Burrill Family by Emily (Sprague) Wilcox

A family history written by Emily (Sprague) Wilcox.  

John Burrill and Mary Ann Bailey of Boston had seven children.  John Burrill ran a meat shop in Boston.  He died when he was in his forties.  Mary Ann supported the family by keeping boarders in their home.

1.  John Henry Burrill was a traveling salesman.  He and his wife died young.

2.  Caroline Elizabeth Burrill married Charles Sprague also of Boston.  Charles served many years in the Civil War. Charles and Caroline located in Illinois after the war. They bought a farm three miles south of Thawville.

3.  Charles Burrill  Had a store in partnership with another man, but the store was destroyed in the Great Boston Fire. 

4.  Mary Ann Burrill married first William Isbester (ex Civil War soldier) second Julius Day.  She is my great, great grandmother. Mary had two children (Will and Bessie) with her first husband, William, who died when their children were small. They were living near Thawville, Illinois, at the time.  She next married an Illinois farmer, Julius Day.  They had three children:  Stella (mother of my grandmother, Mildred (Robbins) Day, Ralph, and Caroline.

5.  Emma Frances  Never married. Teacher in Boston.

6.  Emily Bridge  Never married.  Teacher in Boston. 

7.  Edward "Ned"  Never married.  

Mary Ann Burrill of Boston

Who I am researching now . . . my great, great grandmother, Mary Ann Burrill, first marriage to William Isbester, second marriage to my great, great grandfather, Julius Elliot Day. 

 

Written by Mary's daughter, Emily (Burrill) Wilcox (Emily's mother was Caroline Elizabeth (Burrill) Sprague,) to my grandma, Mildred (Robbins) Arnold, in 1956: 

"My mother's sister, Mary Burrill, came out to visit my folks. 

William Isbester, an ex-soldier fell in love with her, and they were married, and lived on a farm adjoining my father's. The had two children Bessie and Willie. Bessie died when she was a baby and was buried in the Lisk Cemetery (this is near Thawville, Illinois.) Then their father came down with tuberculosis, and the family went to California for his health, but he died there, and Willie and his mother came back to Illinois. The lived with my folks for a while, and part of the time in Boston with her family.
Several years later she married Julius Day, and they were your grandparents, and lived in the same house you did when you were growing up."