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         For many decades, Campti was the hub of outlying settlements in Cuba, Sardis, Pine Hill, Lone Cedar, Antioch, and other small communities. Henry and Jenny Lansford ran the first grocery store, which was located across from the present location of the Methodist Church. In the early nineteen hundreds, Campti had a grocery store run by Oswald Rogers and Hardy Holt, and another run by Roland Sinclair. Joe McKee and H. J. Bennett also operated grocery stores. Mr. Collins ran a blacksmith shop; Mr. Haley and John Price each ran a general store. For a period of time, there was a shingle mill for producing cypress shingles. As the population shifted to metropolitan areas during the war years, Milton Parker's store and Bert and Ruby Sims' store were the only businesses still in operation in Campti. For several years now, there have been no businesses at all in the once prosperous community. Yet, another kind of prosperity abounds today, for the area is recognized for its agricultural contributions to Shelby County and East Texas, and is also home base to some major contracting firms.

         Among those interred at Campti community are Henry Haynes Burns and Frances Elizabeth Penelope Harris Burns, who were married in 1855 in Paulding County, Georgia. They migrated to Hope, Arkansas, only to later have their land ravaged by cyclones. They migrated on to Texas, settling in the Campti community. After Grandpa Burns' death, Grandma Burns made her home with their daughter Amy and Amy's husband, Jim Cox. In back of the Cox homeplace were rocks marking five graves probably dating back at least to the early 1900's, but the only identification there was simply the word "Kits." One day, while at the wash pot outdoors, Grandma Burns caught her skirts afire and burned to death.

        Jim Cox ran a grist mill between Campti and Cuba. It was at the crossroads, one going to the Jim Mills place, the other going to Jess and Cynthia Byrd Sims' place. My mother remembers her daddy, Mr. Flint, putting a sack of shelled corn on a mule and carrying it over to Cox's to have it ground.

        Campti community was built by illustrious, salt-of-the-earth people. Phillip DeFriend came from Canada at age 14 as a stowaway on a boat. He married Ellen Elizabeth Pittman Sanford, widow of Tom Sanford. Uncle Ned Pittman had everything across Tenaha Creek to Carrolltown. A sullen neighbor rode up one day complaining, "Ned, you have one of my yearlings in with yours."

        "Well," Uncle Ned countered, "if we have, we'll just cut it out." His statement was treated as admission, and Uncle Ned and Phillip were indicted and served out two years in jail in Rusk.

        DeFriend later put his hat in the race for constable and publicly declared, "There's three people in this race. One's a horse thief, another is an ex-convict, and the third is a d--- liar."  He was elected to the post and served for many years as a Shelby County constable, as did also his son Eddie DeFriend, who followed him.

        The oldest grave at Campti is that of twenty-four-year-old Thomas Pittman, Jr. Henry and Jenny Lansford lost four children with scarlet fever. Jenny, widowed in 1904, married widower John Franklin Burns in 1906. John had six children; Jennie had only one of her six children living. Three children were born to John and Jenny. The couple made their home in Arizona, where they are both buried today.

        Veterans interred at Campti include Earl P. Bright (Korea), Fred Cox, Douglas Fielder, and Acie Wright (WWII), J. D. Windham (WWI), and Henry R. Lansford (CSA). Teachers Mirtie Owens and Mary DeFriend, as well as pioneer preacher Uncle Billy White, are also buried there.
 

Pott's Crossing at Flat Fork Creek is the boundary between Campti & Lone Cedar.

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 Henry Haynes Burns
Frances Elizabeth Penelope Harris
married 20 Oct 1855 in Paulding Co, GA
(photo courtesy of Lorraine Jones Noble)

