I often step outside on a clear night in the city. Once a canvas of countless stars, I look up to a sky that reveals only a handful now. The city lights obscure the myriads of twinkling stars. The hum of traffic and the occasional train remind me that I am not alone. When I take a walk, the streetlights guide my way.

But rewind to a time when the sky was filled with twinkling lights and removed from the sound of cities. The nearest farm may be miles away. This is the life lived by my great-great grandfather, Henry Jasper Burt. He knew a world where lanterns swung in the night, casting flickering shadows. The rhythm of farm life shaped the days of his family. The fertility of the land dictated their movement, traveling from New York to Michigan, crossing lakes, and following trails and rivers in the process.

Horace began his journey when he was born about 1805 in New York or possibly Massachusetts. ¹ Seven years his junior, Jeanette (Gray), his wife, was born in 1812 in Franklin County, Massachusetts. ² Their trajectory in life was to buy and sell land, beginning in New York and ending in Michigan. Census records helped guide our research from place to place.

Removal of native American tribes opened up land in western New York. Land companies offered fertile land, most likely attracting Horace and Jeanette to Covington, Genesee County, New York. ³ They lived in Covington in 1830, along with their one-year-old daughter, Louisa, and their first-born son, Willard, born the same year. ⁴ Their sons, Jerome and Henry, were born during the next ten years.  

Sometime in the early 1840s, the Burt clan felt the call to move to greener pastures in Michigan.  The Western Turnpike led them to Buffalo, New York.  Despite the dangers of traveling by water, the shorter route to Michigan was via Lake Erie. Most likely in Buffalo, they boarded a steamer bound for Detroit, Michigan. Leaving Detroit, they embarked on an overland journey to Vevay Township in Ingham County. The map below shows the route they most likely took. ⁵

Horace leased land in 1845 somewhere in Ingham County, Michigan. Over the next five years, he had a tall order to meet the requirements of the lease. During the first year, the timber on the north line of the farm, except in the swamp, had to be cleared, and the wood split by the end of the second year. Over the next five years, he was to clear all the timber in the woods. While Horace was tending to cutting and splitting wood and farming, Jeanette was busy with the household and giving birth to Jennette, their second daughter, who was born about 1847. ⁶

It appears that Horace completed the lease and moved to Vevay in Ingham County, where he purchased fifty acres of land, ten of which he improved. Tending cows, oxen, and sheep and growing Indian corn filled his days.  About 1852, Mary, the last child of Horace and Jeanette, was born. ⁷

Horace purchased another forty-acre plot of land in Vevay from the U.S. Land Office in 1854. ⁸

Eventually, the value of his land increased one hundred percent. He owned horses, cows, sheep, and swine. He had increased the farm production to include wheat, rye, Indian corn, butter, and wool. ⁹ No doubt their boys were of great help to their father and the girls to their mother.

Selling their land in 1864 and 1865, it appears the Burt’s moved to Ovid County, Michigan. ¹⁰ There were no land records found, indicating Horace was no longer farming. 1869 and 1870 were difficult years for Horace and his family. How sad he must have been when Jeanette passed away in 1869 at the age of 56 from lung fever, more commonly known as pneumonia. ¹⁰ The following year, Jennie Knowles, their daughter, passed away from child-bed fever. ¹¹

So often, with the death of a spouse, the husband or wife generally moved in with their children. Horace lived with his daughter Louisa well through the 1870s. They were raising Jennie and Jesse, the nine-year-old twin children of Jennie. ¹²

Horace died sometime after 1880. He knew hard, physical work and could feel satisfied that he provided for himself and his family. Horace knew sorrow as many do throughout or at the end of their life. I have known hard work, but not of the physical kind. And I have known sorrow with the death of loved ones. How often I wonder if Horace sat on the front porch of his home watching the stars that lit the night just as I do. But time moves on. He saw many more stars and heard far less noise than me. I hope he loved his life as much as I love mine.

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¹1850 U.S. census, Ingham, Michigan, population schedule, Vevay, p. 43A, dwelling 429, family 429, Household of Horace Burt; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Jun 2018); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll M432_351.

² Dartmouth, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Conway: 54, Jane Gray, 27 Apr 1812; digital images, Ancestry.com, Operations, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 31 Jul 2020).

³https://cms1files.revize.com/geneseecountynew/docs/History/Genesee_County_History___A_Brief_Overview.pdf

⁴ 1830 U.S. census, Genesee, New York, Covington, p. 175 [Penned], line 22, Household of Horace Burt; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 7 Oct 2019); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M19, roll 90.

⁵ Screenshot of Google map showing Genesee County, NY and Ingham County, MI with addition of arrow pointing out approximate locations Covington, NY and Vevay, MI

⁶ Ingham, Michigan, Miscellaneous records, vols. 1-2 1838-1894, 1: 27, Image 156, Ira Hubbard lease to Horace Burt, Lease, 13 Aug 1845; Ingham County, Michigan Recorder of Deeds; FHL microfilm 008,117,006. 

⁷ 1850 U.S. census, Ingham, Michigan, population schedule, Vevay, p. 43A, dwelling 429, family 429, Household of Horace Burt; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Jun 2018); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M432, roll M432_351.

⁸ Horace Burt, Patent MI2740__.261; “Patent Search,” digital images, General Land Office Records (http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch : accessed 26 Jun 2018).

⁹ 1880 U.S. census, Ingham, Michigan, population schedule, Vevay, p. 17 [Penned], H. Burt; digital images, U.S., Selected Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880 (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9. 

¹⁰ Ingham, Michigan, Deed records, 1836-1918, Deed records v. 34, 1864: 144, Land Sale of Horace and Ganett Burt to Willard Burt, 30 Aug 1864; FHL microfilm 1010436, DGS 8582140 and Ingham, Michigan, Deed records, 1836-1918, Deed records v. 33, 1865: 174, Land Sale of Horace and Jenette Burt to John J. Croul, 2 Feb 1865; FHL microfilm 1010435, DGS 8582141.

¹¹ Michigan Michigan Department of Community Health, Death Records, Registers 1867-1897, Book 2, Monroe-Wexford, 1868, Alcona-St Joseph, 1869: 120, 414, Janett Burt; digital image, Ancestry.com, “Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952,” Michigan, Death Records, 1867-1952 (http://www.ancestry.com: 31 Jul 2020). 

¹² Clinton, Michigan,  “Michigan Deaths, 1867-1897,” (Michigan Vital Records, Lansing), Clinton Section, p. 140, Jennie Knowles; FHL microfilm 004,207,819, item 798-799 of 1447. 

¹³ 1880 U.S. census, Clinton, Michigan, population schedule, Ovid, enumeration district (ED) 053, p. 459D, dwelling 82, family 83, Household of Horace Burt; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Jun 2018); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T9, roll 577.