Burnett Family -- Glenwood Cemetery (north sector), Crockett TX - Graves Mentioning a Cause of Death on Waymarking.com

The 1900 Galveston Hurricane struck on the 8th of September. It is the deadliest hurricane to ever hit the Gulf Coast, and until Hurricanes Katrina and Harvey, the costliest in terms of damage. When the 1900 hurricane struck, Galveston Island was overwashed by a 15 foot storm surge. The entire city (8 feet above sea level at its highest elevation) was submerged while being battered by 120 MPH winds.

By the time the storm had passed, 6000 people on the island and another 6000 across the bay were dead. Funeral pyres burned on the beaches of Galveston for weeks after the storm. Other bodies had to be burned on the spot where they were discovered, because they could not be moved and kept intact.

Every Texan knows about Galveston, and how horrible it was -- which is why this elegant tombstone in a fenced plot of Crockett's Glenwood Cemetery stopped us in our tracks. The tomsbtone reads:

"In memory of our loved ones who perished in the Galveston storm September 8, 1900

[in a cabochon]

MARY ELIZA BURNETT

[below, on the base of the tombstone]

BURNETT

[Engraved on the back of the tombstone's pedestal]

EMILIE C. BURNETT
GEORGE H. BURNETT JR.
ELIZABETH R. BURNETT
MIRIAM C. BURNETT
RUTH M. BURNETT"

The tombstone raised a lot of questions: (1) Was this tombstone intended to memorialize only Mary Eliza Burnett? (2) Who were the other 5 people whose names were inscribed on the back of the stone, on the pedestal? (3) Are those other 5 people related to Mary, and if so how?

After digging around on Ancestry, we have verified that everyone named on this tombstone perished in the Galveston Hurricane.

Each person on the tombstone is related to Mary Eliza Burnett as follows:

EMILIE C. BURNETT - daughter-in-law, mother of George H. Jr.
GEORGE H. BURNETT JR. - grandson
ELIZABETH R. BURNETT - daughter-in-law, mother of Miriam & Ruth
MIRIAM C. BURNETT - granddaughter
RUTH M. BURNETT - granddaughter

So how do we know all this?

Using Ancestry, we found Mary Eliza Burnett (b 1849 in AL) on the 1900 US Census living in Galveston with one son and his family, next door to another son and his family. Their names were spelled 'Bernett.'

Working backwards, we learned that Mary Eliza Burnett was married to Septimus Felius Burnett (b 1845 in GA). They had several children, among them two sons, George Henry Burnett and Silas Gary Burnett.

George Henry Burnett married Emilie C. in Galveston in 1895. By 1900 they had one child, George H. Burnett Jr (b May 1900). They were living at 2322 Ave P 1/2 with his mother Mary Eliza (b 1849).

Silas Gary Burnett married Elizabeth R. Burnett in 1892 in Galveston. By 1900 they had 2 children: Miriam (b Jul 1894) and Ruth (b Sep 1899). Silas Burnett lived next door to his brother George and widowed mother Mary at 2322 Ave P 1/2.

Again working backwards, in the 1880 census we found Septimus and Mary Burnett living in Crockett with their children:

S[eptimus] F -- W M age 33, married, b GA, father b GA mother b GA
Mary -- W F age 31, married, b AL, father b SC mother b AL
Gary -- W M age 11, at school, b TX, father b GA mother b AL
George -- W M age 9, b TX, father b GA mother b AL
Mary -- W F age 2, b TX, father b GA mother b AL

Septimus died in 1885 in Galveston, so the family must have moved there in the early 1880s. After Septimus' death, they stayed in Galveston. We found Mary, George and Silas Gary Burnett in the 1886, 1888, and 1899 Galveston City Directories.

When the hurricane receded, Gary and George Barnett had survived, but their wives, children, and mother had perished.

By 1903 George H. had remarried. He and his family relocated to Houston, where he also got into the industrial laundry business. In 1907 he had a son, who he named George H. Barnett Jr. George died in Houston in 1951.

We found Gary Bennett in the 1910 US Census. He had left Galveston for Beaumont. He also remarried around 1903. He had more children with his second wife Rosa, and built a very successful industrial laundry business. He died in 1938 in Beaumont TX, and is buried there.

Not all the children of Mary and Septimus moved to Galveston: Daughter Willie was 20 in 1880, and she was living apart from the family a few doors down the street in Crockett. So there still was a connection to Crockett, even though much of the family moved off to Galveston.

So this is the answer to the final mystery: The Burnett family members left in Crockett erected this tombstone memorializing their 6 family members who died in the 1900 Galveston Hurricane.

Type of Death Listed: Killed by something Website (if available): [Web Link] Cause of death inscription on headstone: Not listed

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