LOCATION: Northern Ireland; Virginia; Boston; New York City; Tennessee; Marengo County, Mississippi; Dallas, Texas.
PERIOD: 1617-1978
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Owen Tucker “Tick” Burden (1937-2019); Albert Burden (1910-1978); Joseph Charles Burden (1848-1910); Alan Edward Burden (1850-1916); Owen Burden (1879-1954); Henry Baxter (Burden) “Bowden” (1829-1883); Charles Joseph Burden (1825-1896); Edward Burden (1802-1859); Charles Owen Burden (1776-1861); Albert Peter Burden (1737-1798); Betty Akins (Burden) (1759-1822); Peter Albert Burden (1682-1749); Edmund Owen Burden (1639-1714); Samuel Peter Burden (1617-1656)
Tick Burden wakes up in jail after a DUI which occurred on December 15, 1978. The rest of the story regresses (in 40 year spans) back to the 17th century when the first Burden ancestor emigrated from Northern Ireland to America:
Samuel Peter Burden (1617-1656) grows up with his father who had joined a sailing mission with Sir Walter Raleigh in 1618. Sam leaves northern Ireland in 1635 sailing to American. Landing in Virginia it wasn’t long before he met and married a young Scottish girl. They have a son, Edmund Owen Burden (1639-1714) in 1639, who is the first American born Burden ancestor.
Edmund Owen Burden (1639-1714) moved with his family to the Boston area, and as a young man he happened to be in town when the Quaker evnagelist Mary Dyer was being hanged. At that time, despite the Puritans leaving England due to religious persecution, they themselves were intolerant of Quakerism, which was outlawed at the time. Mary Dyer was arrested, convicted of violating the ban on Quakerism, and hanged either onMay 31st or June 1st in 1658.
Peter Albert Burden (1682-1749) the next Burden in the line ran off from Boston to New York hoping to be taken on a sialing ship, looking for adventure. He managed to get hired on the Adventure Galley, William Kidd’s ship headed for Africa. Kidd saw that the pirates he was attempting to police were taking home more ricches than he was, and he decided to turn traitor against the King and became a notrious pirate himself. eventually he was hanged for his crimes. By that time Peter had abandoned his dsailing ambitions and remained on dry land for the rest of his life.
Albert Peter Burden (1737-1798) is caught up in the fervor of rebellion from England at the time of Founding Fathers. When he is in his late ’30s he joins up the militia and serves under several generals. In 1778 his division is under general command of George Washing in New Jersey. The battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey, on June 28, 1778, during the American Revolutionary War. After the battle, an American victory, Albert takes a few minutes and writes a letter home.
Henry Baxter (Burden) “Bowden” (1829-1883) does not agree with the rest of his family on the question of slavery. As a consequence he changes his last name from Burden to Bowden and identifies as an abolitionist. He eventually joins up to fight on the Union side, potentially against his own brothers. Henry loses an arm at Gettysburg, ending his military career, and settling down in Texas.
Joseph Charles Burden (1848-1910); Alan Edward Burden (1850-1916); Owen Burden (1879-1954) Owen Burden, son of Alan, and nephew of Joe, volunteers and fights in teh Apanish-American War of 1898. While his father and uncle are making whiskey, they discuss the logic of Owen’s decision to go to war in a cause they don’t entirely understand.
Albert Burden (1910-1978) is in Texas and happens into a saloon on the night of the championship boxing match between Max Schmeling and Joe Louis. They were to fight twice, Schmeling winning the first in 1936 and losing the second in 1938. The two fights came to embody the broader political and social conflict of the time. As the most significant African American athlete of his age and the most successful black fighter since Jack Johnson, Louis was a focal point for African American interest in the 1930s. Moreover, as a contest between representatives of the United States and Nazi Germany during the 1930s, the fights came to symbolize the struggle between democracy and fascism.
Louis and Schmeling developed a friendship outside the ring, which endured until Louis’ death on April 12, 1981. Schmeling reportedly covered a part of the costs of Louis’ funeral, at which he was a pallbearer. Schmeling died 24 years later on February 2, 2005, at the age of 99. Both Louis and Schmeling are members of the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
This bring us up to 1978 when Albert dies at the same time Tick, his son, is sitting in a Dallas jail cell after his DUI.
THE BURDEN FAMILY BLUES
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)
Face down on a cold concrete floor;
Tick Burden inhales ammonia and vomit.
Coming to in a Dallas county jail cell;
Pats his pockets for keys and wallet.
“Burden: get up, you made bail.”
His brother-in-law hands him a six-pack.
“I need to get my truck out of impound?”
“Your pa’s dead; Allie said to bring you back.”
A slender cheroot clamped in his jaw,
Albert Burden crossed to the bar.
Took a handful of silver dollars
Spread them out in the shape of a star.
The big fight was on the radio,
June, 1938, a title bout.
“Max shoulda retired; he’s old and slow.”
“Th’ young buck’s gonna lay a beatin’ on the Kraut.”
“Why’d Owen go an’ fight with Yankees?”
“Aw, Alan, y’know, do his bit.
Anyway there ain’t no more blue and gray,
We’re just Americans, and all that shit.”
July 1898, making Missipy moonshine;
Hardly moving, hardly talking, they just sat.
“Joe, where’n the hell is Cuba anyway?”
Joe shook the jar, turned, and spat.
Henry changed his name to Bowden from Burden,
Because he was an abolitionist.
1858 he heard Lincoln and Douglas;
For the Union side he would enlist.
His father Edward and his brother Charles,
Would forever curse his fake name.
Henry Bowden lost an arn at Gettysburg;
“A Burden ball got ‘im,” his father liked to claim.
“1778, June, Monmouth:
Dear Betty, the Redcoats have faded back.
I was with Greene, our cannons were jumping;
We held our line against each British attack.
Must admit I was scared half to death,
And prayed for my return to you and Charles.
I’m proud to have served with such men;
General Washington handed out cigars.”
Peter Burden ran off to New York,
Looking to join the crew of a sailing ship.
William Kidd took him on the Adventure Galley;
They sailed to Africa on his first trip.
1698 Kidd stood for King and country,
But switched sides to a pirate life of crime.
1701 he had a rope around his neck;
Peter kept to dry land till the day he died.
1658 Mary Dyer came to Boston,
To preach the Quaker faith.
She was arrested in New Haven,
Hanged the 31st of May.
Edmund Burden was among the onlookers,
Swore he’d no more be a Christian.
If Puritans could murder a Quaker,
Then to all preaching he would not listen.
1617 Samuel Burden was born;
The next year his father sailed with Walter Raleigh.
Never to be heard from again;
Samuel Peter Burden grew up without a daddy.
1635 he sailed to America,
Settled in Virginia, and wed a Socttish girl.
They had a son in 1639;
The first Burden born in the New World.
© 2025 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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