Ephraim Tillman Burris was the younger brother of my Great Grandmother Rowena Burris Lambert. While they seem to have grown up in a peaceful farming community and then later on the Concord Mill Hill in Cabarrus County, within an intact family with long-lived parents and an easy going, loveable father, David T. Burris's boys were anything but peaceful.
Black Sheep Sunday is a Geneabloggers Blogging Prompt about finding someone in your family tree who was not a perfect angel, or who may have been a little rough around the edges.
I've already done a story on their brother Duncan, who was not only Rowena's brother, but ended up becoming my Grandmother's stepfather. I can only imagine that is how she met her future husband, her stepfather's nephew.
Drunken Duncan
I didn't know about Duncan's baby brothers following in his footsteps, until I dug deeper into the family of David T (possibly Tillman) Burris and Ellen Honeycutt Burris.
Oddly, there were a few decades where they just disappeared, but they were not dead, as they lived from the 1960's to the 1980's, so I determined to discover why and what I found explained it all.
Ephraim Tillman Burris was born July 9, 1891 in Stanly County. By 1910, his parents had moved to Concord in Cabarrus County, but Ephraim was living in Albemarle with his sister, E. Elmetta Burris Smith and her husband Henry Albert Smith.
The young couple and their two children were living on the Mill Hill in Albemarle, and Ephraim was living with them working in the Cotton Mill. Henry and Mittie would move to Cottonville later, and Henry would die young, being electrocuted at Norwood Manufacturing while working as an electrician. Mittie would remarry in her later 40's and live the remainder of her life in Burnsville, Anson County.
Ephraim, on the other hand would spend his youth traveling back and forth between Albemarle and Concord, making mischief and trouble in both places.
![North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011]()
He did marry, on December 6, 1913, to Cora Mauney, daughter of George and Lillie Stallings Mauney.
A daughter would soon arrive 10 months later, Lena Ellen Burris, on October 13, 1914.
Eprhraim T. Burris's draft card is dated June 5, 1912, over a year before he married and two years before he became a father.
The information given in the draft card states that Ephraim T. Burris of Mt. Pleasant, NC, born June 1, 1894 was 23 years old and employed as a Mill Operator at Kindley Cotton Mill in Mt. Pleasant, which is just across the county line from Stanly County, where he says that he was born. It states that he is of medium height and build with black hair and brown eyes. It also states that he was married, with a wife and one child as dependants. But the wife and child did not come along until later.....
Ephraim served, however, and Lena would be his only child.
A transport list of Company "D" 118th Infantry on the Commercial ship "Canada" leaving from Brooklyn, New York lists Private Ephraim T. Burris, whose family member to contact in case of emergency was father David Burris of Franklin Mills, Cabarrus County. On the same ship was Venis O. Burris, also giving David Burris of Franklin Mills, Cabarrus County as his contact. The date was May of 1918.
On another transport, the USS Pocahontas, arriving from St. Nazaire, France on March 16, 1919, brought both brothers safely home. Most of the company were from North and South Carolina.
A History of Cabarrus County in the Wars (Indexed) gives the following information:
Burris, Ephraim T. Private, Co D 118 Inf. , enlisted 3 July 17 and served 10 months overseas in 6 engagements; Ypres, Villeret, Biancourt, Vancoocourt, Bohain Voux, and Audigny; and was wounded 26 Oct 18. He was discharged 3 April 19.
Burris, Venes O., Private Co D 118 Inf., enlisted 3 July 17 and served 10 months overseas and was awarded the Silver Star. He was discharged 3 April 19.
And they were changed forever, especially Ephraim. He seemed to be fighting a war within himself.
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Salisbury Evening Post
(Salisbury, North Carolina)09 Jan 1920, Fri • Page 3
On November 13, 1920 , "jitney driver" O. C. Seamon was found dead.
O' Connell Castor Seamon was almost 50 years old. He was basically a taxi driver, as a jitney was another name for a nickel and jitney cars were nickel rides tha competed with street cars for transit. Compare him to todays Uber drivers.
![Image result for jitney]()
O. C. Seamon was born in Cabarrus County on September 22, 1871. He died in the same on November 13, 1919. His death certificate states that he was murdered by 3 pistol balls and that 2 men were held for a Grand Jury. That part is highly unusual to be found in a death certificate.
He left a widow, Sarah Jane Josey Seamon and 8 children: Bessie, Ella, Grover, Clyde, Ethel, Violet, Troy, and Roscoe, ranging in age from 27 to 3. He was the son of Robert Seamon and Jane Castor Seamon.
In the Cabarrus City Directory, his widow, Sarah Jane Seamon, is shown living at 17 N. Powder Street, the same street Ephraims parents lived on in 1910.
Although O. C. Seamon was killed on November 13, 1919, it was in January of 1920 before a warrant was issued for Great Great Uncle Ephraim. Until that point, he was only wanted as a witness.
The other charactors in this story were:
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The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)13 Jan 1920, Tue • Page 6
There were several George Hunsuckers in the area, including Anson and Stanly counties, and two in Cabarrus County who could have been George "Slick" Hunsucker. Taking from where they lived and how old they were in 1919 and 1920, when this whole case took place, I would bet that it was not the 17 year old George Hunsucker who lived in the Rocky River area, but the 21 year old George Hunsucker who was living with his parents on Poplar Tent Road in 1920 and was a dolpher in the Cotton Mill. But since I can't determine which exactly, I will leave it at that.
Three things the 3 men who were arrested for the murder had in common were living in the City of Concord, being young veterans of WWI and working in the Cotton Mills, and the latter George Hunsucker fit this bill.
There were 2 witness besides Ephraim Burris, Gray and Hunsucker. Floyd Cooper and Will Blackwelder were also named. These 'boys' were all young men in their 20's who came home from a World War to work in the dehumanizing machine that was a cotton mill. They diverted themselves as may have been expected with sport, drink and women, which at many times concluded in tragedy, as it did in this case.
Henry Floyd Cooper was 27 years old in 1920. He lived on Robinson Street in the "Baptist Church" area of Cabarrus County, near Concord and was a warper in the Cotton Mill. Floyd was living with his 4 young children, Jason, James, Trilby and Charlie and his sister Della and her two young daughters. Both were married, but their spouse were not living with them. They had a cook and housekeeper named Hattie Williams who probably helped with the children while Floyd and his sister worked in the Cotton Mills.
Cordia Helms was Floyd's wife and she was not with him and Della's husband Wiley Von Kirkpatrick was also absent from the 1920 census. Floyd would remarry 3 years later and Della's husband Wiley is shown in the 1930 census as divorced with their 2 living daughters (they had 4), while Floyd remarried in 1923 and Della would end up with Martin Lefler and have 4 sons, the first in 1922.
Will Blackwelder was the other witness. He is described in his WWI draft card as "Tall, Stout, with dark hair and brown eyes. He was born in Stanly County and was working as a Mill Hand at Cabarrus Mill. He had served 3 years in the National Guard and had obtained the Rank of Corporal. He claimed a wife, one child, and a Father-in-law to support.
Will was honest. The 1920 census shows him at age 30, living on Young St. in Concord, with his wife Mary, his 7 year old daughter, Myrtle and his 77 year old Father-in-law, George Baker.
