Alfred Wilder Burnside

Alfred Wilder Burnside

Alfred Wilder Burnside, 1897-1948

• Father: Thomas Edwin Burnside b. circa 1873
• Mother: Nina Linnabary b. circa 1875

• Alfred Wilder Burnside was born on 29 April 1897 in Genoa, Delaware County, Ohio.
• Sarah E. (?) appeared in the US federal census of 15 April 1910 in Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio. Other members of the household included Alfred Wilder Burnside, Royal Delmont Burnside, Thomas Albert Burnside and Margaret G. Burnside.
• He served in the military during World War I, according to the 1930 census.
• Alfred Wilder Burnside registered for the draft on 3 June 1918 in Houston, Harris County, Texas, while living in Houston, and employed there by James H. Shirely? at the National Bank Building.
• He married Fannie Kate Wood, daughter of Solomon William Wood Jr. and Elizabeth B. Hurst, circa 1919.
• A snapshot was taken of Alfred Wilder Burnside and his father-in-law Solomon Wood, about 1919.
  

  Solomon William Wood and his son-in-law Alfred Wilder Burnside
• Alfred Wilder Burnside and Fannie Kate Wood appeared in the US federal census of 1 January 1920 in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas, at 1504 Polk Street.
• He was an insurance salesman, according to the 1920 census.
• He officially witnessed the death of Thomas Albert Burnside on 4 December 1922 in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas.
• Alfred Wilder Burnside and Fannie Kate Wood appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1930 in Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas, at 2200 Cooke, Country Club Estate Sub-Division. Other members of the household included Alfred Wilder Burnside Jr.
• He was a life insurance salesman, according to the 1930 census.
• Alfred Wilder Burnside and Fannie Kate Wood appeared in the US federal census of 1 April 1940 in Wichita County, Texas. Other members of the household included Alfred Wilder Burnside Jr. and Robert Emmett Burnside. They were living in the same house in 1935.
• He was self-employed as a life insurance salesman, according to the 1940 census.
• At the time of his death Alfred Wilder Burnside was living in Iowa Park, Wichita County, Texas.
• Alfred Wilder Burnside died on 19 April 1948 at age 50 in Denton, Denton County, Texas, at Denton Hospital & Clinic.
• His wife Fannie Kate Wood became a widow at his death.
• He was interred at Riverside Cemetery, Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas.
• The following appeared on 21 April 1948 in The Dallas Morning News: Funeral services for Alfred W. Burnside, 51, Wichita Falls rancher and father of Mrs. Tom B. Rhodes of Dallas, were held Tuesday in Wichita Falls. Burial was in Wichita Falls. Burnside died Sunday following a brief illness.
• A biographical sketch appears in History of Texas: Fort Worth and the Texas Northwest Edition (1922): Alfred W. Burnside. With so many other achievements to its credit, in population increase, wealth and business and civic power, Wichita Falls very appropriately has annexed one of the most successful insurance men in the state in the person of Alfred W. Burnside, general agent of the State Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis. His agency in the spring of 1920 headed the "Honor Roll of Texas" for volume of business written, and doubtless the history of life insurance would show few men in the business at the age of twenty-four who have accumulated such an aggregate of business in such a brief time.
       Mr. Burnside came to manhood in Wichita County, but was born in Westerville in Delaware County, Ohio, in 1897. He is a son of G. E. and Nina (Linnabarry) Burnside, natives of the same Ohio county. He was six years of age when his mother died, and some years later his father came to Wichita County, Texas, and has since been a successful farmer.
       Alfred W. Burnside completed his public school education in the Wichita Falls High School and subsequently attended Rice Institute at Houston. While a student he began writing insurance, but his college and business career was interrupted in they summer of 1918, when he volunteered in the naval aviation branch. He was on military duty about six months, being trained at the aviation field in New Orleans and subsequently was on duty at Pensacola and other points. Then, in January, 1919, he located at Wichita Falls as agent for the State Life Insurance Company of Indianapolis. This is one of the strongest life concerns in the world.
       The official bulleting [sic] of the company in May, 1920, referring to Mr. Burside's achievement in taking first place for the month of April by writing more than three hundred thousand dollars worth of business, reviewed his record as follows: In April, 1918, Mr. Burnside began his career with the State Life and wrote twenty-five thousand dollars worth of business for that month. Though he joined the aviation service of the United States in September of that year, he succeeded in qualifying in the 1918 Two Hundred Thousand Club. After his return from the service Mr. Burnside began a period of most remarkable achievement. In 1919 he wrote more than a million dollars worth of business. In 1920 he is rushing forward at a rate which more than doubles his record for the first four months of 1919. For a period of sixteen consecutive months Mr. Burnside has averaged a hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars worth of business per month." The Bulletin stresses the qualities that enable Mr. Burnside to achieve this record, saying that no one was distinguished by more consistent, constant, aggressive and enthusiastic labors, and it was his diligence and earnestness that have made him such a power in the insurance field.
       As general agent at the head office of the Wichita Agency Mr. Burnside has offices in the American National Bank Building. He has also allied himself closely with the progressive organizations of his home city in civic and social affairs. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Wichita Golf and Country Clubs, a Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and also a member of the Maskat Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wichita Falls. He and Mrs. Burnside are members of the First Presbyterian Church at Wichita Falls, of which he is assistant superintendent of the Sunday School. He married Miss Fannie Kate Wood, of Navasota, Texas.

• Last Edited: 30 Nov 2013

• Charts: Descendants of ABERCROMBIE Charles & Edwina Malinda "Dicey" Booth, Descendants of LeGRAND John & Margaret Chambers, Descendants of WOOD William & Lydia Ballentine