JOHN LEVI CYRUS BURKET AND SARAH JANE BARNHART b. 24 Mar 1850 d. 23 Dec 1927

Wedding photo of John Burket and Sarah Jane Barnhart.
Married by the Justice of the Peace, Jesse S. in Shade Twp, Somerset County, PA on 05 Dec 1872.
Source: Original in possession of the A.A. Prato Family.

JOHN LEVI CYRUS BURKET b. 19 Feb 1838 d. 04 Apr 1916 Stoney Creek Twp, Somerset Co., PA. Buried on 06 Apr 1916 in the Downey Cemetery, Somerset Co., PA.
Undertaker was no other than a Ross.

He was baptized 27 May 1838 in the Glade Lutheran Church as it appears in their register.
Born to parents: Christopher and Matilda Burket.

He was named after a minister and a doctor....OK, so this minister's name is going to help me out a lot! Crossing my fingers! His nickname was Stophel (Stouffel) just like his grandfathers!!!

I'm not going to try and guess who's on the 1840 census in this household due to the nature of the times...anyone could be living with anyone.

Appears on the 1850 Census

Appears on the 1860 Census.

Appears on the 1870 Census in Allegheny Twp., Somerset Co., PA Post Office Wellersburg with Louisa and Jess age 4, Alice age 2, along with his brother, Walter B. age 21 and his wife, Dora...I have her maiden name and their daughter, Josephine.

Louisa dies 16 Feb 1871

Marries Sarah Jane 5 Dec 1872

Appears on the 1880 Census with Sarah along with his children Salome and Walter from his first marriage and Maggie, Myra D., George, and Anna.

Adam Imgrund, Herman Long, and Azariah Lambert all lived within one mile of the Burkets.

Sarah Barnhart b. 24 Mar 1850 d. 23 Dec 1927 in Jerome, Conemaugh Twp, Somerset Co., PA
Buried on 26 Dec 1927 in the Downey Cemetery, Somerset Co., PA
Sarah died living with my grandmother Edith.

Sarah's parents where George Barnhart b. 11 June 1813 d. 18 Jun 1896. His death record is recorded as a handwritten note in the old ledger books I viewed in Somerset Co., PA. His obit appears in the Hearld of Truth, Vol. XXXIII, No. 14, July 15 1896.

BARNHART- On the 28th of June 1896, in Jenner Twp., Somerset Co., PA., Bro. George Barnhart, aged 83 years, 17 days. He was buried on the 30th. Funeral services by Samuel Gindlesperger and L.A. Blough. George and Catherine nee Hershberger are both buried in the Manges cemetery.

My grandmother always stated she was PA Dutch. She is a descendent of Blough's, Hershbergers, and Berkey thru Catherine's line. Now, there is another line of Barnhart's around the same time and I've seen where descendents from our line have us in the wrong lineage. It can get tricky!

Fred Bittner gave me a photo of a young family...young man, women, a toddler, and a baby. Photo wasn't marked and I've passed the photo around...no one seems to know who they are but I noticed the young man appears to be cross-eyed and Cyrus was cross-eyed.
Now, I have a painted portrait of John and Sarah, which date from 1872, it's their wedding photo. And of course it's painted so they didn't paint him as cross-eyed. With that I never made the connection until I looked at it again. Nice cabin in the photo.

