Francis Burt (1807 - 1854)

Born 13 Jan 1807 in Pendleton, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Oct 1854 at age 47 in Bellevue, Nebraska Territory, United States

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Preceded by Territory Organized May 30, 1854

Francis Burt 1st Governor of Nebraska Territory 1854

Succeeded by Acting Territorial Governor Thomas B. Cuming

Biography

Francis Burt is Notable.

• Burt County, Nebraska is named in his honor.
• He was born at Pendleton SC in 1807 and died in what later became Sarpy County, NE in 1854
• By his marriage to Georgianna "George" Hall he was father to eight recorded children anf thereby a major-league patriarch in respect of "remoter issue"
• He was a Charleston lawyer who worked as editor of "The Pendleton Messenger" (newspaper) between 1847 and 1851. He is better known on account of his political career, however. Following a state-level political career in South Carolina, in 1853, he was appointed as "Third Auditor" at the United States Treasury Department by President Pierce. An abrupt career switch followed in 1854 when the president appointed him governor of the newly formed Nebraska Territory. There was still no sufficient railroad network *out west", and he arrived in Nebraska on 11 September 1854 after a cross-country journey lasting approximately five weeks. He had reportedly been suffering with his digestion for some years. He was accompanied on his journey by various relatives and neighbo(u)rs who observed a significant deterioration in his condition en route. In Nebraska he was atttended to by medical professionals, but his condition continued to worsen. Having taken his oath of office on 16 October 1854 while still confined to his sick bed at a local Presbyterian mission, he died on 18 October 1854.

Sources

• "House of Plant" of Macon, Georgia by Dr. George Sherwood Dickerman (1843-1937), published 1900 by "The Tuttle", Morehouse & Taylor Co. and made available online in 2008 by the Internet Archive "Wayback Machine" in collaboration with Google, pages 159-161
• Francis Burt on the Find-a-Grave website. Data uploaded 12 November 2004 by Find-a-Grave contributor "Gerhardt Leffler"
• Francis Burt's entry on Wikipedia