William Luther Blackwelder is already present in my family tree, as was Cordia Helms Cooper, wife of Floyd.
William Luther Blackwelder is a member of my Murray family tree. His mother was Henrietta Hendley, daughter of William A. "Buck" Hendley and Tabitha Frances Turner. Tabitha Turner was the daughter of John C. Turner and Phoebe Murray Turner. Phoebe was the sister of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge. But it doesn't stop there. Before Henrietta was married to Jacob Blackwelder and became the mother of the afore mentioned Will, she was married to Henry Wilbur Whitaker. Henry Wilbur was the son of Nelson Whitaker and Sophia Murray Whitaker. Sophia was the sister of Phoebe Murray Turner and Priscilla Murray Aldridge. All three were daughters of Jesse Murray, who lived on a hill above Long Creek near its convergence with the Rocky River in southern Stanly County.
This made Henrietta and Wilbur first cousins, and also gave her two spots in the Murray family tree.
Will was married 4 times and outlived three wives. He was an overseer of various divisions in the Cotton Mills and seemed to be a man of good reputation and who was well-respected.
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The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)06 Mar 1922, Mon • Page 5
The above Obituary was for his second wife, Mary Baker Blackwelder. He had lost his first wife, Margie Perry Blackwelder in 1911, again, to a tragic medical emergency, scarcely a year after they were married. He and his second wife, Mary, had one daughter to live to adulthood, Helen, and Myrtle Baker was listed as an adopted child.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)19 Nov 1919, Wed • Page 1
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May Bowles
Lillian May Bowles was a young woman identified as being in the car with the murdered man and it was even suggested that she had an altercation with the jitney driver.
In the 1920 census, she is found as divorced and living with her parents, Mack Polyray Bowles and Amanda Elizabeth Hagler Bowles, along with her 2 year old daughter, Margaret Edna.
She had married at the very young age of 14 to Isaac Andrew Mark Pethel on July 25, 1914. Her daughter was born on February 23, 1917. Just the records involved with her daughter may explain a little about the life and lifestyle of May Bowles.
She married at age 14 to Isaac A. M. Pethel.
She gave birth in Cabarrus County on February 23, 1917 to Margaret Edna Bowles, who would marry a Culler. The North Carolina birth indexes give the child's parents as Joe Williams and Mary Bowles, with her name as Margaret Edna Bowles and her birthdate as 2/23/1917.
The US Social Security Applications and Claims index gives her name as Margaret Edna Culler (married name) and her birthdate as the exact same 2/23/1917, but lists her parents as Walter H. Morgan and Mae L. Bowles.
Her 2005 Obituary states that she was born on February 23, 1917 to Isaac Pethel and May Bowles Pethel in Cabarrus County.
Mae might have married Walter H. Morgan at a later date and became her daughter's stepfather. But the birth index gives her father as a Joe Williams.
Mae Lillian Bowles (etc.) passed away on July 26, 1949, details unknown. She is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina and her tombstone denotes her as the wife of Ray Saunders.
Her first husband Isaac Pethel was also a rolling stone. The 1920 census found him as a divorced textile worker living in Anderson, South Carolina.
He married his second wife in 1921 and divorced her in 1935 in Phoenix, Arizona. He married a third wife in Chillicothe, Ohio and left her in California. He married lastly in 1940 in California, but nearly immediately died in Los Angeles in 1940 and was brought back to North Carolina to be buried in China Grove with his family.
Lillian Hilton
Lillian Hilton was a married woman at the time of the murder, unlike the divorced young Mae.
In 1920, she was living in Rowan County, with her husband and father-in-law. After she made headlines being associated with the murder, claiming she and Mae Bowles had attended a "Chicken Stew" in Charlotte, her husband promptly divorced her.
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The Charlotte Observer
(Charlotte, North Carolina)30 Mar 1920, Tue • Page 6
Lillian Belle Bryan was born on June 3, 1898 in New Bern, NC and was living in Surry County by the age of 11 with a Flowers family and called their "grand-niece". She ended up in Salisbury, Rowan County, where she married at the age of 19 and the papers report, she loved taking the trains to Charlotte, the "Big City" and living it up. After her 1920 divorce, she moved to Greensboro,where she is listed as a widowed Roomer on S. Faskis St. She was not a widow as her husband remarried and lived until the 1960's. City Directories show that Lillian rode that train from Charlotte to Greensboro many times and lived here and there alternately. She died in Greensboro in 1947 and left her husband back in China Grove with two sons. He eventually had another with his second wife and worked as a repairman in the Railroad Industry that gave his wild young wife her wings.
Keith Pharr
Keith Pharr had testified that he had passed the dead man at about 11:15 pm that night, sitting in his car, but did not realized the man was dead. He said he saw two men walking, about 500 feet from the car, on Roberta Mill Road. Keith Pharr was 39 and an Operator at the Cotton Mill. He lived in his own mortgaged home on Pioneer Mill Road in 1920. Afterwards, he kind of disappers.
Walter Surratt "Rat" Gray
Rat Gray was a Cabarrus County native, being born in the "Baptist Church" section. Born August 19, 1894 to Wilkerson Alexander Gray and Mary Melinda Ledbetter Gray, he was the fifth of 12 children. He started working in the Cotton Mills at a very young age, the 1910 census naming him as a "Doffer" at 16.
He would enlist for military duty on July 25, 1917 and less than a month later, would marry Dossie Emma Kiser Alexander, a young woman with two small children, on August 13, 1917. Their only child together, Emma Louise, would be born a few months later on December 7, 1917.
Gray was released from military service on April 3, 1919. His freedom was short-lived.
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Walter Surratt Gray would plead guilty to a crime he said he did not remember. He was sentenced to 8 years for the murder. Alchohol played a large part in the tragedy.
The 1920 census found him living with his wife and her three children awaiting trial.
By April, he was off to Jail.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)29 Apr 1920, Thu • Page 3
Rat didn't sit well in a cage. He was not happy, and the next year, made his escape. He went to South Carolina and tried to find a job in a Mill. He did not go far enough away to be recognized, apparently, because someone recognized him and he was eventually captured by the police and returned to prison.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)04 Mar 1921, Fri • Page 5
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Below are several articles from various newspapers of the time, that gave different versions and information on the Seamon murder.
As far as Walter Gray, he was back home with his family by the 1930 census. He was working in the Cotton Mill and living with his wife, daughter Louise and step-daughter, Mary Belle, and her husband, and little boy.
In 1940, he was still working in the cotton mills as a Dyer, and his daughter had married. His step-daughter had married another and left him as well as the first husband, and she and her son were back to living with Rat and Emma.
Emma died in 1952 and Rat remarried to a Laura Duncan. He led a long life and passed away on January 16, 1975, at the age of 80.
He never had any more children.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)08 Jan 1920, Thu • Page 1
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)17 Nov 1919, Mon • Page 3
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The Siler City Grit
(Siler City, North Carolina)27 Nov 1919, Thu • Page 2
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The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)22 Apr 1920, Thu • Page 8
But What about Great Great Uncle Ephraim Burris?
Could the troubled Ephraim Burris, just months released from Service in WWI where he participated in 6 battles and released from charges of murder in the Jitney driver case, remain on the right side of the law?