Fred and I met by chance and I am so glad to have met him. I had placed a call to the Berlin Historical Society because I wanted to book an apppointment. I needed to come into town on a day they where closed. So as I explained to the gentleman who indicated they only had one Burket buried close by (which was weird because there use to be so many in the area) and I said, "Well, my father will take me to the cemetery that he use to take his mother to and than I would know if we are speaking of the same Burket." My father couldn't recall the name of the cemetery but knew the location. He stated there was a local man also working that Burket lineage and I asked him what his name might be and he indicated, "Fred Bittner". I said, "Well, you give Mr. Bittner my name and number because my grandmother's sister had married a Bittner". I think in abt 15 mintues Fred called me. So we agreed to met at the Berlin Historical Society and we agreed to bring our photos. Amazingly, he had the proof version of the same photo that we have. That is the final painted version of the Burket family. I'm told or read they had traveling photographers that would go cabin to cabin. They had actually cut and pasted John into the photo and one girl in the photo (from other previous photos) and the painted version didn't reflect one girl, in particular, as a girl more like a boy. When my mother asked my grandmother, before she lost her sight, who the boy was in the portrait my grandmother's reply was, " The one must have been a neighborhood kid that joined in the photo as it was a big tah do to have a photo done back than". This particular portrait is from 1896...my grandmother is the baby in the photo. Looks like it was done around the fall season of 1896. Well, with Fred's love of genealogy, he had collected the older photos that his Aunt Sadie had...his Aunt Sadie was the daughter of Margaret. So we have a nice collection. Oh and lets not forget the trips to the various cemeteries...the one where we had to park half way up a mountain and walk the rest of the way up...Geez, I know there where snakes somewhere close! Anyways, that was the resting place of Sarah Barnhart's mother and father and her Hershberger relations. Wow, what a view!

My Aunt Alice did recall my grandmother having a sister, who based on the story, was Maggie. Margaret died the year before my father was born making this Aunt abt 9 years old at the time of Maggie's death.

Children with John:

Margaret Ellen Burket b. 10 Nov 1873 d. 29 Feb 1932 married twice
2nd marriage to Howard Henry Bittner
Per Fred Bittner, Maggie was married twice, first to a A.V. Musser. They had a daughter, Edyth Mae who married a John Bender. They had 7 children to this union.







Photo from Fred Bittner.

Darn, I just erased their names so I'll have to redo this

Edward Wilson Bittner b 01 Dec 1912 d. 21 Dec 1972
Daisy Mae Bittner
James Marshall Bittner
Francis Sylvester Bittner
Lee Roy
Sadie Pearl
Clyde
Edward Wilson
Lewis
Updating more tomorrow...it's late and I can't type!

I was showing my mother the tombstone pictures I took and she remembers hearing the Bender name. I also have her obit.

Additional information Bittner in is provided by Shelby Hobbs.

Dora d. 07 July 1945 burial 10 Jul 1945 burial in Grandview Cemetery, Cambria Co., PA
married in Somerset Co., PA on 14 Oct 1892 to George M.L. Newman b. Nov 1845 in Germany. George was killed in a mining accident.

Ezra H. Newman b. 15 Apr 1894 wife was Alma G. Ross.
_________________________________________

Fredrick John Newman Sr. b. 03 Jan 1898 d. 20 Aug 1960 burial 24 Aug 1960 in the Daley Cemetery.
He and Laura Pebley had 11 children. Fred died at his home in Central City, Shade Twp., Somerset Co., PA

Fredrick
Billy b. 1936 d. 1946 was killed in a hunting accident.
Ezra Newman aka Amos, married Justine. I have the family page of his family bible.
James
Betty
David
Wilma
Robert
Richard
Donald
Ethel

My dad went to school/rode the bus with Ethel, one of Fred's girls. Ethel and her husband died in a car accident.
__________________________________________

Cora Newman
Had a daughter Dorothy. Dorothy and my Aunt Virginia use to travel together.

Rose Newman

Infant Burket d. 28 May 1877 buried in Schellsburg, Bedford Co., PA Section A

Infant Burket d. 28 May 1877 Buried in Schellsburg, Bedford Co., PA Section A

Now, I must make a comment abt Schellsburg so I'm choosing to make it here.
The records for .....Schellsburg. I talked with the grounds keepers wife and she was the one who did up the plot map and I told her I hadn't seen any headstones so how did she make up the chart that she had? She said that she had walked thru the cemetery for years and decided to do up the plot map and I pointed out that Cyrus hadn't been married three times....Oh, remember the old legend? Anyways, he would have to have had 3 wifes and two at the same time based on her chart. She said, "Years ago there use to be a lot more headstones in that cemetery but they no longer exist and when she did the chart, they might have been there. I'm thinking it's a transcription error...but could the old family legend be true after all? Could that death date be 28 May 1872 and not 1877. We know how old stones are hard to read. Anyways, they are in section A . Sarah Jane and John where not married until Dec of 1872. My mother was the one that told me the 3 marriage story and the wife's died in childbirth and my father remembers his mother stating children died in a fire and his Uncle on his father's side did die from injuries substained in a fire and the wife died in the fire. But no kids died in that particular fire so did the stories become meshed together? My great grandfather, Cyrus, did have a fire in 1877. Did this Sarah b 1854 d. 28 May 1877  die in the fire with the infants that are also buried in the same cemetery that share a common death date.  So I know I have some old newspapers to hunt thru to get great details....more to come. Since death dates are different, I surmise the dates are right and the name on the stone was never transcribed correctly so who is in that grave?  Work in progress. That will help untangle the old stories!!!


