Ancestors of George Earle Burroughs
(through the *immigrants to the United States only)
Compiled by Karen Kravcov Malcolm
Generation No. 1
1. George Earle Burroughs, later known as Earl Burroughs, born November 23, 1878, Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan [Toledo, Ohio per his marriage (1884) and death certificate on Nov. 24, 1881!]. He died January 21, 1937, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA. He married ca. 1917 (PA?), 1) Ida V. Comosely[1]? (maiden name), born April 1, 1886, PA (parents: PA/NY), the daughter of Michael J. Comosely? born in PA, and Bertha Moon born in NY) (Ida’s second marriage) and adopted her son, Richard. Ida V. Burroughs died Oct. 5, 1926, at age 40 of hypostatic congestion of lungs, cardiac degeneration (contributory) at St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh after a 4 day hospitalization (2 months duration of her main illness; 2 years duration contributory illness). “Earl Burroughs,” her husband, was the informant. She was buried in Mount Royal Cemetery, Glenshaw (Shaler Township), in Allegheny County, PA (about 7 miles from the center of Pittsburgh) on October 7, 1926. He married 2) Louise Clare Herr in Reading, Berks County, PA on October 10, 1927 (Vol. 84, p. 299, Berks County, PA Marriages 1885-1929). He was the son of 2. George Taylor (Tyler) Burroughs and 3. Lucie/Lucy Elinor Berlin, and a second cousin of the author, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Per his first wife’s death certificate in 1926, his 1927 marriage certificate and a 1929 Hays County, TX deed, he had a residence of 1110 Palo Alto (Palatto) St. North, Pittsburgh, PA. He was a civil and mechanical engineer. Per his funeral record, he was an Episcopalian (but not a churchgoer according to Eleanor L. Burroughs Kravcov). According to his death certificate, he had been a draftsman for the State of Pennsylvania for 1 1/2 years prior to his death. He and Louise lived briefly in Pittsburgh, PA and Elizabeth, NJ. His last residence was 2335 Logan Street, Harrisburg, PA. He died suddenly at home of a coronary occlusion with angina pectoris & with coronary sclerosis at the age of 58 on Jan. 21, 1937 and is buried in Dunnstown Cemetery, Lock Haven, PA next to his last wife, Louise Herr Burroughs and his daughter, Eleanor Louise Burroughs Kravcov.
In the 1880 Census, he was age 1 (“Earl G.”), living with his grandfather, George H. Burroughs, his wife, Rebecca J., his parents, George T. & Lucy E. Burroughs, plus 3 servants/farmer in Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan. He graduated June 1, 1898 from Belleville High School, Belleville, Michigan [501 W. Columbia, Belleville, Michigan 48111]. In the 1900 Census, he was age 21 (Earl) living with his parents and brother, Colburn, plus a male servant, Lee, age 14, in Belleville Village, Enumeration District 205, Belleville, Van Buren, Wayne County, Michigan. He lived in Dundee, Monroe County, Michigan [SE Michigan, 20 miles from Toledo, OH] in Sept. 1903 through at least May, 1905. He attended Ohio State University, Columbus, OH in Electrical Engineering for one semester in 1903-1904, and received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1905 from Ohio Northern University, Ada, OH. He was a graduate student for two semesters in Structural Engineering, in 1905 at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL. On May 25, 1905, a certificate of recommendation was signed (for “Earl G. Burroughs”) by the principal of his high school for the University of Michigan, Dept of Literature, Science and the Arts. By the 1910 Census, he was not living with his family, who had moved to Dundee, Monroe County, Michigan. A “Mr. Geo. Burroughs” is listed in the Cheboygan Democrat on Nov. 14, 1913 (Northern Michigan, Newspaper Surname Index, In the 1920 Census, he was living in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 22nd Ward, ED 671, at 921 Ball or Barn St., (search as “Geo. E. Burrough”), living in an apparent rented triplex with 3 separate families (including James Herr, 2nd head of household, age 67, et al.), an engineer – mechanical, MI (parents: “WV/WV”), with his wife, Ida Burroughs, 31, PA, and (her) son, Richard, age 7, PA (parents: MI/PA). In the 1930 Census (search “George Burrough”), he was living at 5850 Morrowfield St., Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA, Dist. 235, rented, monthly rental: $75, with a radio, did not own a farm, age “50”, first married at age 37, born “OH” (parents: “England/Irish Free State”), engineer, construction, employed, not a veteran, with wife, Louise, age 38, first married at 25, born PA (parents: PA/PA), with [step]daughter, Margaret [Ungard], age 13, PA, and adopted son, Richard Burroughs, 17, single, PA (parents: England/PA).