The answer did not take long to find out. And that answer was
NO!
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The papers reported a shootout between Ephraim and police officer Ralph Kennerly. Kennerly was shot 2 times. Ephraim Burris recieved 5 bullets in return from the officer. The doctors said there was a slight chance for the policeman to survive, but they gave Uncle Ephraim little to none. One in a thousand chance to survive.
The Concord and Stanly County papers published different versions. Stanly claimed the officer was looking for Venus Burris, Ephriams' brother. Concord claimed Ephraim had broken out of the Stanly County jail.
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The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)22 Oct 1920, Fri • Page 1
Ralph Kennerly
The 1920 census found Ralph Kennerly, 27, boarding with his young bride Ruth, 18. Ralph C. Kennerly had married Ruth Mae Stirewalt on August 7, 1919. On the day of his death, October 19, 1920, they had only been able to enjoy their marriage for 14 short months.
Like the other young men in this story, and indeed, most of the young men of his generation, Ralph was a veteran of World War I, and had just returned from duty in April of 1919, four months before his marriage to Ruth.
A Roster of Company L, First North Carolina Infantry, United States National Guard, June 10, 1917, published in The Concord Times, lists Ralph C. Kennerly as a Coporal.
Army transport rosters list him as leaving out from Philadelphia on May 11, 1918 on the ship "Haverford". He lists Mrs. Charles A. Tarleton, his mother, as his next of kin.
Another transport list has him leaving St. Nazaire, France on March 7, 1919 on the ship "Powatan". He is listed as a Private First Class, with the 30th Military Police Division. 30th M. P. Co. Thus had began his police training. Here he listed his next of kin as Mr. Charles A. Tarleton, Stepfather.
A letter from "The Concord Daily Tribune", published on April 17, 1918, from Ralph to his mother, Minnie Tarleton, gives a glimpse into the personality of this promising young man. He mentions his half-sister, Nora and Perry, a local friend. Having grown up in a rural farming community, his attentions were most on the crops grown in France, and he marveled at the country and the different sites he had seen, probably like most of the young soldiers on this same journey. Some would return home to the states, others would not. Ralph C. Kennerly had.
![- I Kcnnerty. France, July 18, Somewhere Dear...]()
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)17 Aug 1918, Sat • Page 4
Ralph C. Kennerly was born on July 25, 1892 in Rowan County, North Carolina. He was a member of the Kennerly family of the small community of Enochville. Enochville is closest to China Grove and to Kannapolis, which straddles the Rowan/Cabarrus County line.
Ralph was raised by his mother, Minnie Catherine Kennerly and his step-father, Charles "Charlie" Alexander Tarleton. He had a half-sister, Nora and 4 younger half-brothers, Samuel, James, Jay and Kenneth. Minnie married Charlie Tarleton in 1897, when Ralph was 4 years old. Minnie was the daughter of Samuel A. Kennerly and Sarah "Sallie" Rogers Kennerly. Her family had originated in Iredell County and settled around Enochville by 1880. The Irish name "Kennerly" was misspelled various different ways after they settled in this predominatley German-ancestored area. It can be found as "Kinley", "Kennly", "Kentely", "Canorle", "Kynnersly" and other variations.
Ralph's biological father is unknown. Although he lists an "A. L. Kennerly" as father on his marriage license, that could have been only to save face. Minnie had two sisters and the only Kennerlys in the 1880 census was that of her family. The whole town of Enochville encompassed only a few pages on the census, the closest one to the birth of Ralph. "A. L." could have been "A. S. ", a reference to his grandfather Addison or Samuel Addison, who may have raised him before his mother's marriage. But there was no "A. L. Kennerly". On the documents of other children born outside of marriage in those days, I have seen them use their actual fathers first names, if they knew it, with their mothers surname, which was what they went by, or list their maternal grandfathers, who raised them. Nothing incestuous implied, just that the grandfather was probably the only father they had ever known. Others seem to invent a father out of midair, in order to avoid the embarrasment of telling the registrar they had none.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)18 Oct 1920, Mon • Page 1
The Fateful Day
Ralph Kennerly was with a group of other officers, set on the course to arrest two of the Burris brothers, Venus Odell Burris and Ephraim Tillman Burris. Both men were very drunk. Different articles approach the event in different ways, some add a few details, others completely contradict each other.
What appears took place was that Venus, the younger of the Burris brothers, had been found first and was in custody. At a railroad crossing, he escaped and took off. A group of other officers were set out to find his brother Ephraim, and Officer Kennerly joined this group. Kennerly startled Ephriam, by approaching him and touching his shoulder. Ephraim was drunk, armed and on edge and began firing at Officer Kennerly, hitting him twice. Kennerly, in return, began firing on Ephriam, wounding him a number of times. Another officer fired also, as Ephriam attempted to escape, and hit him at least once. It appears he was shot between 4 and 6 times. He was said to have thought to be headed to his fathers house for help, Great Great Grandpa David T. Burris, who lived on Railroad Street, but passed the house in his injured and drunken state, and ended up collapsing in a ditch. Kennerly was expected to make it. Burris was not.
![Map of Railroad Dr NW, Concord, NC 28025]()
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Goldsboro Daily Argus
(Goldsboro, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 1
Ralph Kennerly died while Ephraim Burris languished in the same hospital. Ephriam had kept up his criminal misadventures since the death of the taxi driver, Seamon, of which his participation in seemed to have never been completely settled, but of which he had been cleared.
Alchohol seemed to be the evil that was taking over the area and destroying the lives of many young veterans and their families. God only knows the atrocities they had witnessed, experienced and survived. Ephraim was said to have stolen a car from Albemarle. The course of his his life was not a a good one.
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The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)08 Nov 1920, Mon • Page 5
Ephriams recovery was slow. He had suffered many criticial wounds. But he survived to go to trial. Ralph Kennerly, on the other hand, who seemed to have had a bright future ahead of him, was robbed of that possible future. It was stated he was set for promotion to Deputy Sheriff.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)21 Oct 1920, Thu • Page 3
Ralph's life was celebrated and mourned among the citizens of Cabarrus and Rowan Counties. His wife was awarded with a bouquet in honor of his service by Mrs. Joshepine Daniels.
![- Immediately after her address here last night,...]()
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 3
The issued of alchohol and prohibition was addressed by many groups within the town and the death of Ralph Kennerly added fuel to the fire of the Prohibition Movement to stamp out the evil of this epidemic.
![- i AVENGE RALPH KENNERLVH DEATH BV PUTTING AN...]()
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)21 Oct 1920, Thu • Page 4
The Obituary
The following is the obituary for Ralph Kennerly. It gives his reason for relocation from Rowan to Cabarrus was to be in the employee of a Mr. George Fisher, of which there were several. One was a dairy farmer, another a bookeeper. He later found work at the Cotton Mills of Concord and his service to his country began when he joined the State Militia during a problem with Mexico and became part of the Border Patrol. He remained in the Militia until transferring to Company L, where he served as an MP in France. His civilian career as a Police Officer was taking off and looking very promising when he was killed in the line of duty by Great Great Uncle Ephraim Burris. The Cheif of Police was taken by his memoriable statement "Did I get my man?"
