The life and times of William Burgess, Sr.

We have established that John Christian Burgess, formerly known as the Hessian soldier, John Christian Borges, came to America from Germany to fight against the colonists but ended up fighting alongside them.  He married Hannah Newland and they raised a large family in Lake George, New York.

Their son, William, married Violate Stockwell and they had a large family as well.  One of their sons, William, Jr. wrote a life sketch:


I was born March first 1822 in the township of Putnam, Washington County, New York.  When I was ten years old my father and most of his family (his wife and kids, not his siblings) joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint.  This was December second, 1832.  The next August we started to move to Jackson County, Missouri.  We arrived in Kirtland, Ohio the first part of September.  The Prophet Joseph Smith advised us to stop there and help build the Temple.  The walls were about four feet above the ground.

That fall (1833) the church was driven out of Jackson County by the mob.  In February 1835 I was baptized by my brother Harrison Burgess and confirmed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, under the following circumstances.  There had been about thirty-five baptized during the week and all went to church on Sunday to be confirmed.  We sat on the three front rows of seats and I was on the third one.  Jared Carter and Elder Cahoon were doing the confirming.  After they had confirmed all on the first row, the Prophet held up his hand for them to stop, and came to where I was and confirmed me, then went back to the stand and told the brethren to go on with the confirming.
(William had lived with Joseph and Emma and I think that may have been why Joseph performed William's confirmation.)

I lived in the Smith family for two years, and learned much of the gospel hearing the prophet talk.  I helped build the Kirtland Temple and was at the dedication.  We passed through the persecution with the saints and were driven out.  We then moved to Caldwell County, Missouri in August of 1838.  The prophet counseled us to go to Daviess County.  We arrived at Adam-Ondi-Ahman about the twentieth of August, 1838.  The mob spirit was raging and all the old settlers but two moved away in order to have their families safe while they were fighting.  For about three months I didn't undress only to wash and change clothes, and no one except those that passed through it knows the tribulation and privations that we had to endure.  As it was for the gospel's sake, we endured cheerfully.  (Wish I could say I always "endure" cheerfully!)  I was taken prisoner by the mob and abused terribly.  But we depended on the Lord and He delivered us from them.  We went to Caldwell County in December and in the spring we were put in prison and the church was driven from the state.

We next went to Adams County, Illinois.  We were driven out of Missouri leaving our homes and all we had, but we were thankful for our lives that we were spared.

On September 17, 1840 I married Mariah Pulsipher, daughter of Zerah Mulsipher and Mary Brown, near Lima, Adams County, Illinois.

This is where the Pulsipher and Burgess families first become forever connected.  Another Burgess boy married Mariah's sister, Almira.    These two families, the Burgess's and the Pulsipher's then were always together, settling area after area until finally ending  up in different parts of southern Utah.