted of a quarter-section of railroad land, which he transformed from the wilderness into the beautiful homestead which the passing traveler views with an admiring eye.  Although a prominent man in his township he has had but very little to do with politics, but votes with the Republican party.  He has served as Township Trustee two years, and assisted in organizing the school district in which his children pursued their early studies.  He conducted the first school taught in Valley Center.

     The seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown were named respectively: Willie, Julia Arabelle, Charles T., Leslie, Pearl Uella, Hazel Annette and Ethel.  Willie and Arabelle are employed at the Eagle office in the city of Wichita.  The others make their home with their parents and attend school.

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