![- a RALPH KENNERLY DIED IN HOSPITAL Tl'ESDAY...]()
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 1
Ruth Stirewalt Kennerly was still a teenager when she was widowed in 1920. She and Ralph had no children. Two years later she would marry Sherman Julian Sr. in Catawba County before settling in Kannapolis and becoming the mother of 5 children. She would live a long life and died in 1983 at the age of 81.
The story of Ephraim Burris was not yet over. He recovered from his injuries and his trial began in August of 1921. He was sentenced to 20 years for the murder of Officer Kennerly. This sentence seems light by today's standards. Ephraim was not content to be held and serve his time, however. He escaped from prison on multiple occasions.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)18 Aug 1921, Thu • Page 3
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The Concord
Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)11 Jan 1921, Tue • Page 1
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The story of Uncle Ephraims escape is quite an interesting one. He only served 20 days of his 20 year sentence when he made good his escape from a prison brickyard, where he had been sentenced to "make bricks without straw". He stayed on the loose for nearly a year, possibly with help from his brothers and wife and had even obtained, in some manner or another, a Ford Car. He was believed to have been hiding out in Anson County, but becoming emboldened by his lack of capture, again began showing up at his boyhood haunts in Western Stanly County. Possibly the illegal bootleg joints, or maybe even to the community of Lambert, where a dance hall existed for many decades. He was ratted out and finally captured at the home of one Israel Barbee, who lived on Albemarle Road in the Furr Township of Stanly County, about present day Locust or Red Cross.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)27 Jul 1921, Wed • Page 3
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![Ephraim Burris]()
The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)26 Jul 1921, Tue • Page 1
Ephraims younger brother, Venus Odell Burris, was of a different sort. He surrenndered himself to the police and seemed to have earned himself a different future.
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The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)22 Oct 1920, Fri • Page 5
It appears Venus had escaped from active duty by virtue of having a dependant family, yet his obituary lists him as a veteran, with no mention of his wild younger days.
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The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)27 Aug 1917, Mon • Page 5
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The Daily Independent
(Kannapolis, North Carolina)12 May 1967, Fri • Page 5
Perhaps the forgotten victims of Ephraims exploits were his wife and daughter.
Cora Theodora Mauney Burris never remarried. City Directoriea of Concord show her working in the Cotton Mills and in this manner, she raised her daughter Lena alone. Lena, herself, most likely working in the Cotton Mills as well when she became old enough, which was a very young age in those day.
In 1930, Cora is shown as a boarder and a laborer. Her daughter already remarried. By 1940, she has moved in with daughter Lena.
Cora Mauney Burris lived to be 73 and died while living in Albemarle, Stanly County on April 8, 1972. She is buried at Fairview Memorial Park in Albemarle.
Lena Ellen Burris married on October 13, 1929 in Cabarrus County at the tender age of 14. Her husband was Luther Sylvester Mauney, age 20, a relative. Their family tree is as follows.
Orville V. Mauney
&
Elizabeth "Betty" Plyler
parents of
Orville A. Mauney - brothers - George Washington Mauney
& &
Lucy Sophronia Dry Lillie Florence Stallings
Parents of Parents of
Luther Sylvestor Mauney -cousins- Cora Theodora Mauney
mother of
Lena Ellen Burris
Luther and Lena were first cousins once removed.
Luther and Lena raised their children in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. They were the parents of three.
Luther Sylvester Mauney died of a heart attack on January 11, 1973 at the age of 64. Oddly, a little over a year later, on October 11, 1974, his wife Lena, also died a heart attack, related to an infection and diabetes, at the young age of 59.
Ephriam Tillman Burris lived a long life. Although undiscovered in the 1930 census, he is in a Prison Camp near Sanford, Lee County in the 1940 census. He served his time.
Ephraim Burris died on May 17, 1965 at the age of 71 from a blood clot resulting from a case of bronchiopneumonia. He was at the Veteran's Hospital in Fayetteville, NC upon his death. He was listed as a resident of Albemarle, Stanly County, NC and married to Cora. It appears they remained together throughout his incarceration. His usual occupation was listed as "Textile".
He was buried at Fairview Memorial Park.
![- E. T. Burris ALBEMARLE — Ephriam T. Burris, 73,...]()
The Daily Independent
(Kannapolis, North Carolina)18 May 1965, Tue • Page 5
Black Sheep Sunday is a Geneabloggers Blogging Prompt about finding someone in your family tree who was not a perfect angel, or who may have been a little rough around the edges.
I've already done a story on their brother Duncan, who was not only Rowena's brother, but ended up becoming my Grandmother's stepfather. I can only imagine that is how she met her future husband, her stepfather's nephew.
Drunken Duncan
I didn't know about Duncan's baby brothers following in his footsteps, until I dug deeper into the family of David T (possibly Tillman) Burris and Ellen Honeycutt Burris.
Oddly, there were a few decades where they just disappeared, but they were not dead, as they lived from the 1960's to the 1980's, so I determined to discover why and what I found explained it all.
Ephraim Tillman Burris was born July 9, 1891 in Stanly County. By 1910, his parents had moved to Concord in Cabarrus County, but Ephraim was living in Albemarle with his sister, E. Elmetta Burris Smith and her husband Henry Albert Smith.
| Name: | Ephraim Burris | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age in 1910: | 18 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Year: | abt 1892 | ||||||||||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Home in 1910: | Albemarle, Stanly, North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Street: | Efird Hill | ||||||||||||
| Race: | White | ||||||||||||
| Gender: | Male | ||||||||||||
| Relation to Head of House: | Boarder | ||||||||||||
| Marital Status: | Single | ||||||||||||
| Father's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Mother's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Native Tongue: | English | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Dolpher | ||||||||||||
| Industry: | Cotton Mill | ||||||||||||
| Employer, Employee or Other: | Wage Earner | ||||||||||||
| Able to Read: | No | ||||||||||||
| Able to Write: | No | ||||||||||||
| Out of Work: | N | ||||||||||||
| Number of weeks out of work: | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||||||||||
| Household Members: |
|
The young couple and their two children were living on the Mill Hill in Albemarle, and Ephraim was living with them working in the Cotton Mill. Henry and Mittie would move to Cottonville later, and Henry would die young, being electrocuted at Norwood Manufacturing while working as an electrician. Mittie would remarry in her later 40's and live the remainder of her life in Burnsville, Anson County.
Ephraim, on the other hand would spend his youth traveling back and forth between Albemarle and Concord, making mischief and trouble in both places.
He did marry, on December 6, 1913, to Cora Mauney, daughter of George and Lillie Stallings Mauney.
A daughter would soon arrive 10 months later, Lena Ellen Burris, on October 13, 1914.
Eprhraim T. Burris's draft card is dated June 5, 1912, over a year before he married and two years before he became a father.
The information given in the draft card states that Ephraim T. Burris of Mt. Pleasant, NC, born June 1, 1894 was 23 years old and employed as a Mill Operator at Kindley Cotton Mill in Mt. Pleasant, which is just across the county line from Stanly County, where he says that he was born. It states that he is of medium height and build with black hair and brown eyes. It also states that he was married, with a wife and one child as dependants. But the wife and child did not come along until later.....
Ephraim served, however, and Lena would be his only child.
