Rev. Joseph Burns of Claiborne Parish, LA & Family
I am cross-posting this from the Clark Forum.Any help on these families would be much appreciated.
I am requesting information on the family of Samuel Clark of Wayne County, MIssissippi. Samuel was born between 1760 and 1770 (POB not known) but was living in Tennessee during the late 1790's, where his daughter Sarah was born. Samuel moved to Wayne Co., MS by 1816 per the state census. He was counted in the subsequent 1820, 1830, and 1840 federal censuses and 1841 and 1845 state censuses for Wayne County. He does not appear on the 1850 census.
Samuel Clark of Wayne County is not the same Samuel Clark who appears on the 1810 Census for Washington Co., AL (Mississippi State Territory). That Samuel, who appears in Washington County deeds as late as 1815, was a young man with a wife and two boys. Samuel of Wayne County was over 45 years of age in 1820 with seven children still living in his household.
Samuel's oldest identified child is Nathaniel Clark, who appears on the 1813 Wayne County tax list. The marriage of Samuel's daughter Sarah to Joseph Burns of Wayne County about 1814 indicates that Samuel arrived from Tennessee soon thereafter.
Nathaniel Clark married Nancy Overstreet of Wayne County and died between 1845 and 1850.
Nathaniel's sister, Sarah Clark, married Joseph Burns in Wayne County about 1814. At least two children, William and Mary Burns, were born there. Joseph was a native of Virginia, born about 1785, and was living next door to his father-in-law, Samuel, in 1816. Joseph became a lay Methodist minister and is probably the same Joseph Burns who appears on the 1830 Hinds County, MS census.
Joseph moved to Claiborne Parish, Louisiana during the 1830's and raised a large family. His wife Sarah died in 1853 and he married a widow, Martha Murphy Garner, shortly thereafter. The couple moved to Polk Co., Texas by 1860 along with children from both of their first marriages.
Joseph had served as a private in the 9th Mississippi Militia Regiment during the War of 1812 and in her application for pension Martha stated that he died August 1874 in Leon County, Texas.
If anyone has any further information on Samuel Clark and his family I would appreciate a response from you. I have not identified his wife, most of his children, or his parents. I descend from his daughter Sarah and Joseph Burns and have also failed to connect Joseph to any other Burns family in MIssissippi. Any help in that regard would also be appreciated.