General Becomes Ill,   Removed to City
New York Obituary,   Youngstown OH Obituary,   Washington Post Obituary
Case and Comment Obituary,   New York Times Obituary,   Middletown Obituary
The Funeral,   The General's Will,   Grave and Monument

General Henry L. Burnett, who died on Tuesday at his home, 7 East 12th Street, New York, was buried at 10:30 Friday morning from the Church of the Ascension, Fifth Avenue and 10th Street. The honorary pallbearers were:

Thatcher M. Adams
John M. Barrett
Charles P. Bruch, President of the Ohio Society
Joseph H. Choate
Judge Alfred C. Coxe, of the US Court of Appeals
Robert Goelet, of Glenmere, Newport & Palm Beach and Goshen Driving Club
Winston H. Hagen
W. Averell Harriman, of Arden and the Goshen Driving Club
H. Snowden Marshall, US District Attorney
Russell Murray, of Goshen
General J. Fred Pierson, youngest Union general
General Horace Porter, staff to Gen. and Pres. Grant
General Edwin Stewart, Commander of the Loyal Legion
Henry L. Stimson, former US District Attorney
George W. Wickersham, President of the Bar Association
Henry A. Wise, former US District Attorney

General Henry L. Burnett of New York, soldier and jurist, born in Youngstown Dec. 26, 1838, died Tuesday morning at 8:30 at his home here after an illness extending over a period of several months. H.K. xx of this city who was with General Burnett several days ago says that although a prey to illness and old age, his mind even then was clear and strong.

Henry L. Burnett was a direct descendant of William Burnett who was colonial governor of New York and New Jersey from 1720 to 1728 and afterward of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. His grandfather was a native of New Jersey and a prominent supporter of the Revolution who like Robert Morris became bankrupt in the struggle for independence. Another member of the family, William Burnett was a member of the Continental congress, serving from 1776 until the close of the war as surgeon-general of the army for the eastern district of the Union.

ASPIRED TO PROFESSION
In the grandfather's time, the family, suffering from ill fortune following the war, came to northern Ohio, where the father of General Burnett engaged in farming. This fact caused the first important contest in the boy's life, his father wishing him to become a farmer and he aspiring to a profession. At last, when 15 years old he took the matter into his own hands, stealing away one night to travel a hundred miles on foot to Chester academy where James A. Garfield was then a student. There he worked his way, afterward becoming a student under similar circumstances in Western Reserve Institute, afterward Harvard college, where Garfield became his teacher.

Leaving this school he entered Ohio State and National Law school from which he was graduated in 1859. Admitted to the bar in 1860 he began the profession of law in Warren.

Scarcely had this been done than the firing on Fort Sumpter roused to fever heat the Revolutionary blood which coursed in his veins, and he enlisted in the first cavalry authorized in Ohio. Each man took his own horse for which he was to receive pay. When the recruits were assembled in Warren and were told they were to receive government certificates instead of cash for their horses, there was great dissatisfaction, so that many were for returning home. Leaping upon a fence at this juncture Lawyer Burnett called upon those, who went into the war to fight for the cause and not to sell horses; to follow him "into a nearby yard."

Mounting his horse, he dashed through the gate. The effect was electric and one after another rode after him. The troop was afterward commissioned as Company C, Second Ohio cavalry, with Mr. Burnett as its captain.

From time to time in the fortunes of war Mr. Burnett was promoted, reaching the rank of brigadier general. In July 1863, General Burnside appointed him judge-advocate of the Department of the Ohio. His jurisdiction was later extended to the Northern Department. The responsibiliites of this office were such that he soon became a national figure and presided at some memorable cases, one being when he secured the conviction of the conspirators and exposed the connivance of high Confederate officials in the attempt to murder the chiefs of the federal government at the time Lincoln was assassinated.

CAREER AT THE BAR
Resigning from the army in December, 1865, General Burnett associated himself in Cinncinnati with Judge T.W. Bartley. Afterward he formed a partnership with ex-Governor J.D. Cox and Hon. John F. Follett of Cinncinnatti which continued until 1872 when he moved to New York. A year later he was appointed associate attorney and counsel of the Erie railroad. Three years later, he resumed the general practice of law with Hon. B.H. Bristow, William Peet and W.S. Opdycke. Later he became associated with ex-Judge Emott and, at his death, with Edward D. Whitney.

General Burnett was United States district attorney under President William McKinley.

SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE
General Burnett was a member of many clubs. He was a former president of the Ohio society of New York and was also one of the New Reform Directors of the Northern Pacific Railroad company. His wife, a woman of literary culture and high social position was Miss Agnes Suffern Tailer, descended from Governor Tailer of the colony of Massachusetts.