A transport list of Company "D" 118th Infantry on the Commercial ship "Canada" leaving from Brooklyn, New York lists Private Ephraim T. Burris, whose family member to contact in case of emergency was father David Burris of Franklin Mills, Cabarrus County. On the same ship was Venis O. Burris, also giving David Burris of Franklin Mills, Cabarrus County as his contact. The date was May of 1918.
On another transport, the USS Pocahontas, arriving from St. Nazaire, France on March 16, 1919, brought both brothers safely home. Most of the company were from North and South Carolina.
A History of Cabarrus County in the Wars (Indexed) gives the following information:
Burris, Ephraim T. Private, Co D 118 Inf. , enlisted 3 July 17 and served 10 months overseas in 6 engagements; Ypres, Villeret, Biancourt, Vancoocourt, Bohain Voux, and Audigny; and was wounded 26 Oct 18. He was discharged 3 April 19.
Burris, Venes O., Private Co D 118 Inf., enlisted 3 July 17 and served 10 months overseas and was awarded the Silver Star. He was discharged 3 April 19.
And they were changed forever, especially Ephraim. He seemed to be fighting a war within himself.
Salisbury Evening Post
(Salisbury, North Carolina)09 Jan 1920, Fri • Page 3
On November 13, 1920 , "jitney driver" O. C. Seamon was found dead.
O' Connell Castor Seamon was almost 50 years old. He was basically a taxi driver, as a jitney was another name for a nickel and jitney cars were nickel rides tha competed with street cars for transit. Compare him to todays Uber drivers.
O. C. Seamon was born in Cabarrus County on September 22, 1871. He died in the same on November 13, 1919. His death certificate states that he was murdered by 3 pistol balls and that 2 men were held for a Grand Jury. That part is highly unusual to be found in a death certificate.
He left a widow, Sarah Jane Josey Seamon and 8 children: Bessie, Ella, Grover, Clyde, Ethel, Violet, Troy, and Roscoe, ranging in age from 27 to 3. He was the son of Robert Seamon and Jane Castor Seamon.
In the Cabarrus City Directory, his widow, Sarah Jane Seamon, is shown living at 17 N. Powder Street, the same street Ephraims parents lived on in 1910.
Although O. C. Seamon was killed on November 13, 1919, it was in January of 1920 before a warrant was issued for Great Great Uncle Ephraim. Until that point, he was only wanted as a witness.
The other charactors in this story were:
- George Hunsucker
- Walter "Rat" Gray
- May Bowles
- Lillian Hilton
- Morrison H. Caldwell
- R. Lee Wright
- L T. Hartsell
- J Lee Crowell
- Frank Armfield
- T. D. Maness
- Floyd Cooper
- Will Blackwelder
- Keith Pharr
The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)13 Jan 1920, Tue • Page 6
There were several George Hunsuckers in the area, including Anson and Stanly counties, and two in Cabarrus County who could have been George "Slick" Hunsucker. Taking from where they lived and how old they were in 1919 and 1920, when this whole case took place, I would bet that it was not the 17 year old George Hunsucker who lived in the Rocky River area, but the 21 year old George Hunsucker who was living with his parents on Poplar Tent Road in 1920 and was a dolpher in the Cotton Mill. But since I can't determine which exactly, I will leave it at that.
Three things the 3 men who were arrested for the murder had in common were living in the City of Concord, being young veterans of WWI and working in the Cotton Mills, and the latter George Hunsucker fit this bill.
There were 2 witness besides Ephraim Burris, Gray and Hunsucker. Floyd Cooper and Will Blackwelder were also named. These 'boys' were all young men in their 20's who came home from a World War to work in the dehumanizing machine that was a cotton mill. They diverted themselves as may have been expected with sport, drink and women, which at many times concluded in tragedy, as it did in this case.
 |
| Floyd Cooper (3rd from left) and his friends, John Raymer, John Corriher, James Raymer, Grover Page, D A Ross |
Henry Floyd Cooper was 27 years old in 1920. He lived on Robinson Street in the "Baptist Church" area of Cabarrus County, near Concord and was a warper in the Cotton Mill. Floyd was living with his 4 young children, Jason, James, Trilby and Charlie and his sister Della and her two young daughters. Both were married, but their spouse were not living with them. They had a cook and housekeeper named Hattie Williams who probably helped with the children while Floyd and his sister worked in the Cotton Mills.
Cordia Helms was Floyd's wife and she was not with him and Della's husband Wiley Von Kirkpatrick was also absent from the 1920 census. Floyd would remarry 3 years later and Della's husband Wiley is shown in the 1930 census as divorced with their 2 living daughters (they had 4), while Floyd remarried in 1923 and Della would end up with Martin Lefler and have 4 sons, the first in 1922.
Will Blackwelder was the other witness. He is described in his WWI draft card as "Tall, Stout, with dark hair and brown eyes. He was born in Stanly County and was working as a Mill Hand at Cabarrus Mill. He had served 3 years in the National Guard and had obtained the Rank of Corporal. He claimed a wife, one child, and a Father-in-law to support.
| Name: | William Blackwelder | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age: | 30 | ||||||||||
| Birth Year: | abt 1890 | ||||||||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Home in 1920: | Concord Ward 4, Cabarrus, North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Street: | Young Street Extd | ||||||||||
| House Number: | 241 | ||||||||||
| Residence Date: | 1920 | ||||||||||
| Race: | White | ||||||||||
| Gender: | Male | ||||||||||
| Relation to Head of House: | Head | ||||||||||
| Marital Status: | Married | ||||||||||
| Spouse's Name: | Mary Blackwelder | ||||||||||
| Father's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Mother's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Able to Speak English: | Yes | ||||||||||
| Occupation: | Owner | ||||||||||
| Industry: | Cotton Mill | ||||||||||
| Employment Field: | Wage or Salary | ||||||||||
| Home Owned or Rented: | Rent | ||||||||||
| Able to Read: | Yes | ||||||||||
| Able to Write: | No | ||||||||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||||||||
| Household Members: |
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Will was honest. The 1920 census shows him at age 30, living on Young St. in Concord, with his wife Mary, his 7 year old daughter, Myrtle and his 77 year old Father-in-law, George Baker.
William Luther Blackwelder is already present in my family tree, as was Cordia Helms Cooper, wife of Floyd.
William Luther Blackwelder is a member of my Murray family tree. His mother was Henrietta Hendley, daughter of William A. "Buck" Hendley and Tabitha Frances Turner. Tabitha Turner was the daughter of John C. Turner and Phoebe Murray Turner. Phoebe was the sister of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Priscilla Murray Aldridge. But it doesn't stop there. Before Henrietta was married to Jacob Blackwelder and became the mother of the afore mentioned Will, she was married to Henry Wilbur Whitaker. Henry Wilbur was the son of Nelson Whitaker and Sophia Murray Whitaker. Sophia was the sister of Phoebe Murray Turner and Priscilla Murray Aldridge. All three were daughters of Jesse Murray, who lived on a hill above Long Creek near its convergence with the Rocky River in southern Stanly County.
This made Henrietta and Wilbur first cousins, and also gave her two spots in the Murray family tree.
Will was married 4 times and outlived three wives. He was an overseer of various divisions in the Cotton Mills and seemed to be a man of good reputation and who was well-respected.
