| Burnett Cemetery has remained a mystery to many locals,
only a few still living remember either of the family cemeteries that were
supposed to have existed off of Hwy. 341 in Brunswick. One noted Burnett
Cemetery was supposed to have been located in the Sawtell neighborhood
next to Yellow Bluff Creek, and it reportedly had a brick vault dating
back to the late 1700s. The other cemetery was located in what is
now the Highland Park neighborhood at the end of Burnett Road. It
was completely destroyed by
development, the tombstones having been long before lost, stolen, or
vandalized before the first home was built.
A resident in the area of, what we will call the Burnett Family Cemetery,
remembers seeing only a few stones during the 1950s, and remembers people
coming from towns far away to visit the cemetery. She unfortunately
couldn't remember any names on the still standing stones.
In a will for
Col. John Burnett
found in the Glynn County Probate Court, we learn of the Family Cemetery
being instituted by the Colonel, he possibly being the first interment
therein. Other researchers have come to believe that Henry
duBignon may have been buried there along with his estranged mistress
Sarah Ann (Maccaw) Aust Reddick.
In the 1930s, several people wrote letters to Margaret Davis Cate
in regards to their Burnett Family History, one going so far as to
ask for the listing of burials in the old cemetery. This letter was
written by Mrs. S.J. Stubbs who was the granddaughter of Dr.
Francis E.K. Miller and Sarah Harriet Burnett. Wonder if
Ms. Cate responded, and if so, did she record this response or the
cemetery listing in her vast records?
We could assume that several of the Burnetts were buried there,
maybe even their spouses of other surnames. It's a shame that this
cemetery was destroyed; many family historians might have found answers to
some elusive family stories. |