My Genealogy Hound

Dr. J. S. Burt was born in Hempstead County, Ark., June 4, 1819, and is a son of Hewitt and Mary (Baird) Burt. John Burt, the grandfather of our subject was of French-Huguenot descent, was born and reared in Virginia, and was the oldest of ten brothers. He and six of his brothers served in the Revolutionary War. In 1795 he moved to Abbeville District, S. C. Hewitt, who was born in 1791, was a soldier in the War of 1812. After the war he married and engaged in farming. In 1815 he removed to Washington County, Mo., thence in 1817 to Hempstead County, Ark., where he remained till his death, in 1880. He was a shoemaker by trade, but devoted his attention to farming. He led an active life, was an elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church for over fifty years, and was an active church worker. In 1853 he was elected a representative to the Territorial Legislature on the Democratic ticket. He married Mary Baird, daughter of John and Margaret (Adams) Baird, who was of Welsh-Irish descent. To Hewitt and Mary Burt were born twelve children, four now living: John S., Hewitt E., Williams S., and Susan I., wife of J. M. McElroy. Their mother died in 1883 in her eighty-ninth year. Dr. J. S. Burt was reared and received his early education in his native county, and was afterward for two years in Hanover College, South Hanover, Ind. He left college at the close of his junior year, but afterward received the honorary degree of A. B. from the college. He attended one course of lectures in the Louisville Medical College, in 1844-45. His first wife was Hellen E. McElroy, daughter of Wiley McElroy. She died in April, 1861, and left five children, three of whom still survive: Dr. James W., Dr. John M., and Mary W., wife of W. J. Jones. In October, 1865, Dr. Burt married Alvia N. Cox, by whom he has only one child now living, Lee K. In 1846 Dr. Burt practiced medicine in Clark County, Ark. In 1847 he went to Sevier County, where he practiced two years; then two years in Washington, Hempstead County, then returned to Sevier County, where he remained eight years. In 1859 he returned to Hempstead County, and thence in 1868 he came to Franklin County, where he is still engaged in the practice of his profession. He has also been preaching for the last eighteen years. He is a minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and for the last five or six years has devoted most of his time to the work of the ministry.