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)06 Mar 1922, Mon • Page 5
The above Obituary was for his second wife, Mary Baker Blackwelder. He had lost his first wife, Margie Perry Blackwelder in 1911, again, to a tragic medical emergency, scarcely a year after they were married. He and his second wife, Mary, had one daughter to live to adulthood, Helen, and Myrtle Baker was listed as an adopted child.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)19 Nov 1919, Wed • Page 1
May Bowles
Lillian May Bowles was a young woman identified as being in the car with the murdered man and it was even suggested that she had an altercation with the jitney driver.
In the 1920 census, she is found as divorced and living with her parents, Mack Polyray Bowles and Amanda Elizabeth Hagler Bowles, along with her 2 year old daughter, Margaret Edna.
She had married at the very young age of 14 to Isaac Andrew Mark Pethel on July 25, 1914. Her daughter was born on February 23, 1917. Just the records involved with her daughter may explain a little about the life and lifestyle of May Bowles.
She married at age 14 to Isaac A. M. Pethel.
She gave birth in Cabarrus County on February 23, 1917 to Margaret Edna Bowles, who would marry a Culler. The North Carolina birth indexes give the child's parents as Joe Williams and Mary Bowles, with her name as Margaret Edna Bowles and her birthdate as 2/23/1917.
The US Social Security Applications and Claims index gives her name as Margaret Edna Culler (married name) and her birthdate as the exact same 2/23/1917, but lists her parents as Walter H. Morgan and Mae L. Bowles.
Her 2005 Obituary states that she was born on February 23, 1917 to Isaac Pethel and May Bowles Pethel in Cabarrus County.
Mae might have married Walter H. Morgan at a later date and became her daughter's stepfather. But the birth index gives her father as a Joe Williams.
Mae Lillian Bowles (etc.) passed away on July 26, 1949, details unknown. She is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina and her tombstone denotes her as the wife of Ray Saunders.
Her first husband Isaac Pethel was also a rolling stone. The 1920 census found him as a divorced textile worker living in Anderson, South Carolina.
| Name: | Isaac Andrew Monks Pethel |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Marital Status: | Divorced |
| Race: | White |
| Age: | 26 |
| Birth Date: | 1895 |
| Birth Place: | Rowan Co., N.C. |
| Marriage Date: | 24 Dec 1921 |
| Marriage Place: | Danville, VA. |
| Father: | L. E. Pethel |
| Mother: | H. N. Pethel |
| Spouse: | Florence E. Garrett |
| FHL Film Number: | 888942 |
| Reference ID: | p74, cn 701 |
He married his second wife in 1921 and divorced her in 1935 in Phoenix, Arizona. He married a third wife in Chillicothe, Ohio and left her in California. He married lastly in 1940 in California, but nearly immediately died in Los Angeles in 1940 and was brought back to North Carolina to be buried in China Grove with his family.
Lillian Hilton
Lillian Hilton was a married woman at the time of the murder, unlike the divorced young Mae.
In 1920, she was living in Rowan County, with her husband and father-in-law. After she made headlines being associated with the murder, claiming she and Mae Bowles had attended a "Chicken Stew" in Charlotte, her husband promptly divorced her.
The Charlotte Observer
(Charlotte, North Carolina)30 Mar 1920, Tue • Page 6
Lillian Belle Bryan was born on June 3, 1898 in New Bern, NC and was living in Surry County by the age of 11 with a Flowers family and called their "grand-niece". She ended up in Salisbury, Rowan County, where she married at the age of 19 and the papers report, she loved taking the trains to Charlotte, the "Big City" and living it up. After her 1920 divorce, she moved to Greensboro,where she is listed as a widowed Roomer on S. Faskis St. She was not a widow as her husband remarried and lived until the 1960's. City Directories show that Lillian rode that train from Charlotte to Greensboro many times and lived here and there alternately. She died in Greensboro in 1947 and left her husband back in China Grove with two sons. He eventually had another with his second wife and worked as a repairman in the Railroad Industry that gave his wild young wife her wings.
Keith Pharr
Keith Pharr had testified that he had passed the dead man at about 11:15 pm that night, sitting in his car, but did not realized the man was dead. He said he saw two men walking, about 500 feet from the car, on Roberta Mill Road. Keith Pharr was 39 and an Operator at the Cotton Mill. He lived in his own mortgaged home on Pioneer Mill Road in 1920. Afterwards, he kind of disappers.
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| WALTER SURRATT GRAY (RT) WITH BROTHER WILLIAM |
Walter Surratt "Rat" Gray
Rat Gray was a Cabarrus County native, being born in the "Baptist Church" section. Born August 19, 1894 to Wilkerson Alexander Gray and Mary Melinda Ledbetter Gray, he was the fifth of 12 children. He started working in the Cotton Mills at a very young age, the 1910 census naming him as a "Doffer" at 16.
He would enlist for military duty on July 25, 1917 and less than a month later, would marry Dossie Emma Kiser Alexander, a young woman with two small children, on August 13, 1917. Their only child together, Emma Louise, would be born a few months later on December 7, 1917.
Gray was released from military service on April 3, 1919. His freedom was short-lived.
Walter Surratt Gray would plead guilty to a crime he said he did not remember. He was sentenced to 8 years for the murder. Alchohol played a large part in the tragedy.
The 1920 census found him living with his wife and her three children awaiting trial.
| Name: | Walter Gray | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age: | 26 | ||||||||||||
| Birth Year: | abt 1894 | ||||||||||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Home in 1920: | Baptist Church, Cabarrus, North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Street: | Robinson St | ||||||||||||
| House Number: | X | ||||||||||||
| Residence Date: | 1920 | ||||||||||||
| Race: | White | ||||||||||||
| Gender: | Male | ||||||||||||
| Relation to Head of House: | Head | ||||||||||||
| Marital Status: | Married | ||||||||||||
| Spouse's Name: | Emma Gray | ||||||||||||
| Father's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Mother's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||
| Able to Speak English: | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Spinner | ||||||||||||
| Industry: | Cotton Mill | ||||||||||||
| Employment Field: | Wage or Salary | ||||||||||||
| Home Owned or Rented: | Rent | ||||||||||||
| Able to Read: | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Able to Write: | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||||||||||
| Household Members: |
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By April, he was off to Jail.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)29 Apr 1920, Thu • Page 3
Rat didn't sit well in a cage. He was not happy, and the next year, made his escape. He went to South Carolina and tried to find a job in a Mill. He did not go far enough away to be recognized, apparently, because someone recognized him and he was eventually captured by the police and returned to prison.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)04 Mar 1921, Fri • Page 5
Below are several articles from various newspapers of the time, that gave different versions and information on the Seamon murder.
As far as Walter Gray, he was back home with his family by the 1930 census. He was working in the Cotton Mill and living with his wife, daughter Louise and step-daughter, Mary Belle, and her husband, and little boy.
In 1940, he was still working in the cotton mills as a Dyer, and his daughter had married. His step-daughter had married another and left him as well as the first husband, and she and her son were back to living with Rat and Emma.
Emma died in 1952 and Rat remarried to a Laura Duncan. He led a long life and passed away on January 16, 1975, at the age of 80.