On June 6, 1927, the Probate Office of Monroe County, Michigan assigned the residue of the estate of Lucie E. Burroughs, to George Earle Burroughs, and his brother, Colburn J. Burroughs, in equal shares, which consisted of the following real property (2,504 acres in Texas):
1. 640 acres, Abstract No. 134, Cert. or Scrip No. 1/1023, Survey 67, Travis County, TX;
2. 640 acres, Abstract No. 204, Cert. or Scrip No. 56, Survey 35, Travis County, TX;
3. 640 acres, Abstract No. 753, Cert. or Scrip No. 1/5, Survey 1, Travis County, TX;
4. 320 acres, Abstract 437, Original Grantee Sul. Fork Iron Works, County, Hays County, TX;
5. 264 acres, Abstract 438, Original Grantee Sul. Fork Iron Works, County, Hays County, TX; and
6. House and lot, Lot 10 of block 173 (lot being 30’ x 155’), according to a map of Meredith & Neel’s Fairhome Addition to Central City, filed on Nov. 14, 1907 in Huntington, Cabell County, WV.
(Hays County, TX Deed Records, Vol. 98, p. 10 (copy of Order from Monroe County, Michigan)).
On May 25, 1929 (recorded June 6, 1929, Hays County Deed Records, Hays County, TX, Vol.___, pp. 349-351.), George and Colburn John Burroughs, sold the property, including all mineral rights, in Items 4 & 5 above, for $4,000 to H.P. Prather of Hays County, TX.
George Earle Burroughs owned American Engineers Service, 15 Park Row, Park Row Building, NYC and Pittsburgh. His stationery listed his services as transcontinental employment, industrial, executive and staff assistants and registry. Also listed were engineering and commercial reports and directories of iron, steel, copper, coal, utilities, railways; manufacturing, commercial construction; and Latin-American industries.
The Park Row Building was designated a Landmarks Preservation Commission building on June 15, 1999 and is still in use as a commercial building with residences beginning on the 11th floor. It is a 30-story, 391-foot high building, which was the tallest building in New York City and one of the tallest structures in the world between 1899, the year of its completion, and 1908. It remains one of the most distinctive buildings in lower Manhattan by virtue of its height and twin cupola-topped towers, including four large sculpted figures set on overscaled brackets, huge columns and pilasters, as well as several projecting ornamental balconies. The architect was R.H. Robertson, who was prominent for his institutional and commercial buildings. It lies across from City Hall Park on a street that became known as Newspaper Row, the center of the newspaper publishing in New York City from the 1840s to the 1920s. The building housed the offices of the Associated Press news agency as well as the HQ of August Belmont’s Interborough Rapid Transit Company. Early twentieth-century artists admired the shape of the Park Row Building, and Alvin Langdon Coburn and Charles Sheeler featured it in their photographs. See
George E. Burroughs ran the following classified ad on June 4 and on June 11 193_ :
“AMERICAN ENGINEERS SERVICE, Park Row Building, New York. Requires eastern-western Plant Managers, Superintendants, Product Development Engineers, Designers, Draftsmen, Checkers; Time Study-Cost Accountants, Sales Engineers; Chief Draftsmen, Estimators, Metallurgical-Chemical supervisors, graduate cadets for industrial training -- Machinery, Buildings, Bridges, Foundry, Forge, Stampings, Heavy Chemicals, Motors, Electrical, Railway, Automotive Productions.”
