Burroughs Homestead: North 13th St., Lafayette, Indiana

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Putting together the pieces to find the Burroughs homestead in Lafayette Indiana.

  

It starts with the Civil War cavalryman Seymour Burroughs, who was wounded at Cold Harbor and the beautiful young woman from Baltimore who he married in 1864, Cassie Belle O'Donnel.

I don't know how they met, but in 1865 they had a daughter Viola May.

This photo is definitely Cassie, but I'm not sure about the others. Viola May? And one of her brothers? Cassie is easy to spot in photos as she always wore her hair up in a bun. If you look through the fence, you'll also see a dog. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

Viola May grew up and got married to Harvey Putt in Linnwood, Indiana.

Eventually Viola May and Harry Putt had a daughter, Hazel who stands here with her grandmother in front of the Burroughs homestead. (She looks like a defiant teenager in this picture, so that would make it about 1905.) I've also always wondered about the images on the side of the porch cement foundation. Seymour was a Mason -- could these be Masonic symbols? (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

A front porch has been added by the time of this photo. I can tell it's the same house though, by those images under the side porch. (Click on the photo to see it larger.)

I found this photo through an online antique dealer. It says it's Seymour, and I think that may be Hazel with him as she was born before he died in 1894. And yes, that could definitely be the Burroughs house in the background. Actually, this photo may be earlier than the ones above as there are still so many trees around.

Linnwood, I discovered was indeed the northern part of Lafayette, Indiana. Looking at maps of Lafayette, I was able to find North 13th St. and even a Burroughs St. Now I just needed to see if the old house was still there.

And so my quest to find this house came to a standstill -- until Google Streetview. Early in 2009, I finally found some time to work on this genealogy project again this time I found it!

Just one more thing. Remember the dog I mentioned above? Well, I found out that he was Bob.

The poem above was pasted on the back of that photo.