Burel Family Members Buried in Gwinnett County, Georgia

Many thanks to Pat Garrison, a Burel and Teagle family descendant, for sending me photographs of the grave stones of Burel family members buried in the cemetery at Duncan Creek Congregational Church in Gwinnett County, Georgia. Many of those buried at Duncan Creek are descendants of Louis Burel and his wife Sarah Margaret Jenkins Burel, who moved to the Hog Mountain area of Gwinnett County in the 1840s. Other Burel family members, including Louis and Sarah, are buried in the Hog Mountain Baptist Cemetery, near where the couple allegedly operated Hog Mountain Inn and Trading Posts. Two other Burel brothers, James H. Burel and Thomas P. Burel migrated westward as new lands opened up, with James H. Burell finally settling in Attala County, Mississippi.

More information can be found about the Burel/Burell/Burrell Family in America at Mississippi Memories.

Burrell Family Members Buried in Fellowship Cemetery

These stones pictured here mark the graves of three Burrell family members buried in Fellowship Cemetery in Attala County. You will note the variations in the spelling of the name, beginning with the French version, "Burel," to "Burell," the version of the name commonly used during the 1800s, and later to "Burrell," the spelling most often seen today in the U. S. today.

Beginning tomorrow on my other blog, Mississippi Memories, I will be writing several posts that detail the history of this early Attala County, Mississippi family that descends from Jean Baptiste Elzear Burel, a French emigrant. Please visit me there to read the story of this family's interesting beginnings and its subsequent migrations into South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and beyond.



(Photo courtesy of Duncan C. Covington)


Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, James P. Burell was one of six children born to Patience Hannah Bird, and Dr. Jean Baptiste Elzear Burel. Patience Bird and Dr. Jean (John) Burel were married at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 22, 1785, and continued to live in the Germantown area of Philadelphia until for almost twenty years. In the early 1800s, the family moved south to Union County, South Carolina, where they lived near Goshen Hill.


(Photo courtesy of Duncan C. Covington)

Samuel Jenkins and Dr. John Burel lived near other in South Carolina, and the two families' familial links began when Anne Jenkins, daughter of Samuel Jenkins, married William Riley Burell, Dr. Burel's grandson. Members of the Burel and Jenkins families migrated to Mississippi and continued to live near each other in Attala County and the surrounding area. Today, many descendants of the Burrell and the Jenkins families are still residents of Attala County, while others are scattered throughout the United States.


(Photo courtesy of Duncan C. Covington)


Jean Baptiste Elzear Burel, a French physician who allegedly served with Lafayette during the American Revolution, is the patriarch of the Burel/Burell/Burrell family that first began in Philadelphia (Germantown) Pennsylvania, and later lived in Union County, South Carolina. In South Carolina, he was known as Dr. John Burel. While some of his descendants moved farther south and settled in the Hog Mountain area of Gwinnett County, GA, others moved westward to Mississippi.

Wordless Wednesday - Fredonia Cemetery

Some of the many old grave markers in the cemetery next to Fredonia Methodist Church, Panola County, Mississippi

Tombstone Tuesday - Thomas Jefferson Williams

This Woodmen of the World grave monument marks the burial place of Thomas Jefferson Williams in the Bankston Cemetery, near Chester, in Choctaw County, Mississippi.
According to the inscription on the monument, Thomas Jefferson Williams was born on June 27, 1881 to Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Williams, and he was barely 28 years old when he died on December 22, 1909.

Laura Ellen Porter Covington - Friendship Cemetery, Attala County

Just last week, Duncan C. Covington provided me with a listing of graves located in Fellowship Cemetery and photographs of some of those graves. Posted here today are photographs of grave markers belonging to Henry W. Covington's first wife, Laura Ellen Porter, and their daughter, Ellen, who died shortly after her birth. Laura Ellen Porter, daughter of Samuel Porter and Mary Middleton Porter, my paternal great-great-grandparents, was only 24 years old when she died. Some of the markers in this old cemetery are cracked or unreadable, and newer grave stones have been added.

Friendship Cemetery - Attala County

Last week, I talked to Duncan Covington, who compiled and edited "The People of Shrock, Mississippi, 1895 - 1922." Duncan has been kind enough from time to time to share his knowledge of Attala County families with me. Our families have deep roots in Attala County, and we have at least one familial connection that dates back to the mid-1800's, when two members of our families married. The story about this Covington-Porter connection can be read here.

