In elementary school, David Burrow was once assigned to write a report on his ethnic heritage. After pondering hard, he complained to his teacher that he had none. While other students were Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Swedish-Americans, German-Americans, and Mexican-Americans, Mr. Burrow's family could put no hyphen in their ancestry. His forefathers had been just "Americans" for longer than there had been an America.
Both the Burrow and Miller families have been in America for many generations. The Burrow family first settled in upstate New York (primarily in the Jamestown and Cooperstown areas) and then came to northeast Iowa. The ancestors of the Miller family can be traced back to the Pilgrims (in particular John Alden, Pricilla Mullins, and William Bradford). (Their geneaology is given here.) In summer, 2000, David Burrow was pleased to make a "pilgrimage" to Plymouth, Massachusetts, where he saw the graves of some of his ancestors and walked the shores where they first landed in the New World, 380 years earlier.
Because of these long Yankee roots, Mr. Burrow still considers himself "American", without any further modification. His family traces its roots to many European countries--but especially to England, Holland, and Germany. There is also Native American (i.e. Indian) ancestry on the Miller side of the family.
LEFT: Betty Miller (Burrow) at the right of the picture
with her sister Alaire, her mother Edna,
and her brothers Harvey and Dale
(probably taken near Iowa City)
RIGHT: George Burrow with his father Leo
(probably taken at the church in Sumner, Iowa)
(Both photos were taken in the late 1930s.)
David Burrow looking on behind his grandparents
in Frederika, Iowa - 1964
The Burrow side of the family is more reserved than the Millers.
Mr. Burrow's parents, George and Betty Burrow,
as well many of his ancestors on the Burrow side
are buried at Wilson Grove Cemetery near Sumner, Iowa.
Links to other sites on the Web
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David Burrow--Descendent of the Mayflower, the Geneaology
Chatauqua County, New York
Plymouth, Massachusetts
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