Lock Haven Express, Lock Haven, Clinton County, PA, Saturday, January 23, 1937:
“George E. Burroughs: George E. Burroughs, 55, died Wednesday evening at Harrisburg as the result of a heart attack. The body has been brought to the Welsh Funeral Home, where it may be viewed this evening by friends. Funeral services will be held tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 o’clock at the Welsh Funeral Home, the Rev. William J. Watts officiating. Burial will be made at Dunnstown.
Mr. Burroughs was the son-in-law of Street Commissioner and Mrs. D.L. Herr, this city. He was a graduate civil and mechanical engineer, and for the past year and a half had been employed by the State. Survivors are his wife, Mrs. Louise Herr Burroughs, a daughter, Eleanor M.[sic] Burroughs; a stepdaughter, Margaret Ungard, and a brother, Coleburn Burroughs of Detroit.
Mr. Burroughs is the second son-in-law of Mr. and Mrs. Herr to die at Harrisburg within the past few weeks. Ralph Z. Smith passed away recently at the Harrisburg Hospital, following an emergency operation Thanksgiving night.”
Children:
i.Richard Burroughs (adopted son of first wife, Ida V. Comosely). Born ca. 1913, PA. See 1920 and 1930 Census data under George E. Burroughs above. A Richard Burroughs, born Aug. 13, 1912, died Sept., 1976, in the SSDI, #206-05-954, issued in PA, before 195_.
ii.Eleanor Louise (“Bunny”) Burroughs, born September 28, 1930, Sunday, 8:38 P.M., Harrisburg Hospital, Harrisburg, Dauphin County, PA, weighing 7 lbs. 10 oz. She died Sunday, October 28, 2001, 2:40 AM, Gardiner Home, Hospice of the Valley, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ. She was buried Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001, Dunnstown Cemetery, Dunnstown (next to Lock Haven), Woodward Township, Clinton County, PA, in the A. Wayne Myers Addition, southern half of Lot No.37 (37 S ½). Blood type A+. She married Frederick Kravcov, on October 21, 1957 (born May 13, 1929, Elizabeth, NJ; died November 21, 1993, Corpus Christi, TX), in Washington, D.C. (civil) and in 1959, Madrid, Spain (Catholic). They had one daughter, *Karen Louise Kravcov, born December 30, 1962, Princess Tsehai Memorial Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Karen married Alastair James Malcolm on April 16, 2003, Sedona, Coconino County, Arizona.
Eleanor received her first holy communion in St. Mary’s Church, Harrisburg, PA on May 8, 1938. She attended Steele School, Harrisburg, PA (1930-1937), St. Mary’s Parochial School, Harrisburg, PA (1937-1942), and St. Francis Parochial School, Harrisburg, PA (1942-1944). She graduated in 1948 from Catholic High School, Harrisburg, PA (her senior yearbook entry reads: LeCercle Francais 2; Catholic Action Club 4; Pep Squad 1, 2. “Bunny is pleasant to everyone, When you’re with her you’ll have lots of fun.”). In 1950, she had a tonsillectomy. She attended Central Pennsylvania Business College, Harrisburg, PA; George Washington University (1957) and University of Maryland (Ext. in Madrid, Spain) (1958-59). She was a member of the Dept. of State Recreation Assn., Washington, D.C. (1955-57); the recording secretary of Alpha Xi chapter of Epsilon Sigma Alpha, an international women’s social, cultural and service sorority. In the mid 1950s, she studied Russian. She took a computer science course at College of the Desert in Palm Desert, CA in 1988. Her hobbies and interests included reading mystery and spy novels (Robert Ludlum), playing the piano, golfing, Japanese sumie (brush) painting, which she learned while living in Tokyo, Japan as a student of Madame Shutei Ohta of Nakano-ku, Tokyo. She also was a student of Ikebana under Tazuko Niimura, and learned some Japanese. She exhibited her sumie artwork at the American Club Tokyo on Jan. 10, 1968. Georgia O’Keeffe was a favorite artist. While living in Madrid and Buenos Aires, she learned Spanish. In the music department, favorite