Kinfolks
by Evelyn Flood
Cylvester"Vester"Burdine was born 27 March 1897 in Newton County,
Arkansas, the son of James Franklin Burdine and Mary Louvina"Viney"Smith
Burdine.

"Viney"Smith was daughter of Henry W Smith and Barbara Allen Pierce
House Smith. Henry and Barbara Allen Pierce Smith were my husband Kenneth Flood's
great grandparents.

Vester married Sallie Jane Cheatham on 3 Feb 1916 in Newton County,
Arkansas .
Sallie Jane Cheatham was born 23 Sept 1894, also in Newton County,
Arkansas, the daughter of William "Tommy"Cheatham and Mary Laura
Ricketts. Laura Ricketts Cheatham's sister Hester Hosannie Ricketts married
Simon David Flud(my husband's grandparents) and that is another way my
children are related to the Burdine family.
Sallie's mother Laura Ricketts Cheatham died when Sallie was only
two years old.

Kathryn Burdine Wheeler(writer of the Log Hall Newton County Times
News) wrote about her family and these stories are in the Newton County
Family History Book I and would like to include some of these very
interesting stories in this Kinfolks article.

After Vester and Sallie were married they continued to live in the house his father died in. His mother Viney Smith Burdine married David Crockett Smith after Vester's father James Franklin Burdine died. Viney Smith Burdine Smith then moved out of the home.

Vester and Sally spent their wedding night with Sallie's parents on the Honey Creek Mountain above Red Rock. Enroute home the next day, they went by his mothers and ate dinner. Vester told Sallie to make herself at home when they arrived at the unfinished three-room frame house with six foot hall connecting the 36 foot front and back L porches.
While Vester changed out of his wedding clothes to go unsaddle the mare and feed the livestock, Sallie started sweeping. The mud he had tracked in had corn mixed in (he had spilled the corn while shelling by the fire). Sallie threw the corn out for the chickens instead of sweeping in into the fireplace with the dirt. Vester knew he had a saving wife. That night, the fire rolled out of the fireplace, almost burned a plank in two and then went out. Neither Vester or Sallie awoke.

Vester Burdine worked all his life for 50 to 75 cents a day. Because he volunteered a lot of time collecting $5.00 membership fees for REA to get electricity brought to Newton County in 1937, he was hired as foreman of cutting the right-of-way for the highline. That job paid $5.00 a day------Yes, $5.00 a day. That was unheard of." How would we ever spend that much money", Kathyrn wrote?? ". That spring instead of papering our house with catalogs and newspapers as usual, we bought wallpaper for five cents a roll. We also bought fabric at ten cents a yard to make curtains. We spent a dollar a room for curtains and paper. We also bought flour for biscuits and no longer had to eat cornbread for breakfast."

Vester Burdine not only had the responsibility of his children, but helped with his brothers and sisters until they married. One brother and two sisters lost their spouses at a very early age. The sisters and children moved into the house with them until he could provide them a house.

Vester was road overseer in the 1930s. Every eligible male voter was required to work four days a year on the road or hire someone to work in his place. The county had an iron wheel grader and roads were usually graded once a year whether they needed it or not. There were no paved roads then in Newton County. Each township elected a road overseer whose job it was to decide what needed to be done and notify workers in advance when they were expected to work.
State Highway 374,that is now paved, was built by him and other neighbors, donating money to pay for bulldozing in order to have a shorter route to Jasper. It was first a trail or horseback road to town . Governor Rockefeller made it a state highway.

Vester was also elected Justice of the Peace in 1942 and still held that job at the time of his death on 20 December 1974. The first couple he married were Conard and Ina Greenhaw Middleton in February 1943. The second couple he married were his daughter Voda and Eldon Farmer on 11 May 1943.

Vester was a "grandfather-taught"veterinarian and helped neighbors with sick animals and cows having calves. He was a good neighbor.

Vestor and Sallie's children were:
(1)VODA BURDINE born 2 Nov 1917.
She married:
(1)Eldon Farmer (1912-1944)who died in World War II in the
South Pacific.
She then married Samuel Sims on 27 Febuary 1949.
Samuel Sims was the son of Martin Sims and Myrtle Jackson.
They had two sons(Tommie Jackson Sims and Sylvester Sims).
Their daughter was Sammy Jane Sims born 8 Jan 1951 who married
Coy Booth on 3 Feb 1979.
Sammy Jane Sims and Coy Booth had two children:
Coy Ray Jr. born 25 Oct 1981 and Charles Samuel Sims,
born 6 Dec 1987.

One of the stories Kathryn Burdine Wheeler wrote about was that Voda, being the oldest of ten children, was taught responsibility early. Her mother taught her to pull weeds from the beans in the garden. Vester(her father) hearing what a good worker she was, took her to pull weeds in the corn field. When he checked on her she was pulling the corn too. Beans were all she knew as not being weeds. Voda died in 1983 but do not know of her burial place .

