More House Genealogy and Some Freaky Coincidences
Written by stephanie on December 7th, 2008
Burgan's Fine Furniture of Spokane
Based on Census enumerations before the 1910 Portland Census and Illinois State records, the occupant in your home in 1910 was Edwin S Burgan, b. April 1849, his wife Emma E Hefeley, b. August, 1849, m. November 16, 1876 in Vermilion County, Illinois. In 1880, Edwin and family are living in Danville, Vermilion County, Illinois, where Edwin is shown to be a Bookkeeper. In 1900, Edwin and family are found in Pullman, Washington, where he identified as a Merchant. In 1880 and 1900, Edwin and family also had a house servant.
Edwin and family moved from Portland to Spokane where in 1915 he and his son, Jesse W. Burgan (not James as enumerated in 1910 Census) opened Burgan’s Furniture which operated until this last April when the company sold their building (originally built in 1920).
Weirdly, there are some crazy parallels between Edwin and Emma and ourselves. Like us, Edwin and Emma had a November wedding anniversary. In fact, their anniversary was just two days before ours. Like us, they moved to Washington State from Illinois, and like us, they moved to Portland (and into this very house!) from Washington.
Thanks again Dan and Dawn for discovering (uncovering?) our home’s past!
8
AM
The only detail that gives me pause is that I found a census record for Edwin S. Burgan in 1910 as a Merchant with a male boarder living in Pullman Washington instead of Portland. Maybe there was a period of estrangement? I also think going from a merchant to bank president is a big jump though.
Many of the other details do match like birthplaces for the most part, so it is very possible
However, some don’t like the son’s name (Jesse W. instead of James M.) and Emma S. vs. Emma E.
The Portland City Directories could confirm for sure.
8
AM
Thanks Dawn. We’ll see if we can carve some time out over the holiday break to follow up further.
12
PM
An online biography of Edwin Sylvester Burgan, the 1910 occupant of you home can be found using Google Book Search. The work is the “History of the City of Spokane and Spokane County, Washington” Vol. III, S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1912, Spokane-Chicago-Philadelphia.
This bio shows that Mr. Burgan was involved in a number of ventures at the time of the 1910 Census, among them being President of the First National Bank in Spokane while also serving as the President of the Burgan and Springer Hat Company of Portland.
His biography begins on page 720.
18
PM
Wow…is all I can say… If anyone is just plain board they could help me with our dead end.
24
AM
I would be curious to see if the down time between IL and OR was spent in St Paul, MN. I wouldn’t be surprised. Many used St Paul as a mid-way between coasts because of the railroads. I will take a look through my resources and see what I can find.
Thanks for posting all of this!
24
AM
Thank you, Will – and to everyone who has so kindly offered their help in uncovering our home’s past!