Biography - G. P. Burnett
G. P. BURNETT is a farmer and stock-raiser on section 30, Haw Creek
Township. He was born in Putnam County, Ind., April 11, 1834, and is the son
of Joshua and Elizabeth (Housh) Burnett, natives of Georgia, who emigrated
from Indiana to Knox County, Ill., in 1836, coming overland with a team of
oxen. The subject of this sketch was married to Sarah Conser, Sept. 27, 1855
[the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index lists a George Burnett marrying a
Sarah Conser in Knox County on September 27, 1855]. She is the daughter of
George and Catherine Conser; she was born March 5, 1827. To this union there
were born five children: Mary E., June 13, 1856, is the wife of L. P.
Darnell, living in this township; Joshua F., born July 28, 1857, is married
to Rosa A. Allen, and lives in this township; Ella A., born Feb. 4, 1859, is
the wife of William E. Housh, living in this township; Sarah A., born Nov.
17, 1861; Flora B., June 24, 1864, and they are raising a boy named James A.
Nevett [probably Nevitt], born April 1, 1872. Mr. Burnett makes the breeding
and raising of Short-horn Durham cattle a specialty, also fine horses and
stock of all kinds. He has traveled over the Southern and Western States,
and has been shipping stock for a number of years, mostly to Western States.
He owns 500 acres of good land, all under fence, and the most of it
improved, with good buildings of all kinds and everything in flourishing
condition.
Mr. Burnett has been a successful hunter of all kinds of game that infested
the Illinois prairies, and is the owner of the celebrated English foxhounds,
the only dogs that can, unaided, capture and kill a wolf. He has a rifle
carried by his grandfather, Joshua Burnett, through the Wars of the
Revolution and of 1812 and the Black Hawk War, and the old piece is now in
good condition, all the changes made being that the old flint lock is
modernized by the percussion cap, and the stock, formerly six feet in
length, has been cut off to the length of guns of the present day.
Contributed by Todd Walter, extracted from the 1886 Portrait and Biographical Album of Knox County, Biographical Publishing Company, Chicago, page 972.