With the widow there survive two sons, Edward of California and Henry of New York and two daughters, Kate of New York and the Barness Victor von Oertzen of Germany. [Actually three daughters. The General's 2nd wife, Sarah Burnett, was the daughter of General Henry Livingston Lansing. The couple's son Lansing died, but their daughter Catharine Burnett married and had two children.] General Burnett was a brother of Mrs. William Hultz who makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Charles R. Clegg of Madison Avenue, John Burnett of Glenwood Avenue, Achnet Burnett of Oklahoma and Mrs. Harriet Marr, wife of Dr. Marr of Atlanta, Ga. The funeral will be held in New York, probably on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Henry Lawrence Burnett, who persecuted the plotters who killed Abraham Lincoln and who served two terms as United States District Attorney, died on January 3, at his home, in New York City.

From 1865 to 1872 General Burnett was engaged in law practice in Cincinnati with ex-Governor J.D. Cox. In 1872 he became the partner of E.W. Stoughton in New York City. Among his other partners were Benjamin H. Bristow, William Peet, W.S. Opdyke, and Edward B. Whiney. During his legal career, General Burnett was counsel for the Erie Railroad, and tried many noted cases, among them the Emma Mine cases, in which he was counsel for the English bondholders.

I, HENRY L. BURNETT, a resident of the Town of Goshen, Orange County, New York, hereby make, publish and declare this my Last Will and Testament.

I hereby revoke all former wills by me made.

FIRST: I give to my wife, AGNES T. BURNETT, the house and premises No.7 East Twelfth Street, New York City, together with all the furniture, bric-a-brac and personal property of every kind and nature now in and upon said premises belonging to me. The providsion and devise herein to my said wife, as aforesaid, I hereby declare is intended to e and is so given to her in full satisfaction and in lieu of and for her dower and thirds, which she may or can in anywise claim or demand out of my estate.

SECOND: I give to my daughter, GRACE H. VON ERTZEN, now the wife of Colonel Victor Von Ertzen, now residing in Germany, Ten (10) Republic Iron and Steel Company Five Per Cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); Ten (10) Central Leather Company First Lien Five Per Cent Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); One Hundred (100) Shares United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company Seven Per Cent Preferred Stock ($100 each par value); One Hundred (100) Shares United States Steel Corporation Seven Per Cent Cumulative Preferred Stock ($100 each par value), and Ten (10) New Netherland Bond and Mortgate Company Six Per Cent Bonds ($1,000 each par value).

THIRD: I give to my daughter CATHERINE OLIVIA GIBSON, daughter of my second wife, Sarah G. Lansing Burnett, now deceased, all her mother's jewelry and all the silver marked with her mother's initials; said Catherine Olivia Gibson now residing at Denver, Colorado; One Hundred (100) Shares United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company Seven Per Cent Preferred Stock ($100 each par value); One Hundred (100) Shares Central Leather Company Seven Per Cent Preferred Stock, ($100 each par value); Ten (10) Republic Iron and Steel Company Five Per Cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); and Five (5) Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company Four Per Cent First and Refunding Mortgate Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value).

FOURTH: I give to my Executors, hereinafter named, IN TRUST, for HENRY L. BURNETT, JR., Five (5) Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company Four Per Cent First and Refunding Mortgage Gold Bonds ($!,000 each par value); Ten (10) Republic Iron and Steel Company Five Per Cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); Ten (10) Central Leather Company First Lien Five Per Cent Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value: One Hundred (100) Shares United States Steel Corporation Seven Per Cent Cumulative Preferred Stock; the interest and income from the said bonds and stock to be paid over by my said Executors and Trustees to said Henry L. Burnett, Jr. semi-annually, until my said son shall reach the age of thirty-five (35) years, when all the said bonds and stock shall be transferred and paid over absolutely to my said son, Henry L. Burnett, Jr.

FIFTH: I give to my daughter, KATHERINE CLEVELAND BURNETT, Ten (10) Republic Iron and Steel Company Five Per Cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); Ten (10) Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad Company Four Per Cent First and Refunding Mortgage Gold Bonds ($1,000 each par value); One Hundred (100) Shares United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company Seven Per Cent Preferred Stock ($100 each par value); One Hundred (100) Shares United States Steel Corporation Seven Per Cent Cumulative Preferred Stock ($100 each par value).

SIXTH: I give to my son, EDWARD N.T. BURNETT, One Hundred (100) Shares United States Rubber Company First Preferred Stock ($100 each par value); Two Hundred (200) Shares United States Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry Company Seven Per Cent Preferred Stock ($100 each par value), and Ten thousand Dollars ($10,000) or one-half (1/2) of the Certificate I now hold for Twenty thousand Dollars ($20,000) of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey.