He never had any more children.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)08 Jan 1920, Thu • Page 1
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)17 Nov 1919, Mon • Page 3
The Siler City Grit
(Siler City, North Carolina)27 Nov 1919, Thu • Page 2
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)22 Apr 1920, Thu • Page 8
But What about Great Great Uncle Ephraim Burris?
Could the troubled Ephraim Burris, just months released from Service in WWI where he participated in 6 battles and released from charges of murder in the Jitney driver case, remain on the right side of the law?
The answer did not take long to find out. And that answer was
NO!
The papers reported a shootout between Ephraim and police officer Ralph Kennerly. Kennerly was shot 2 times. Ephraim Burris recieved 5 bullets in return from the officer. The doctors said there was a slight chance for the policeman to survive, but they gave Uncle Ephraim little to none. One in a thousand chance to survive.
The Concord and Stanly County papers published different versions. Stanly claimed the officer was looking for Venus Burris, Ephriams' brother. Concord claimed Ephraim had broken out of the Stanly County jail.
The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)22 Oct 1920, Fri • Page 1
Ralph Kennerly
The 1920 census found Ralph Kennerly, 27, boarding with his young bride Ruth, 18. Ralph C. Kennerly had married Ruth Mae Stirewalt on August 7, 1919. On the day of his death, October 19, 1920, they had only been able to enjoy their marriage for 14 short months.
| Name: | Ralph C Kennerly | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age: | 27 | ||||||||||
| Birth Year: | abt 1893 | ||||||||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Home in 1920: | Concord Ward 1, Cabarrus, North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Street: | McGill Street | ||||||||||
| Residence Date: | 1920 | ||||||||||
| Race: | White | ||||||||||
| Gender: | Male | ||||||||||
| Relation to Head of House: | Boarder | ||||||||||
| Marital Status: | Married | ||||||||||
| Father's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Mother's Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||
| Able to Speak English: | Yes | ||||||||||
| Occupation: | Police | ||||||||||
| Industry: | City | ||||||||||
| Employment Field: | Wage or Salary | ||||||||||
| Able to Read: | Yes | ||||||||||
| Able to Write: | Yes | ||||||||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||||||||
| Household Members: |
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Like the other young men in this story, and indeed, most of the young men of his generation, Ralph was a veteran of World War I, and had just returned from duty in April of 1919, four months before his marriage to Ruth.
A Roster of Company L, First North Carolina Infantry, United States National Guard, June 10, 1917, published in The Concord Times, lists Ralph C. Kennerly as a Coporal.
Army transport rosters list him as leaving out from Philadelphia on May 11, 1918 on the ship "Haverford". He lists Mrs. Charles A. Tarleton, his mother, as his next of kin.
Another transport list has him leaving St. Nazaire, France on March 7, 1919 on the ship "Powatan". He is listed as a Private First Class, with the 30th Military Police Division. 30th M. P. Co. Thus had began his police training. Here he listed his next of kin as Mr. Charles A. Tarleton, Stepfather.
A letter from "The Concord Daily Tribune", published on April 17, 1918, from Ralph to his mother, Minnie Tarleton, gives a glimpse into the personality of this promising young man. He mentions his half-sister, Nora and Perry, a local friend. Having grown up in a rural farming community, his attentions were most on the crops grown in France, and he marveled at the country and the different sites he had seen, probably like most of the young soldiers on this same journey. Some would return home to the states, others would not. Ralph C. Kennerly had.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)17 Aug 1918, Sat • Page 4
 |
| WW I soldiers in France |
Ralph C. Kennerly was born on July 25, 1892 in Rowan County, North Carolina. He was a member of the Kennerly family of the small community of Enochville. Enochville is closest to China Grove and to Kannapolis, which straddles the Rowan/Cabarrus County line.
Ralph was raised by his mother, Minnie Catherine Kennerly and his step-father, Charles "Charlie" Alexander Tarleton. He had a half-sister, Nora and 4 younger half-brothers, Samuel, James, Jay and Kenneth. Minnie married Charlie Tarleton in 1897, when Ralph was 4 years old. Minnie was the daughter of Samuel A. Kennerly and Sarah "Sallie" Rogers Kennerly. Her family had originated in Iredell County and settled around Enochville by 1880. The Irish name "Kennerly" was misspelled various different ways after they settled in this predominatley German-ancestored area. It can be found as "Kinley", "Kennly", "Kentely", "Canorle", "Kynnersly" and other variations.
Ralph's biological father is unknown. Although he lists an "A. L. Kennerly" as father on his marriage license, that could have been only to save face. Minnie had two sisters and the only Kennerlys in the 1880 census was that of her family. The whole town of Enochville encompassed only a few pages on the census, the closest one to the birth of Ralph. "A. L." could have been "A. S. ", a reference to his grandfather Addison or Samuel Addison, who may have raised him before his mother's marriage. But there was no "A. L. Kennerly". On the documents of other children born outside of marriage in those days, I have seen them use their actual fathers first names, if they knew it, with their mothers surname, which was what they went by, or list their maternal grandfathers, who raised them. Nothing incestuous implied, just that the grandfather was probably the only father they had ever known. Others seem to invent a father out of midair, in order to avoid the embarrasment of telling the registrar they had none.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)18 Oct 1920, Mon • Page 1
The Fateful Day
Ralph Kennerly was with a group of other officers, set on the course to arrest two of the Burris brothers, Venus Odell Burris and Ephraim Tillman Burris. Both men were very drunk. Different articles approach the event in different ways, some add a few details, others completely contradict each other.
What appears took place was that Venus, the younger of the Burris brothers, had been found first and was in custody. At a railroad crossing, he escaped and took off. A group of other officers were set out to find his brother Ephraim, and Officer Kennerly joined this group. Kennerly startled Ephriam, by approaching him and touching his shoulder. Ephraim was drunk, armed and on edge and began firing at Officer Kennerly, hitting him twice. Kennerly, in return, began firing on Ephriam, wounding him a number of times. Another officer fired also, as Ephriam attempted to escape, and hit him at least once. It appears he was shot between 4 and 6 times. He was said to have thought to be headed to his fathers house for help, Great Great Grandpa David T. Burris, who lived on Railroad Street, but passed the house in his injured and drunken state, and ended up collapsing in a ditch. Kennerly was expected to make it. Burris was not.
Goldsboro Daily Argus
(Goldsboro, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 1
Ralph Kennerly died while Ephraim Burris languished in the same hospital. Ephriam had kept up his criminal misadventures since the death of the taxi driver, Seamon, of which his participation in seemed to have never been completely settled, but of which he had been cleared.
Alchohol seemed to be the evil that was taking over the area and destroying the lives of many young veterans and their families. God only knows the atrocities they had witnessed, experienced and survived. Ephraim was said to have stolen a car from Albemarle. The course of his his life was not a a good one.
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)08 Nov 1920, Mon • Page 5
Ephriams recovery was slow. He had suffered many criticial wounds. But he survived to go to trial. Ralph Kennerly, on the other hand, who seemed to have had a bright future ahead of him, was robbed of that possible future. It was stated he was set for promotion to Deputy Sheriff.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)21 Oct 1920, Thu • Page 3
Ralph's life was celebrated and mourned among the citizens of Cabarrus and Rowan Counties. His wife was awarded with a bouquet in honor of his service by Mrs. Joshepine Daniels.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 3
The issued of alchohol and prohibition was addressed by many groups within the town and the death of Ralph Kennerly added fuel to the fire of the Prohibition Movement to stamp out the evil of this epidemic.