early artists in her record collection included Stanley Black, Louis Armstrong, The Dorseys, Glenn Miller, Judy Garland, Duke Ellington, Della Reese, The Supremes, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Burt Bacharach, Dionne Warwicke, The Carpenters, The Captain & Tenille, Tony Orlando, Barbara Streisand, Miles Davis, Ramsey Lewis, Tom Scott, & Helen Reddy. She enjoyed Brazilian/Portugese music and her Argentine collection included records by Julio Sosa, Alain Debray and Mercedes Sosa. Later she enjoyed 1980s dance and new wave music and new age musicians such as Sadao Watanabe, Ottmar Liebert, Kitaro, Yanni and Enya. She attended concerts including Gato Barbieri, Richard Elliott, k.d. lang and Yanni. Other interests included shopping, growing cacti and succulents (including some showing), her Korat cats, including Yin Lan, Nappy, Maui, Chaya and Chinda; Hamid, the Afghan Hound dog, and raising and showing Arabian and other horses with her daughter, Karen Kravcov, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, and playing cards and electronic solitaire.
Eleanor was employed by the Transportation Division, New Cumberland General Depot, New Cumberland, PA (1948-1949), the Special Reserve Division, New Cumberland General Depot, New Cumberland, PA (1949-1950), the Adjutant’s Office, New Cumberland General Depot, New Cumberland, PA (1950-1952), the Commercial Warehouse Field Office, New Cumberland General Depot (DOD), New Cumberland, PA (1952-1953); Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot, Comptroller’s Office (1953), US Naval Supply Depot, Mechanicsburg, PA (1953-1955); Admin. Asst. to the Chief of the Soviet Orbit Policy Staff, United States Information Agency (USIA) (1955-1957), Washington, DC; the American Embassy & US Air Force, Madrid, Spain (1958-1959), the Foreign Service of the United States, Dept. of State, US Agency for International Development (USAID), Public Safety Division (Addis Ababa) (1962), and the CIA. While at home, she worked part time for “Something Special By Patti” (McKelvey), as a painter of children’s furniture and assisted with mall kiosk sales (May 1978 to Sept. 1979). She returned to work after retirement in 1962 in Feb. 1986, working in the accessories department at May Company, Palm Desert, California for 8 mos., where she won the Chairman’s Club Tope Sales Producer for the month of May in 1986. She worked in commission sales for Finlay Fine Jewelry Department at May Company in Palm Desert, California from Oct. 1986 until April, 1988. At the Palm Desert National Bank, she worked in the Bookkeeping Dept. and lastly in the Note Department (April 2, 1988 until March 23, 1990). She also worked part time for Saks Fifth Avenue in San Antonio, TX and Coldwell Banker Swope Realtors in Boerne, TX (until Oct. 28, 1995).
According to Eleanor’s Personal File – 1948-1962, in 1954, the nature of the Soviet Orbit work: Under the direction of the principal officers, the Soviet Orbit, are responsible to the Assistant Director for Policy and Programs (IOP), the Soviet Orbit Staff deals directly with matters of information policy and planning as they apply to the East European satellites, the USSR, and the Chinese and North Korean Communist regimes. The staff is responsible for (1) providing guidance on Soviet and Communist activities to the media through the instrumentality of the news policy section of IOP and to the field through information guidances and (2) the development of information policy planning relative to Soviet-controlled areas. To carry out these functions, the staff which consists at present of three officers and one secretary must examine and utilize a large daily flow of materials (telegrams, despatches, studies, reports, etc.) in order to understand the constantly changing Communist situation, and in this manner be prepared to implement planning and guidance responsibilities and functions.
