I saw cousins I hadn't seen since I was a kid.

I counted 44 people. Some of them were in the shadows in the group photo.


It's a shame we didn't have enough to eat. (The dessert table was around the corner in the dining room.)

Ernest Arthur Burris was the second of twelve children born to George Washington Burris, Sr., and Mary Mathilda Wharton.

He was also their second son. He was born 2 Nov 1880, as our family says "on Isabell Creek," and died in 1952.

On 5 Feb 1905, he married Ida May McCauley. She was the daughter of Patrick McCauley (who was born in Ireland), and Mary E Thoss. Ida was born 22 Apr 1887, and died 10 May 1971. She and Ernest are buried in St. Joe Cemetery in Pope County, not far from where Ernest was born.

This photo is of Ernest and Ida in 1950 at St. Joe.


Ernest, in an undated photo.

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Ernest and Ida had three sons, Lewis Earl Burris, Fay O Burris, and Ernest McCauley Burris.

Lewis Earl Burris, undated photo.


Lewis Earl Burris was born 28 Oct 1905, and died 24 May 1971. He is buried in St. Joe Cemetery also, and is the grandfather of the cousin who shared these photos with me.

While I was at my dad's house, I took pictures of some more of his pictures.

What we believe to be the first building that became St. Joe Freewill Baptist Church - where my g-g-grandpa set up a Sunday school under a brush arbor until they could get a building - and the very beginning of the cemetery, way over to the right.



St. Joe as I remember it when I was little kid, going to "Decoration" on Mother's Day...

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There's a very nice, modest brick building there now.

And a much larger cemetery.




This is a Sepia Saturday post.

The Moore family plot at St Joe Cemetery, just down the road from my dad's home in Pope County, drew my attention yesterday.

It is guarded by an assortment of four footed sentinels.