He was born on September 23, 1839 in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana and was the son of Plat Theodore & Frances Elizabeth (Danforth) Burr. His father died in 1849 and John and his family seem to have never stayed in one place for very long. In 1850 John was in St. Genevieve, Missouri, and by 1860 he had removed to Owatonna, Steele County, Minnesota, where he was a cabinet maker. It was there where enlisted as a private and was mustered into Company K of the 2nd Minnesota Infantry. He was promoted to corporal and then to sergeant. He was sited in Col. James George’s Supplementary Report on the Battle of Chickamauga, having specially distinguished himself in the line of duty, on the battlefield at Chickamauga, credited with gallant and soldier like conduct. He was mustered out at the expiration of his term of service on August 26, 1864.
By 1870 he had removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he was a machinist. He married before 1870 to Imogene J. (--?--), who was born between 1846 & 1848 in Michigan. And together they had 4 children: Dewitt, b. between 1871 & 1873 in Minnesota; Fannie/Nancy, b. about 1875 in Michigan; Edith D., b. about 1882, probably in Creston, Union County, Iowa, and Ralph, b. 1885, probably in Iowa.
The 1880 Census shows the Rev. Burr, now a Baptist minister, residing in Creston, Union County, Iowa. South central Iowa must have appealed to him, as in 1885 & 1886 he was living in Greenfield, Adair County, Iowa, and in 1895 in Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa. He died on February 1, 1896, and is buried in Section 5 in Osceola’s Maple Hill Cemetery near the obelisk erected by the Women’s Relief Corps “In Memory of Our Fallen Heroes.”
SOURCES: Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System; 1850 Federal Census for St. Genevieve, St. Genevieve Co., MO; 1860 Federal Census for Owatonna, Steele Co. MN; 1870 Federal Census for Ward 2, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., MN; 1880 Federal Census for Creston, Union Co., IA; 1885 Iowa State Census; 1885 Iowa State Census; 1895 Iowa State Census; Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, p. 144; Judson W. Bishop, The Story Of A Regiment : Being A Narrative Of The Service Of The Second Regiment, Minnesota Veteran Volunteer Infantry, In The Civil War Of 1861-1865, p. 223-5; William L. Alexander, List of Ex-Soldiers, Sailors and Marines Living In Iowa (1886), p. 490; The following databases on Ancestry.com, Headstones Provided for Deceased Union Veterans 1879-1903, Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, Gedcom file of Lee Currey; Gedcom file of Ruth Allaire on Rootsweb
