CHARLES H. BURROWS.
Charles H. Burrows, Union veteran and clerk in the Missouri Pacific railroad offices at Atchison, has had a long and varied career in the railway service of the country. He is a native of the Buckeye State and was born at Cincinnati, November 19, 1843, a son of James H. and Nancy A. (Lynchard) Burrows, both of whom were descended from old American families. James H. Burrows was born in Maryland and his wife was a native of Kentucky. The Burrows family settled in America in about the year 1647. There were at first two branches of the family, one of whom settled in Maine and the other on the south shore of Maryland. The great-grandfather of Charles H. settled first in Maryland and here his grandfather, William Burrows, was born and reared. The sons of the family were sea-faring men and several of the descendants of the first Burrows have been officers in the United States navy. Nancy A., wife of James H., was a daughter of Mr. Lynchard of Virginia, who became a pioneer settler of Kentucky, and married a member of the Talbot family, of Virginia. He had two sons and four daughters and came from Kentucky to Hamilton county, Ohio, in 1838. In 1845 James H. Burrows was married in Cincinnati where he made his residence. Upon the outbreak of the Civil war both father and son, C. H., enlisted. The family removed to Springfield, Ill., in 1858 and here James H. operated a cooperage shop. As before stated, father and son enlisted in the same regiment, the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Illinois volunteer infantry, on September 10, 1862, for a period of three years. The father died in the Union hospital at Cairo, Ill., after his honorable discharge on account of sick disability, in February, 1863. Charles H. fought in the battles of Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Spanish Fort, Blakely, and took part in many other engagements until the close of the war. He was also engaged in the Mobile campaign. Charles H. was the eldest of a family of five children, namely: Charles H., James died in 1856; Mrs. Alice A. Direen, of Jacksonville, Ill.; William C., deceased; Emma D., wife of Judge Henry Phillips, of Beardstown, Ill.
In 1873 he, with whom this review is directly concerned, left the old home in Illinois and began his railroading career which was eventually to end with his present berth in Atchison. Forty-two years of railroading, or rather fifty years of railway service with the exception of two years in the practice of law at Mondamin, Ill., is the proud record of this sturdy patriot. During this long period he has served as telegraph operator, superintendent of telegraph, engineer, brakeman, conductor, etc. He was in the employ of the Chicago & Alton railroad, the Wabash, the Gilman, Clinton & Springfield railroads, while located at Springfield, Ill., and was in the employ of the Vandalia when it was building out of St. Louis. As early as 1868 he was in the employ of the Missouri Pacific railroad and was with the Denver and Rio Grande in the early days of its operation; was with the Ft. Scott & Memphis railroad one year; the St. Louis & St. Joseph road; was station agent on the old Hannibal & St. Joe road; served on the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroad in Missouri and Iowa; the Chicago & Northwestern; the Sioux City & Pacific; the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley roads. After a railroad experience in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, he came to Atchison in September of 1890, as a clerk in the offices of the Missouri Pacific railroad system.
He was married August 10, 1871, at Lawson, Mo., to Susan E. Morrow, a native of Missouri, and daughter of Vincent Morrow. To this union has been born one child, Pearl, wife of Adolph Frailey. By a former marriage with B. F. Shumalt, Mrs. Frailey had two children, Ruth E. and Frances Shumalt. Mr. Burrows has been and is now an independent voter, not allied with any particular political party or creed. He is fraternally connected with the Sons and Daughters of Justice, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and has served as commander of the Grand Army Post, No. 93, of Atchison, for the past two years. Commander Burrows has the great distinction of having been one of the original organizers of the Grand Army of the Republic and has been prominent in the affairs of this great organization since 1866. In February of 1866, he assisted in the organization of Springfield, Ill., Grand Army Post, No. 2. He served as officer of the day when this noted post (the second in America) was organized.