Caldwell County MO Archives History .....JOHN H. BURROWS EARLY CITIZEN OF MIRABILE AND HAMILTON 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Karen Walker khw4@yahoo.com September 4, 2008, 6:13 pm

JOHN H. BURROWS EARLY CITIZEN OF MIRABILE AND HAMILTON
	Narrators:  Mrs. Anna Korn, Joseph Davis and Others

     The first we hear of this man, John H. Burrows, in the history of 
Caldwell county is that he built a brick store in the small town of Mirabile, 
Mirabile township about 1848 or 50.  It was on the south side of Main street 
and was next door east of the brick hotel, which was not yet built when the 
Burrows store went up.  The old brick tavern is yet standing, while the old 
Burrows store is gone.
     Then we hear of him as helping A.G. Davis in the building of the new town 
of Hamilton and being in the original town company 1855.  Mr. Davis was also 
of Mirabile originally, so they were friends.  He moved to Hamilton, and built 
as his home a house on Davis (Main) street, long known as the Major Higgins 
house, site of the present Tiffin building, on North Main.  This house was 
moved to south Hamilton a few years ago and is now the attractive home of Mrs. 
Minnie Morris.
     The business of Mr. Burrows in Hamilton was that of merchant.  He bought 
the Davis store, (site of the present movie theater) and enlarged the business 
of the new general store.  He had as clerk a youngster, J.M. Kemper (known 
around town as Jimmy) who was to go far as a merchant both here and in St. 
Joseph.  Mr. Kemper, one of the Mirabile family of that name, was a good 
clerk, despite his age, and came to have much of the burden of the store.  
Burrows as postmaster, had one corner of the store devoted to the post office.
     When the Civil War broke out, Mr. Burrows enlisted in the Confederate 
service, first he was a lieutenant in the Caldwell county minute men, and 
later he was lieutenant in the Price's army.  He left the business of the 
store in Jim Kemper's hands and the latter became the virtual storekeeper.  
The job of postmaster was taken by the United States government from him as a 
Southerner and given over to a Republican, O.P. Richardson, who kept it for a 
long time.  When Burrows was wounded and after the capture of Mulligan at 
Lexington, Burrows returned to Hamilton and was reported to be quite angry 
when he found that his post office had been taken away from him because of his 
service in the Confederate ranks.
     One of the streets in Hamilton is named for him, as indeed all of the 
members of the original Hamilton town company are honored.  Sometimes his name 
in older records is spelled Burrows and sometimes Burroughs, but it is all the 
same.
     Interview  1934.

Interviewers note:  A paper of 1886, states that a recent visitor in Hamilton 
was Miss Florence R. Burrows, daughter of J.H. Burrows "deceased who was the 
first merchant who ever sold goods in Hamilton," a statement which is disputed 
by Mrs. Anna Korn, who says her grandfather A.G. Davis who owned the store, 
sold goods there before he sold to Mr. Burrows in 1859.  An effort has been 
made to find the grave of this early storekeeper of Caldwell county, but if 
buried in this county, his grave apparently is unmarked.


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