SEVENTH: I give to my daughter, KATHERINE CLEVELAND BURNETT and EDWARD N.T. BURNETT, equally and jointly, my Farm of about Two hundred and three (203) acres, situated at Goshen, Orange County, New York, together with all furniture, ornaments and books in my residence there, all live stock, machinery, farming implements and all personal property of every kind and description owned by me and upon said Farm at the time of my decease; One Hundred and Fifty (150) Shares of the Tide Water Coal Company, Incorporated in the State of Ohio ($100 each par value), and Thirty-five Hundred (3,500) Shares San Toy Mining Company, located at Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico.

EIGHTH: I hereby nominate and appoint HENRY BACON, of the Town of Goshen, Orange County, New York, and EDWARD N.T. BURNETT, now residing at Coachelle, California, as Executors of this my last will, without bonds.

I give and devise to said Executors IN TRUST, the sum of Five thousand Dollars ($5,000) to be used and expended by them in purchasing a plot of land in the Cemetery at Goshen, New York, and in erecting thereon a plain and substantial monument (granite preferred) over my grave, provided I shall not, previous to my decease, have purchased said lot and erected thereon said monument, THEN, AND IN THAT CASE, this provision to be void.

The remainderr and residue of my property, after paying all of my debts outstanding at the time of my decease, my funeral expenses and succession taxes, I give to my surviving children, share and share alike.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal at the City of New York, this twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord, One thousand nine hundred and fifteen.

Henry L. Burnett

CODICIL

I, HENRY L. BURNETT, a resident of the Town of Goshen, County of Orange and State of New York, hereby make publish and declare this to be a codicil to my last Will and Testament, dated January 12, 1915, in manner and form following, that is to say:

FIRST: In addition to the property devised to my wife AGNES T. BURNETT in and by the first clause of my said Will, I give, devise and bequeath to her ten United States Steel Company five per cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds of the par value of One Thousand Dollars each, to be hers absolutely. This devise and the provision made for her in said last Will and Testament I hereby declare is intended to be and is given to her in full satisfaction and in lieu of and for her dower and thirds in my estate, and in lieu of any other claim of whatever kind and nature on her part against my estate.

SECOND: In lieu of the ten Central Leather Company first lien, five per cent Gold Bonds of the par value of One Thousand Dollars each, devised to my Executors in trust for my son Henry L. Burnett, Jr. in and by the fourth clause of my said Will, I give to my said Executors ten Republic Iron and Steel Company five perc cent Sinking Fund Gold Bonds of the par value of One Thousand Dollars each, to be held by them upon the same terms and in the same manner as they were directed to hold said Central Leather Bonds in and by said fourth clause.

THIRD: In addition to the property devised to my son Edward N.T. Burnett in and by the sixth clause of my said Will, I give, devise and bequeath to him two notes held by me against him. First: One dated Coachelia, California, April 15, 1915, evidencing indebtedness to me in the sum of Four Thousand Dollars, payable in two years from date, with interest thereon at six per cent per annum, payable semiannually, due at Goshen, New York on April 15, 1917, and secured by a certain mortgate dated April 15, 1915, conveying certain lands and premises in Riverside County, California, containing about forty acres of land, and recorded in Book 49 of Mortgages at page 108 in the office of the Recorder of Riverside County, California on the 26th day of April, 1915. And, Second: One dated the same date, payable in three years, evidencing indebtedness to me in the sum of Five Thousand Dollars, payable without interest at Goshen, New York on April 15, 1918, and secured by a second mortgage on said forty acres of land, dated April 15, 1915, and recorded in the office of the Recorder of said Riverside County, California, on the 26th day of April, 1915, in Book 49 of Mortgages at page 109, and I hereby direct the Executors of this my last Will and Testament and Codicil thereto to cancel and satisfy said mortgages upon the records of the Recorder of said Riverside County, California, and to deliver said mortgages and notes to my said son Edward N.T. Burnett.

FOURTH: I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint Russell Murray of the Village of Goshen, Orange County, New York, one of the Executors of my said last Will and Testament and of this codicil thereto in the place and stead of Henry Bacon now deceased, and I hereby appoint said Russell Murray and my son Edward N.T. Burnett, now residing at Coachelia, California, as Executors of said last Will and Testament and of this codicil thereto, to act without bonds.

FIFTH: In all other respects I hereby ratify and confirm said last Will and Testament.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this seventeenth day of May in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifteen.

Henry L. Burnett

Overlooking the General's horse farm for ninety years, the monument had become a mystery being overtaken by the nearby forest with the theft of the monument's brass plaque.

An historical marker was erected at General Burnett's grave by the Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis Camp 124 S.U.V.C.W.

Fund begun by the Colonel Augustus Van Horne Ellis Camp 124 S.U.V.C.W. to replace the brass plaque stolen from the General Burnett's grave

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