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)21 Oct 1920, Thu • Page 4
The Obituary
The following is the obituary for Ralph Kennerly. It gives his reason for relocation from Rowan to Cabarrus was to be in the employee of a Mr. George Fisher, of which there were several. One was a dairy farmer, another a bookeeper. He later found work at the Cotton Mills of Concord and his service to his country began when he joined the State Militia during a problem with Mexico and became part of the Border Patrol. He remained in the Militia until transferring to Company L, where he served as an MP in France. His civilian career as a Police Officer was taking off and looking very promising when he was killed in the line of duty by Great Great Uncle Ephraim Burris. The Cheif of Police was taken by his memoriable statement "Did I get my man?"
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)20 Oct 1920, Wed • Page 1
Ruth Stirewalt Kennerly was still a teenager when she was widowed in 1920. She and Ralph had no children. Two years later she would marry Sherman Julian Sr. in Catawba County before settling in Kannapolis and becoming the mother of 5 children. She would live a long life and died in 1983 at the age of 81.
The story of Ephraim Burris was not yet over. He recovered from his injuries and his trial began in August of 1921. He was sentenced to 20 years for the murder of Officer Kennerly. This sentence seems light by today's standards. Ephraim was not content to be held and serve his time, however. He escaped from prison on multiple occasions.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)18 Aug 1921, Thu • Page 3
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)11 Jan 1921, Tue • Page 1
The story of Uncle Ephraims escape is quite an interesting one. He only served 20 days of his 20 year sentence when he made good his escape from a prison brickyard, where he had been sentenced to "make bricks without straw". He stayed on the loose for nearly a year, possibly with help from his brothers and wife and had even obtained, in some manner or another, a Ford Car. He was believed to have been hiding out in Anson County, but becoming emboldened by his lack of capture, again began showing up at his boyhood haunts in Western Stanly County. Possibly the illegal bootleg joints, or maybe even to the community of Lambert, where a dance hall existed for many decades. He was ratted out and finally captured at the home of one Israel Barbee, who lived on Albemarle Road in the Furr Township of Stanly County, about present day Locust or Red Cross.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)27 Jul 1921, Wed • Page 3
The Stanly News-Herald
(Albemarle, North Carolina)26 Jul 1921, Tue • Page 1
Ephraims younger brother, Venus Odell Burris, was of a different sort. He surrenndered himself to the police and seemed to have earned himself a different future.
The Concord Daily Tribune
(Concord, North Carolina)22 Oct 1920, Fri • Page 5
It appears Venus had escaped from active duty by virtue of having a dependant family, yet his obituary lists him as a veteran, with no mention of his wild younger days.
The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)27 Aug 1917, Mon • Page 5
The Daily Independent
(Kannapolis, North Carolina)12 May 1967, Fri • Page 5
Perhaps the forgotten victims of Ephraims exploits were his wife and daughter.
Cora Theodora Mauney Burris never remarried. City Directoriea of Concord show her working in the Cotton Mills and in this manner, she raised her daughter Lena alone. Lena, herself, most likely working in the Cotton Mills as well when she became old enough, which was a very young age in those day.
In 1930, Cora is shown as a boarder and a laborer. Her daughter already remarried. By 1940, she has moved in with daughter Lena.
| Name: | Cora Burris | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age: | 42 | ||||||||||||||
| Estimated birth year: | abt 1898 | ||||||||||||||
| Gender: | Female | ||||||||||||||
| Race: | White | ||||||||||||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Marital Status: | Widowed | ||||||||||||||
| Relation to Head of House: | Mother-in-law | ||||||||||||||
| Home in 1940: | Hartsell Mill-Franklin Mill-Norcott Mill, Cabarrus, North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Map of Home in 1940: | View Map | ||||||||||||||
| House Number: | 22 | ||||||||||||||
| Inferred Residence in 1935: | Hartsell Mill-Franklin Mill-Norcott Mill, Cabarrus, North Carolina | ||||||||||||||
| Residence in 1935: | Same Place | ||||||||||||||
| Resident on farm in 1935: | No | ||||||||||||||
| Sheet Number: | 8B | ||||||||||||||
| Institution: | Mill Lines | ||||||||||||||
| Occupation: | Spinner | ||||||||||||||
| Attended School or College: | No | ||||||||||||||
| Highest Grade Completed: | Elementary school, 4th grade | ||||||||||||||
| Class of Worker: | Wage or salary worker in private work | ||||||||||||||
| Weeks Worked in 1939: | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Income: | 0 | ||||||||||||||
| Income Other Sources: | No | ||||||||||||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||||||||||||
| Household Members: |
|
Cora Mauney Burris lived to be 73 and died while living in Albemarle, Stanly County on April 8, 1972. She is buried at Fairview Memorial Park in Albemarle.
Lena Ellen Burris married on October 13, 1929 in Cabarrus County at the tender age of 14. Her husband was Luther Sylvester Mauney, age 20, a relative. Their family tree is as follows.
Orville V. Mauney
&
Elizabeth "Betty" Plyler
parents of
Orville A. Mauney - brothers - George Washington Mauney
& &
Lucy Sophronia Dry Lillie Florence Stallings
Parents of Parents of
Luther Sylvestor Mauney -cousins- Cora Theodora Mauney
mother of
Lena Ellen Burris
Luther and Lena were first cousins once removed.
Luther and Lena raised their children in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. They were the parents of three.
Luther Sylvester Mauney died of a heart attack on January 11, 1973 at the age of 64. Oddly, a little over a year later, on October 11, 1974, his wife Lena, also died a heart attack, related to an infection and diabetes, at the young age of 59.
Ephriam Tillman Burris lived a long life. Although undiscovered in the 1930 census, he is in a Prison Camp near Sanford, Lee County in the 1940 census. He served his time.
| Name: | Ephriam Burris | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age: | 48 | ||||
| Estimated birth year: | abt 1892 | ||||
| Gender: | Male | ||||
| Race: | White | ||||
| Birthplace: | North Carolina | ||||
| Marital Status: | Married | ||||
| Home in 1940: | East Sanford, Lee, North Carolina | ||||
| Map of Home in 1940: | View Map | ||||
| Sheet Number: | 12A | ||||
| Institution: | Prison Camp | ||||
| Attended School or College: | No | ||||
| Highest Grade Completed: | None | ||||
| Hours Worked Week Prior to Census: | 1 | ||||
| Neighbors: | View others on page | ||||
| Household Members: |
|
Ephraim Burris died on May 17, 1965 at the age of 71 from a blood clot resulting from a case of bronchiopneumonia. He was at the Veteran's Hospital in Fayetteville, NC upon his death. He was listed as a resident of Albemarle, Stanly County, NC and married to Cora. It appears they remained together throughout his incarceration. His usual occupation was listed as "Textile".
He was buried at Fairview Memorial Park.
The Daily Independent
(Kannapolis, North Carolina)18 May 1965, Tue • Page 5