Person:Martha Sutton (14)

Martha Burch is shown with Andrew Jackson Burch on the 1870 Sunflower, Mississippi census. She has two sons with her, Frank Crossline and Willie Crossline. At ancestry.com these boys are indexed as 'Croslin'. So it appears that Martha is a widow and has married Andrew J. Burch.

Email from Mary Dixon Nov. 2008: I have a copy of a letter from a descendent of Mary Sutton, my g.g. grandmother, Anne Sutton Johnson's older sister. They found my name on the Sunflower County, Miss. web site. This letter was a recent find by these descendants. The letter was written to Mary Sutton Fraisure, dated April 12, 1875, from Martha (Mattie) Sutton Burch. The address she gives Mary, that she might answer her letter is, "Leigh's Landing, on the Sunflower River". This is Sunflower County, Miss. near the plantation of their sister and brother-in-law, Anne (Nan or Nancy) and Captain Francis (Frank) Johnson. Mary Sutton Fraisure along with her family, were still in Texas after the war.

What one gleans from the letter, is Martha, had moved to Mississippi to be near to her older sister, Anne (Nancy) Elizabeth Sutton Johnson's plantation in Sunflower County after the war. Also living nearby was their other sister, Sarah Anne Sutton Eidom, along her husband, John Eidom; their brother, Jesse Sutton, married to Captain Johnson's oldest daughter, from his deceased first wife, (not Anne, Jesse's sister), Ellen Johnson Sutton. The letter is signed, Mattie Burch. She makes the statement, "I hope she (Betty??) has got as good a man as I have but that one is hard to find."

Mary Dixon's email continues: I also found this marriage recorded in Sunflower County; CROSSLINE, Martha BURCH, Andrew J 1873-Dec-28 As you can see from the 1880 Sunflower County, Miss. census, the family of Martha Burch and Andrew, along with her children from her marriage to (Frank I believe) Crossline, are all living with Frank and Anne Sutton Johnson's daughter and son-in-law, Mary Lee Johnson Burch and John S. Burch. The 1870 census shows the families of Joseph Jackson Burch and wife, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Graves Johnson Burch living near by, along with their large family. In the 1880 Census Joseph Jackson Burch and family have moved back to Chesterfield County, S.C., leaving John and Andrew in Mississippi. There was a major outbreak of yellow fever in 1878. The Delta area is unhealthy, suffering several outbreaks that caused many area deaths. I am not absolutely sure about Andrew's marriage, due to the age difference. Maybe she looked esp. good for her age, or he was a very kind soul. ---end of email---

1. ↑ Research of Kathy Burch Williams kb-smwilliams addtheAT sbcglobal addthedot net.
2.   Email from Mary Dixon.