George Ira Burket b. 04 May 1878 d. 09 Mar 1938
married to Emma Yoder on 18 Dec 1899 Emma was the daughter of Tobias and Mary (Whipkey) Yoder. Same Emma Yoder previously married to George's 1/2 brother Walter Burket who died 10 Feb 1897.

1880
1890
1900
1910
1918 lived in Cairnbrook, Shade Twp, Somerset Co., PA
1920 Shade Twp, Somerset Co., PA
1930
1938

My aunt remembers attending his funeral.

Obit reads: George Burkett, 60, of Somerset, R.D. 5, died at his home about noon Wednesday. He had been ill for some time. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus Burkett, both deceased.
Surviving are his wife: Emma (Yoder) Burkett, and the following children: Frank Burkett of Somerset; John, Dewey, and George Burkett, all of Cairnbrook, Mrs. Harry Morris of Jerome, Mrs. Arthur Baker of Somerset, Mrs. Denis McClintock of Somerset and Mrs. Freeman Moyer of Somerset. Five sisters also survive.

The obit doesn't list them by name but the surviving sisters where: Dora, Cora, Sadie, Edith, and ? Check out Flo's death year and get back to this.
see below for George's kids. Reenter this as it's blended

Dewey Robert Burket b. 08 Nov 1898 in Stoneycreek Twp, was George's stepson. Dewey married Annie Fisher b. 1901.
Their children where: Robert b. 1919 d. 1987 buried in the Husband Cemetery, Somerset.
Henry R. b 20 Apr 1923 d. 24 Nov 2005. Interment McGregor Cemetery on 27 Nov 2005.

BURKET - Henry R., 82, Cairnbrook, died Nov. 24, 2005, at Meadowview Nursing Center. Born April 20, 1923, son of Dewey and Annie (Fisher) Burket. Preceded in death by parents; wife, Arlene; infant grandson, Ryan James; brother, Robert; and sister, Bessie, and her husband, John. Survived by children, Henry R. Jr. (Kathleen) and Melvin (Susan), both of Cairnbrook; William T. (Emma Jean), Stoystown; and Wayne, Cairnbrook. Also survived by nine grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Friends will be received from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday at Mulcahy Funeral Home, Central City, where service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, the Rev. James A. McCormick Jr. Interment, McGregor Cemetery, Cairnbrook.


Bessie Louise b. 24 Jan 1922 d. 23 Oct 2004. Buried in the Husband Cemetery, Somerset.
maybe this is the Bessie that appears in the photo I have with Elmer Burket? Will post asap. I met with Henry's son, Henry R. Jr. provided me with some funeral memorial cards. I have forwarded these to others within George's line.

Irvin G. Burket b. 02 May 1900

Anna Burket b. 1902. married to Ambrose Heller in 1919.

Sarah E. Burket b. 17 May 1904 Boone, Stoney Creek Twp, Somerset Co., PA m. Morris

John H. Burket b. 13 Aug 1909 in Stoneycreek Twp, Somerset Co., d. Aug 1980 buried in the McGregor Cemetery, Cairnbrook, Somerset Co., PA
m. Sarah E. Miller. They had a son Ivan Leroy, Daryle, and daug. Jacqueline

Edith Pearl b. 18 Jun 1913 in Allegheny Twp, Somerset Co., PA d. 29 Feb 1984 Somerset Co.,
Buried in the Union Cemetery on 05 Mar 1984. Married on 21 Aug 1930 to Arthur Baker. Source of dates from Funeral memorial card.

Ida May Burket b. 12 Apr 1920 Somerset Co., PA d. 28 Jan 2003 Ravenna, Ohio
married 18 Aug 1934 Dennis Wilbur McClintock.

