Re: Thomas Hardeman

Hello, Howard! Thank you for answering my message! I would love to correspond with you. If you want to write privately, my email is [email protected] Or you can answer here in the forum; either is all right with me.

Until I read your brother's book, I didn't know my ggrandpa T.S. Burnett had done any farming. He was a Methodist minister, that was all I knew and didn't know what other occupations he had. His brother Peter barely mentions him in "Recollections of an Old California Pioneer." I have a manuscript T.S. Burnett left, telling about his trip to California in 1850. I have wondered whether he and Dr. Glen Hardeman made the trip together or came at separate times.

In my ggrandpa's manuscript, he only goes as far as telling that his brother had been elected Governor by the time he arrived here. He does not tell anything more about what he did after he got here, even though the story was written as a memoir in 1893.

I have old photos of Peter Burnett, Glenn Owen Burnett, Thomas Smith Burnett and, I think, Peter's sister Elizabeth -- all children of Dorothy Hardeman and George Burnet. Also, some old photos that are not identified. Would you be interested in seeing scans of them? Maybe you would know who some of the other people are.

Something I am curious about -- your brother wrote in his book that David Burnet of Texas was a cousin of some sort. I have tried to research this connection between the Hardemans / Burnets of Tennessee & Missouri with the Ohio Burnets, but with no luck. Do you happen to know the relationship or common ancestor?

Also, how exactly was President Polk related to the Hardemans / Burnets?

Well, I've asked a lot of questions. I'd better stop before I overwhelm you with my curiosity! I'll be looking forward to your response.

Your shirt-tail cousin,

Joan in San Jose, CA