Another copy stated: The Soviet Orbit Policy Staff (IOP/LS) deals directly with matters of information policy and planning as they apply to the geographic areas comprising the USSR, the Baltic States, the European Satellites, Communist China, North Korea and North Vietnam, as well as the Escapes Program and Communist front organizations. The staff is responsible for (1) providing guidance on Soviet and Communist activities to the media directly and through information guidances and (2) the development of information policy planning relative to the above listed Communist controlled areas. To carry out these functions, the staff must examine and utilize a large daily flow of materials (telegrams, despatches, studies, reports, etc.) in order to understand changes taking place in the Communist world, and in this manner be prepared to implement planning and guidances responsibilities and functions.
On December 31, 1956, her supervisor, E. Lewis Revey, at USIA, Soviet Orbit Policy Staff, had the following comments about Eleanor’s work performance:
“In every respect, Miss Burroughs has performed her duties with noteworthy efficiency and distinction. The thoroughness of her work and the perfectionism which she applies especially to outgoing communications is as commendable as her dependability and eagerness to insure the operational efficiency of this office, even at the cost of personal inconvenience. The entire staff has known at all times that it could count on Miss Burroughs to carry an additional share of the workload whenever that proved necessary. Her quiet efficiency and dependability have brought much comfort to IOP/LS in the difficult and trying period brought on by the dramatic turn of events in Poland and Hungary.”
A 1960 Personal History Statement (Form 444) for an administrative secretarial and/or clerical position, reflected that she had experience with the following business machines: comptometer, calculator, dictaphone, mimeograph and hectograph.
Obituary in The Arizona Republic and The Lock Haven Express, Oct. 30, 2001:
Eleanor Louise Burroughs Kravcov, 71, of Phoenix, AZ since 1995, passed away on Oct. 28, 2001 in Phoenix after more than a two-year battle with advanced colon cancer. She was born in Harrisburg, PA on Sept. 28, 1930, the daughter of George Earle Burroughs of Van Buren, Belleville, and Dundee, Michigan and later, NYC and PA, both the grandson of Col. George Holland Burroughs and a cousin of Edgar Rice Burroughs, all from the colonial Burroughs family of Warren & Scituate, MA, and Louise Clare Herr of Lock Haven, PA, a direct descendant of Rev. Hans Herr of Zurich, who emigrated in 1709 to Philadelphia and settled Lancaster County, PA. Among other CT, MA & VA colonists, Eleanor was also a direct descendant of Job Tyler who emigrated from Shropshire, England to Newport, RI and settled in Andover, MA in 1639.
She married Frederick Kravcov in Washington, D.C. and Madrid, Spain. She was the Asst. to the Chief of the Soviet Orbit Policy Staff, U.S. Information Agency, Washington, D.C., lastly retired from the Civil Service/Dept. of State, U.S. Foreign Service at the birth of her daughter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
An accomplished Japanese sumie painting artist, Buenos Aires, Argentina was among her favorite residences with her family. Since 1980 she raised Arabian horses with her daughter in CA, TX & AZ.
She is survived by her daughter, Karen L. Kravcov of Phoenix, AZ, a nephew, E. Joseph Kintz, his wife, Lynn, their son, Todd J. Kintz of Carlisle, PA, a cousin, Betty Lou Smith Young of Lock Haven, PA, Betty’s son, Dr. Michael F. Young of Manchester, CT, and his uncle, Ralph Herr Smith of Lakeland, FL. Arrangements by Hansen Mortuaries in Scottsdale, AZ and Gilbert L. Dailey F.H. in Harrisburg, PA. Interment will be in the family plot in Dunnstown Cemetery, Dunnstown, near Lock Haven, Clinton County, PA,