Catherine Ann Burket b. May 1880 Allegheny Twp, Somerset Co., PA
married in 1903 to George Burket b.1873 father was Cornelius from Upper Turkey Foot, PA
George is the brother of John Burket who married Sadie Burket.

Josephine's son, who went by Fred, lived with Anna and her George and my dad told me a story that he thought that Fred and Anna's son, George A. where involved in a car accident that killed George. I have to double check my notes. My dad remembers that Fred's son, Carl, wore a black glove on one of his hands and Pinky stated the same.

Ok, found the obit that my grandmother had put in her wallet.
It read: Funeral of George Burkett. Somerset, May 20, Funeral services for George Burkett, 32 of Fort Hill, who died yesterday morning at the Memorial Hospital in Johnstown, will be conducted Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the home of his father-in-law, Frank Weaver of Edgewood. The body was removed to the Weaver home today by Undertaker Charles R. Hauger. The Rev. Herman W. Kaebnick, pastor of the local Evangelical Church will officiate. Interment will be in St. John's U.B. Church Cemetery, near Somerset.

Annie's husband's obit:
George Burkett, 84, Plank Road, died Tuesday in his home. He was the son of Cornelius and Mary Miller Burkett and was born 7 July 1873 in Connellsville. His wife, the former Annie Burket, Preceded him in death. Surviving are three sisters and one brother: Mrs. Maggie Burkett and William D. Burket, both of Somerset; Mrs Mandy Miner, Connellsville; Mrs Susan Hutton, Ohio. Friends are being received in the Walter S. Hoffman Funeral home, where services will be Firday, with the Rev. Dr Clark S. Derby officiating. Interment in St. John's cemetery. Daily American 1957

George Arlington Burket b 21 Oct 1899. see file

George A. Burket had a daughter Betty Jane.

Josephine Burket b. d. Jan 1912 was married twice. First, to Isaac Nelson on 01 Jan 1900. She was 16 yrs old. She's was later granted a divorce. He's a lot older than she was and this was his 2nd marriage. Her second marriage was to Cyrus Shaulis. I believe the photo I have of her is with her and Cyrus. I'm basing that on what age she appears to be in the photo.

paste headstone photo here.





She had the following children:

John Frederick Nelson b. 02 Feb 1900
He was just a baby when living with Nelson in
1918 Lived in Somerset, Somerset Co., PA
1920 Fred is living with his Aunt Annie.
19?? My dad said Fred and his wife, Ada, lived in Fort Hill.

Emma b. 1906 married to Edward (private) d. buried in the Grandview Cemetery.
She had a large family.

1920 she's living with her grandmother Sarah and her Aunt Sadie, per the Census.

I have a photo of Emma with my Grandmother Edith and my Aunt Ann taken approx. in 1914.


CORA BURKET b. 09 May 1885 d. 20 Nov 1952 at her home in Acosta, PA
married Robert Beynon. His parents where David and Susan Beynon.

Cora and her family are buried in the Union Cemetery, Somerset Co., PA

My dad remembers attending her funeral, she was laid out in her home.
Pinky can recall details from the funeral which she shared with me in a e-mail.

Religion: Presbyterian

They had three children:
John R. Beynon, b. d. 1992
James E. Beynon b. 10 June 1926 d. 24 Mar 1979 Somerset Co., PA

Mildred E. Beynon b. 1927 d. 1975

None of Cora's children married and one of them served in the military...per my parents. I found his military registration card.
 

I had the spelling of the name wrong but that's how my dad thought it was spelled based on the way it was pronounced. My dad said they lived in Acosta and next time I'm there he'd take me to where they lived.



SARAH E. aka Sadie married twice
First marriage to John Burket, son of Cornelius. John was killed in a mining accident.
Her second marriage was to Anthony DeMarco.
 

Sadie's son, Rusty, played his guitar on the Radio my dad said. My Aunt Mary said that her and Uncle Harry would go and listen to him play.
 

Aunt Sadie is buried in Grandview, Johnstown, Cambria Co., PA

EDITH G. b. 1896 "OUTEN THE LIGHT"