During our phone conversation, I asked Duncan some questions about Fellowship Cemetery, a small old cemetery located adjacent to land Duncan owns, and where some of his relatives and my paternal great-great-grandfather, James M. Porter, are buried. It was during this discussion that I discovered Duncan had photographed the gravestones in Fellowship Cemetery and was willing to share them with me.

Friendship Cemetery is located in T12N, R4E, on 16th Section land. To drive to the cemetery, travel east from Goodman, Mississippi on Highway 14. Leave Highway 14 about 1.5 miles east of the Big Black River Bridge, turning right. Follow the pavement until it ends. Continue on the dirt road to the Shrock store. Take a right at the store past the Shrock house on the left until you reach the Shrock church. Immediately past the church, turn right on the unimproved logging road. Follow this logging road on the ridge until you reach the cemetery on your right about 1.25 miles from the public road. Although the last part of the drive can be made during the dry summer months, visitors should not attempt this portion of the drive if the weather is wet and the road is muddy.

The list reprinted below was developed on October 28, 1973 by John D. Guyton and Roy D. Cochran. Additions were made by Duncan C. Covington in 1991, and a copy of the list was provided to me via email on March 20, 2009.

Later this week, I will begin a series of posts about the families buried in Fellowship Cemetery.

ALLEN, Infant daughter of R. F. and L. J. Allen, b. and d. October 30, 1888
ALLEN, Infant son of C. C. and I. B. Allen
ALLEN, C. C., b. May 17, 1864, d. Sept. 23, 1893
ALLEN, John B., b. Dec. 1, 1877, died March 11, 1899, son of R. G. and L. J. Allen
ALLEN, Josephus, b. April 7, 1894, d. June 1, 1894
ALLEN, Sidney E., b. July 4, 1884, d. March 19, 1887, son of C. C. and I. B. Allen

BURELL, Anne Jenkins, b. 1816 in S.C., wife of William Riley Burrell, dgtr of Samuel Jenkins
BURREL, John Harrison, b. 1847, d. 1939, son of William Riley and Anne Jenkins Burrell, and great-grandson of Jean Baptiste Elzear Burel
BURRELL, Mary Ann Elizabeth, b. Nov. 14, 1867, d. Oct. 9, 1899, aged 31 yrs., 11 mos 25 days
BURRELL, Susan, b. Apr. 15 1857, d. Aug. 23, 1915, wife of J. H. Burrell
BURELL, William Riley, B. 1817 in SC, son of James P. and Nancy Elizabeth Darby Burrell

COVINGTON, Infant daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. N. Covington, March 31, 1933
COVINGTON, D. E. b. Dec. 24, 1873, d. Jan. 1, 1908
COVINGTON, Ellen, daughter of Henry W. and Laura Ellen Porter Covington, b. 1861, d. 1861
COVINGTON, H. W., b. Jan. 31, 1832, d. Dec. 21, 1933
COVINGTON, Henry W., Jr., son of Henry W. and Amanda Fulton Covington, b. 1871, d. 1885
COVINGTON, James Howard, b. Nov. 4, 1934, d. Jan. 3, 1935
COVINGTON, Laura Ellen Porter, m. Henry W. Covington on Nov. 1, 1860, b. 1840, died 1864
COVINGTON, Lula Ellen, b. August 16, 1863, d. Feb. 12, 1925
COVINGTON, Martha J. Davis, wife of Henry W. Covington, m. Feb. 14, 1874, b. 1836, d. 1883
COVINGTON, Sicily Angeline, b. Nov. 6, 1869, d. Dec. 26, 1922

DICK, Mary C., b. Aug. 19, 1835, d. July 7, 1898

HOLLEY, Ann E., b. July 24, 1839, d. June 7, 1895, wife of Jethro Manning Holley
HOLLEY, Arthur M., b. Sept. 12, 1876, d.June 30, 1897
HOLLEY, Jethro Manning, b. Mar. 13, 1834 in SC, d. May 26, 1913, son of David Mark Holley

MURPHY, Linnie Irene, b. Jan. 4, 189, d. Feb. 19, 389, daughter of H. P. and M. R. Murphy
MURPHY, Victor Gordon, b. Oct 6, 1886, d. Jan 3, 1887, son of H. P. and M. R. Murphy

PARKER, Lenora, b. Nov. 7, 1899, d. March 10, 1901, daughter of F. M. and M. A. Parker

PORTER, J. M., b. Oct. 28, 1832, d. Oct 17, 1885 (my paternal great-great-grandfather)
PORTER, Walter W., b. Aug. 31, 1893, d. Nov. 27, 1900 (my great-grandparents' first child)