Thomas Jefferson Burks 
(1853 – 1825)  

by Don Burks

Thomas Jefferson Burks has the reputation of a strictly first-class business man, reliable and energetic, and is a citizen of whom Pottsville may be justly proud. His birth occurred in Leake County, Mississippi, November 23, 1853, and a sketch of his ancestry may be found on another page of this work. At age of twenty years he started out in life on his own account, at first working for wages, and then rented land, which he operated for one year.

Going to Comanche County, Texas, Mr. Burks attended a school taught by George W. Cunningham, and later engaged in teaching for two and a half months. On the 11^th of March, 1877, he first came to Pottsville, where with R. L. Burks he started a general store under the firm name of T. J and R. L. Burks, but at the end of nine months brought out his partner’s interest and conducted the establishment alone for three years, when he admitted B. Frank Burks, a cousin, to membership in the firm. At the end of two years he purchased the later’s interest, but three months later sold out to his cousin and brought a farm of eighty acres in Comanche County. On the expiration of nine months, however, he again began general merchandising, and after being alone for eight months R. L. Burks and J. C. Chatman became members of the firm, which assumed the style of Burks, Chatman & Company. Later he brought out his partners, and afterwards sold his stock to J. R. Linn.

In the meantime Mr. Burks had traded his farm in Comanche County to J. S. Lindsey for a flour and corn mill and cotton gin in Pottsville, which afterward sold to Charles Valentine, but two two years later bought the property back, which at that time had run down considerably. He rebuilt the gin, and is now doing a flourishing business in that line. He has a fine farm of two hundred and seventy-six acres on the Cowhouse Creek, five miles above Pottsville, one hundred and seventy of which are under cultivation, and he rents the entire amount. He recently purchased a drug store on the west side of the square at Pottsville, of which he will take charge in the fall of 1896. The post-office is now in the building.

On the 22^nd of October, 1878, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Burks and Miss Alice Amelia (should be Umelia) Goggin, who was born in Dekalb County, Alabama, June 5, 1858, and was brought by her parents, William Hugh and Adeline (Lyons) Goggin, to Hamilton County, Texas, in 1859. Seven children grace this union, namely Arthur, born August 6, 1879; Meda, February 1, 1882; Charlie, October 15, 1884; Julia, April 20, 1887; Adaline, October 7, 1890; Clara, January 30, 1892; and Ida, April 23, 1894. (Malcolm Clayton Burks, the eighth child, was born on December 11, 1899 three years after this article was written).

In his political affiliations Mr. Burks is stalwart Democrat, and religiously is a member of the Baptist church. He is one of the most progressive and energetic men of the county, has been actively identified with the mercantile interests of the Cowhouse neighborhood, with headquarters in Pottsville, for a number of years, and is one of the solid business men of the locality, who has the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.

Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Burks, is the son of William Carroll and Sarah Jane (Weathers) Burks. See the separate biography located at this site for additional information on William Carroll Burks.

Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Burks died October 23, 1925 in Pottsville, Texas and is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas. Alice Umelia Goggin Burks died November 18, 1930 and is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas. Children:

Malcolm Clayton Burks was born December 11, 1898 in Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas. He died June 4, 1962 in Midland, Midland County, Texas and is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas. He married Jessie Belle Grayson, the daughter of Joseph B. and Margaret Drusilla (Cockrum) Grayson, in 1935 in McCullough County, Texas. Jessie was born June 21, 1907 in Goldthwaite, Mills County, Texas. She died on November 15, 1963 in Midland, Midland County, Texas and is buried in Pottsville Cemetery, Pottsville, Hamilton County, Texas.