Margaret Beckwith - Mar 11, 2008     Thank you, Terrie, for adding BURNER!

                  As the Burner family is one of my direct lines of 
ancestry, I am most anxious to add to any information I already have. 
According to records of what I now call the Pendleton section of Highland 
County, VA, the Burners were among the early settlers and came from Germany. 
The surname is listed among the Highland County "extinct families".

                  The Pioneer & American progenitor, Joseph Burner 
(according to the "History of Frederick County, MD"), was born in the city 
of Manheim in Upper Germany.   He emigrated to the Colonies & settled on 
Carrols Creek, near present day city of Frederick, MD in 1726.   He had a 
hunting cabin near Brandywine (Pendleton County) about 1745.

                  Joseph's son, Abraham (1757-1827) and his wife, Mary 
Magdaline Hull, daughter of Adam Hull, son of Capt. Peter Hull, were my next 
grandparents.   As a matter of fact, Mary's sister Margaret married Adam 
Arbogast (son of Michael Arbogast) near Hevener's Store in Highland County, 
VA and they were my grandparents on another direct line of my ancestors. 
Adam Arbogast (who lived to be nearly 100 years old) & Margaret "Peggy" Hull 
came to the head of the Greenbrier River, near Travellers Repose in 1796 and 
built ahome in the primitive forest and reared their family.     They had 4 
sons:   Benjamin, William, Adam & Jacob and 5 daughter:   Susan, Elizabeth, 
Mary, Barbara & Catherine.   Barbara & Catherine both died in their youth. 
Their place was later occupied by Paul McNeel Yeager (according to the 
"History of Pocahontas County").   Abraham was the first white man to build 
a hut and establish a home in Pendleton County, VA.   He relocated to 
Pocahontas County in 1794, where he owned a mill.   Burner's Mountain (near 
Bartow) in that county was named for him.   He also owned a couple of other 
businesses there such as a hotel that bore his name.

                  Abraham's son, Jacob (1799 - 1889), who married Keziah 
Stump (born in what is now the eastern panhandle of WV and whom I'm having 
trouble finding her ancestors), was my next grandfather.   Jacob's siblings 
were:   Mary (m. George Graham); Elizabeth (m. John Graham); George (m. 
Sarah Warwick in 1821); Adam (m. Margaret Gillespie); Henry (m. Eleanor 
Curry in 1817) and Daniel (m. Jane Gillespie).   Both Henry & Daniel drowned 
in a deep eddy in the East Fork of the Greenbrier River at harvest time at 
Peter Yeager's.

                  Jacob's son, Morgan Hull Burner (1823 - 1890), was married 
to Sarah Ann Baker.   They were my g-g-g grandparents Burner.   I have been 
trying to find out the ancestors of Sarah Ann Baker.

                  Morgan Hull Burner's son, Morgan L. (1860 - 1943), was my 
g-g-grandfather in the Burner line.   His daugher, Mary Elizabeth Burner, 
married my paternal g-grandfather, William Bailey Kerr.   They lived in 
Barbour County.   Their son, Orville Erry Kerr was my grandfather and he 
married Jessie Lucy Louk.   Jessie's parents were John & Frances (Helmick) 
Louk.   Her grandparents were William & Minerva (Teter) Sponaugle.   William 
is a direct descendant of Balsor Sponaugle, who settled at the Hunting 
Ground in Pendleton County, VA.

                  The Kerr Family that came into what is now West Virginia 
was led by Daniel Kerr (1764 - 1837), who moved to Pocahontas County after 
the Revolutionary War from Rockbridge County, VA.   Daniel Kerr (as quoted 
from the "History of Pocahontas County") was a worthy and useful pioneer of 
upper Pocahontas County.   He owned an immense estate.   He also owned a 
mill, sawmill & blacksmith shop on the Little Back Creek branch of Deer 
Creek.   His place became a centre of industry for a wide region.   Daniel 
and his 1st wife (Polly Kirkpatrick (1764 - 1810) of Anthonys Creek, m. in 
1790) had five sons:   Robert, John, William, Thomas & James.   Daniel 
Kerr's brother, Robert Kerr, who married Elizabeth Bailey in 1763 was my 
next grandfather Kerr.   Daniel & Robert's father was my first American 
progenitor:   Robert Kerr (1720 - 1808) served in Captain Chamber's Company, 
Col. Moses Hazen's Regiment of the Continental Troops.   He was born in 
Scotland and died in Augusta County, VA.

                  I am proud that my roots are here in this area.   I give 
all credit to my ancestors who must have endured a lot to even survive! 
They have given me the incentive to honor them with recording their history 
and their lives.

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