Norfolk City Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Burruss, Nathaniel Charter January 17, 1947 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/va/vafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Suzy Ward Fleming wardflemin@aol.com May 21, 2015, 4:49 pm The Virginian-Pilot, Jan. 19, 1947 Charter Burruss Dies, Aged 71; Rites Tuesday Nathaniel Charter Burruss, member of a prominent Norfolk family and for many years actively identified with many local civic and patriotic organizations, died Friday at 4 p.m. at the residence of his son-in-law and daughter, Comdr. And Mrs. George D. Synon, in St. Louis, Mo., according to information received here yesterday. He was 71 years old. Services will be held at H.D. Oliver the Funeral Apartments, Tuesday at noon, with the Rev. Sparks W. Melton, D.D., pastor of Freemason Street Baptist Church, officiating. Interment will be in Elmwood Cemetery. Mr. Burruss left Norfolk six years ago to make his home in Washington, D.C., and was in St. Louis to undergo an operation at the time of his death. He had been in failing health for about a year, but his death came as a shock to members of his family and his hundreds of friends in the area. He was the son of the late Captain Nathaniel and Mrs. Margaret Walters Dey Burruss and was born in the old Burruss home on Freemason Street which had been erected by his grandfather, Cicero Burruss. His father, a Calvary captain in the Confederate Army, was later a prominent Norfolk banker. He was also a grandson of Lieut. Nathaniel Charter, who say action on Craney Island during the War of 1812. His grandfather was buried in Old St. Paul’s Churchyard in Richmond. Mr. Burruss was tenth in decent from Col. John Page, a member of the Royal Council, who gave the ground and contributed a fund towards the building of the old Bruton Parish, at Williamsburg, and who was a founder of the movement establishing the College of William and Mary. He was a descendant also of many prominent Virginia families such as the Wrights, Johnsons, Perrines and Chiles, many members of which held high Colonial positions. Preceding him was a long line of French and Dutch ancestors who fought in the Colonial Wars. Mr. Burruss displayed much interest in the activities of the Pickett-Buchanan Camp No. 9, Sons of the Confederate Veterans, and he organized the Norfolk Memorial Society, now in the Memorial Association. He was the chapter’s first president. For some time he had been active in the planning that resulted in the unification of Memorial exercises in Norfolk into one celebration, on May 30, and later became president emeritus of this organization. Statewide recognition came to Mr. Burruss for his work among the Sons of the Veterans and he was made State president. He also was a past president of the Norfolk chapter. In addition he was leader of the Norfolk Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Among other organizations in which he had taken an outstanding interest was the Huguenot Society. He was a member of the Old Merrimac Club, a bygone social club of the younger generation, and the Southern Club of New York and the Norfolk German Club. He was a member of the Freemason Street Baptist Church. Mr. Burruss attended the Norfolk Academy and graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1895. For many years a merchant in Norfolk. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Eleanor Rellis Burruss; two daughters, Mrs. George Syvon, St. Louis, and Mrs. Margaret Burruss Shaughnessy, Washington, D.C.; one granddaughter, Miss Marguerite Synon, St. Louis; one brother, Eugene L. Burruss, and two sisters, Mrs. Harry B. Jordan and Mrs. John H. Read, Jr., all of Norfolk. Additional Comments: Elmwood File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/norfolkcity/obits/b/burruss8148gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/vafiles/ File size: 4.1 Kb