by Don Burleson

Descendant of Absalom & Sarah Sides Burleson
At Morrow Mountain, June 2, 1996

The planning for the first Burleson reunion for North Carolina proved to be a daunting task. Few people other than BFA researchers are aware that virtually all of the Burlesons in North Carolina are descendants of Aaron Burleson who arrived in North Carolina in the early 1700’s. Most North Carolina Burlesons would reply “Well, that family is not in my line,” not realizing the common ancestry of all Burlesons. The goal was to reach as many Burlesons as possible and make them aware that they shared a common ancestry as well as to promote interest in researching the Burleson history.

With the help of Hazel Burleson Hopkins and P.K. Burleson we were able to reserve a picnic area at Morrow Mountain State Park, and our task became one of getting as many Burleson’s interested as possible. The reunion began with a mass mailing to all known Burlesons in the area around Stanly county, informing them of all that we had to offer and encouraging them to participate. A classified ad was also placed in the Stanly county newspaper, while J.D and P.K spread the word by telephone.

As the date drew near, we were expecting about 50 families and we entered discussions about how to most quickly meet our dual goals of distributing information, while at the same time collecting genealogical information. J. D. Burleson set-up a sign-in sheet which became the foundation for his huge genealogy of North Carolina Burleson families. J.D.’s work, by the way, currently contains more than 3,500 Burleson ancestors and is by far the most extensive research ever done on the North Carolina Burleson family. Work is currently underway to publish J.D.’s work on the Internet.

On the day of the event, it became clear that we would have in excess of 100 Burleson descendents attending the reunion, and many of them immediately provided a wealth of family information, including old photographs and family Bibles. It was especially refreshing to see so many younger people who had the energy and desire to do further work on Burleson research. For information collectors, the attendance proved to be a Godsend, with one-of-a-kind photographs and previously unknown Burleson information. (As a result of the reunion, I was able to view the only known photograph of my Great Grandfather, J. W. Burleson.)

By the end of the day, all of the Burleson genealogists were exhausted from collecting genealogy information, while all of the Burleson descendants came away with a much greater appreciation of the noble ancestry. Everyone agreed that the reunion was a smashing success, and plans were underway to make this the first of many Burleson reunions. Each year the Burleson reunion promises to attract more cousins and provide more insight into the origins of our Burleson ancestors.