Descendants of
William A. Burns
by Sue Moore

The Harris Family

1)    William Henry  Burns 29 Jul 1859 - 16 Jan 1936  (d Hempstead Co AR)
        m Frankie Foster 15 Dec 1881; 3 sons;
        m 2nd Kala Caladonia Powell, d/o W. F. Powell & Mary Ann Jones), several more children
2)    Robert E. Lee "Bob" Burns 9 Aug 1864 - 28 Apr 1939
        m Eliza Powell d/o W. F. Powell & Mary Ann Jones on 23 Dec 1885
3)    Samuel Ruben Burns    24  Jun 1861 - 13 Feb 1936
        m Jennie Medera Johnson
        d/o Wm. B. Johnson & Mary Elmira Foster
4)    Elisha Burns    b 29 Mar 1881
5)    John Franklin Burns  9 Jul 1868 - 12 Jan 1944     (d Douglas AZ)
        m. Dora Elizabeth Ann Jackson    b 1872    - 12 May 1906
        date of marriage: 28 Oct 1888
        their children:
        Virginia Burns (1889), Robert Early Burns (4 Feb 1892 - 26 Jan 1962), Minnie Frances Burns (1893),
        Oscar Franklin Burns (5 May 1896 - 10 Jul 1970), 3 more unnamed children
        m. 2nd Sarah Eugenia "Jenny" Sims Lansford; their children: Alva Jesse, Johnnie Fay, Bernice
6)    Lorraine Jane Burns   28 Jan 1858 - 9 Jul 1934
        m William Frank Powell    23 Oct 1879
        (s/o W. Powell & Mary Ann Jones)
7)    Victoria Burns    d 1911
        m John Cox
8)    Amy Penelope Burns    17 Dec 1870 -  6 Jun 1946
        m James Wylie "Jim"  Cox    s/o Wright Cox & Martha Elizabeth Jones
9)    Margaret Ardella Burns    4 Oct 1856 - 1918
        m Joel Deaton 1 Jan 1879
        moved to OK after 1880 census
10)  Parlee Burns    16 Aug 1878    19 Jun 1961
        m Samuel Calvin Jones    29 Aug 1873 - 7 Jul 1960    s/o Wrightman R. Jones & Polly Grinnell Jones*
        Parents of Oma Oletha Jones, who married Johnty Lyles Powers.
11)   Martha Adeline Burns       19 Aug 1866 - 25 Sep 1928 (d Angelina Co TX)
        m William Wright "Bill"  Jones    8 Jan 1865 - 6 Apr 1929     s/o Wrightman R. Jones & Polly Grinnell Jones*
        date of marriage: 27 Dec 1885; ten children
12)   Mary Elizabeth Burns
        m John Wylie Jones       11 Feb 1879 - 6 Feb 1946       s/o Wrightman R. Jones & Mary  Grinnell Jones
        *Wrightman R. Jones is s/o Wylie P. Jones, Sr., b 1807 NC, d 7 Mar 1878, Hempstead AR;
        Mary Grinnell Jones is d/o John Grindle of Limestone Co, AL;
        John Grindle originally came from Grindal Shoals,  SC, and was married second to Sarah Moss

(research courtesy of Pat Jones, Porter TX)

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Campti School (1939)
sitting on the step which went over the fence on the left side of the school:
(front) Miriam Adams, Marie Foresyth, Mary Francis Dockens,
(back) Orrival Crockrell, G. C. "Red" Meyers, unknown, Elton "Cotton" Meyers
(photo courtesy of Gracie Foresyth)

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Campti School (1939)
Girls Volleyball Team
w/ Miss Lucille Hughes (Sonmor)

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Campti School (1939)
5/6/7 grades
(front) Katherine Bethard, Mary Jean Sims, Doris Broadway, Paula Manshack, Johnette Fielder, Irene Davis
(middle) Lucille Hughes, Ruby Summers, Alene Lawrance, Blanche Ford, Gracie Hogan, Joy Childress
(back) Roland Bethard, Jack Clark, Hamp Manshack, John Elbert Watson, Thomas Holt, Sonny Johnson,
Lavon "Josh" Foresyth

Maggie Gay Beck, along with her husband Robert L. Beck and her parents
Maggie DeFriend Bright and Price Franklin Bright, is buried at Campti Cemetery.

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RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project:  Luman - Iles Family

reba@netdot.com

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Elliott, Sallie A.	24 Feb 1825	20 Dec 1910	living in household w/ Robert J & Emily Boozer,  listed as grandma  (1910)	1900 census:  Wm. Thomas &  Mary A. Elliott;  m 10 yrs, 1 child,  not living;  buried at  Price (Campti)
Eagleson	-	-	-	adolescent killed in squirrel hunting accident on Pittman place;  unmarked, located just inside the gate

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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