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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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EDWARD HARRIS BURLING, a worthy and respected citizen residing at Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, is a native of Burlington, New Jersey, born May 2, 1832, a son of John Diehlman and Mary (Githens) Burling. The Burlings are of English ancestry. Three brothers of that name came to America at an early date, settling in New York and New Jersey.

John Diehlman Burling (father) was born at Westfield, New Jersey, in 1808, and spent his whole life in that state. He engaged in the manufacture of carriages, having established the business which has grown to such proportions at the present date. Later he moved to a farm, near the city, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, in November, 1855, at the age of forty-seven years, having lost his life by accident in being thrown from a carriage in a runaway. Mr. Burling was an active politician, being a supporter of the Whig party. His wife, Mary Githens, who was born in 1806 and died in the autumn of 1863, bore him the following named children: Edward H., mentioned hereinafter. George Childs, who enlisted in the Union army during the Civil war, raised a company and went out as captain in the New Jersey Infantry; he was appointed colonel of the Sixth Regiment, New Jersey Infantry, and for meritorious conduct on the field was promoted to general, commanding a brigade at the battle of Gettysburg; he was commissioned brigadier-general by President Johnson; his death in 1884 was the result of a wound received at the battle of Chancellorsville. Elizabeth Ellis, wife of Henry J. Budd, of Mount Holly, New Jersey. John Githens, Abraham, Henry, and two children who died in early youth.

Edward H. Burling was educated in the public and private schools of the vicinity, and in Treemount Seminary, Norristown. He resided on the homestead farm, and at the early age of sixteen years, having a bent for commercial life, engaged in the mercantile business at Morristown, New Jersey, and in 1855 on his own account in the city of his birth, Burlington, New Jersey, with a partner, under the firm name of Burling & Rowand. Later he became the sole owner of the business, conducting the same in all about ten years. Having a desire to return to country life, he purchased a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Burlington county, New Jersey, and engaged in its cultivation. After a few years an opportunity offering to dispose of the farm, he sold it on April 1, 1869, and moved to his present home in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, which consists of fifteen and a half acres. While not engaged in any special business, his natural energy would not allow him to be very retired. His time is occupied much in travel, and in attending to his varied and numerous interests, besides taking a part in whatever is for the advantage of the community in which he lives. Mr. Burling was one of the organizers of the Huntingdon Valley Building and Loan Association, and its secretary for many years. He has taken an active part in politics, being an earnest supporter of the interests of the Republican party. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for more than fifty years, and he is a past grand of Phoenix Lodge, No. 92, of Burlington, New Jersey.

At Burlington, New Jersey, February 28, 1861, Mr. Burling married Annie E. Hoeckly, daughter of Christian and Ann Eliza (Herman) Hoeckly. Mrs. Burling died May 18, 1891. Mr. Burling married, November 22, 1899, Mrs. Emma Josephine Chamberlain, daughter of Israel W. and Sarah Morris (Horner) Heulings, and widow of William Chamberlain, M. D., of Morristown, New Jersey, by whom she had one child, William Chamberlain (3d). No children were born of either of these marriages. Israel Heulings was a member of one of the old families of Burlington county, New Jersey.

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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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