(2)GLADYS BURDINE
born 8 Aug 1919 in Newton County. She married:
(1)Berry Hefley in 1941 and after his death she married:
(2) Elmer Owens.
Berry Hefley was the son of Rev. Daniel Hefley, a well-known
Penticostal preacher for 60 years.
Berry's mother was Margaret Ollie Freeman.
Gladys and Berry Hefley's children were:
(a)David Hefley born 21 July 1942 who married
Leona Hicks and their children were
Danny and Deborah Hefley.

(b)Marilyn Hefley born 19 June 1945 who married Jim Edgmon.
The Edgmon children were:
(1)Sandra Edgmon who married Vince Kelly, children being Mike and
Makenzie Kelly.
(2)Tamyra Edgmon and
(3) Brooke Edgmon.

(c) Robert Hefley born 28 Jan 1946 married:
(1)Mary Joe Crow:
children are Randy and Rodney Hefley.
Robert married:
(2) Jo Ann Hipp and had son Robert L Hefley,Jr.

(d)Carolyn Hefley born 5 Oct 1947 married Carl Rudder:
children Alan and Lisa Rudder.

(e)Harold Hefley born 22 April 1949 marrried :
(1)Kathy Watkins and they had one son Nicholas Hefley.
Harold married :
(2) Sandy(maiden name unknown) and they had Eric and
Gail Hefley.

Berry Hefley started taking workers to California in 1941 in a truck with a tarp stretched over the cattle rack of the truck. He would take workers there, work for a week and rest before starting back to Arkansas.
On one of these trips he took his father-in-law Vester Burdine with him. Vester had always dreamed of going to "Kalefornia". When they reached Needles,California, Vester stood up looking for the Golden Gate Bridge. After blistering his nose and straining his eyes for miles,he learned they were 700 miles away. He had never been 700 miles away from home before. By that time wages had gone to a whole big dollar an hour. Few had ever made that much money in a day before.Vester worked hard.

Gladys Burdine Hefley Owens died 6 Nov 1989 and is buried in Tarlton
Cemetery, Newton County,Arkansas.

(3)EDITH BURDINE ,born 20 Feb1921
married Howard Thompson in 1950
They had three daughters:
(a)Alice Thompson who married Jimmy Leon Cooper with one son Kylan.
(b)Janie Thompson who married Randy Gellerman with children Amber,
Kelly and Derek Gellerman.
(c)Ann Thompson who married James Still with children Nathaniel and
Amanda Still.

(4)KATHRYN BURDINE, born in 1923
married Zelmer Wheeler in 1948 (divorced).
Their children:
(a)Burdinea Wheeler(divorced) who has a son Jon Williams
(b)Kathy Wheeler(divorced) who has two children: Douglas Ray Massie
and Gloeta Massie.
(c)Michael Dewayne Wheeler who married (1)Holly Henson and (2)
Pauletta Broadaway.
Michael's children are Kristin Lea and James Ray Wheeler.
(d)Tommy Wheeler who married Lisa Langston.

(5)JAMES E BURDINE born 1 April 1925.
James never married. He died 6 May 1974 and is buried in Smith
Cemetery, Vendor(Newton County)Arkansas.

(6)ELSIE LOUISE BURDINE born 14 March 1927 married
Kenneth Gus Kilgore in 1953.
Children are:
(a) Sylvia Marie Kilgore(divorced)who had a daughter Adria Louise.
(b)Elaine Kilgore who married Larry Odle with children Mathew Lawrence
and Gregory Thomas Odle.
(c)Kenneth Merle Kilgore who married Susan Branton with children
being Kenneth Adam, Erika Susan and Olivia Jane Kilgore.

(7)CLY LAVERNE BURDINE/b>, daughter born 7 Feb 1929 died on
28 July 1930 with burial in Smith Cemetery,Vendor,Arkansas.

(8)BERNICE BURDINE born 28 Oct 1931 who married
Marvin Blevins in 1952.
Their children:
(a) Conrad Blevins who married Judy Neff with son Neal James Blevins.
(b)Leah Blevins who married Gordon Herron and they have a daughter
Rachel Elizabeth Herron.
Bernice worked for Hallmark Cards in Kansas City,Missouri while husband
Marvin was overseas in the Army during World War 2 and had also worked
as a telephone operator in Boone County,Arkansas before her marriage.

(9)AMA NELL BURDINE born 19 Jan 1934 at Vendor,Arkansas.
She married Kirt Sexton in 1953 and they had children:
(a) Kevin Sexton,
(b) Sue N Burlingame,
(c)Judy Sexton and
(d)Sally Smith.
Ama Nell(Amy) Burdine Sexton died on 19 July 1998 and is buried in
Smith Cemetery at Vendor,Arkansas.

I met Amy Sexton at the Red Barn which her and her husband owned and
I later sent her some pictures. Amy told me that all of her Mother's
pictures burned in a house fire.

(10)CHARLES BURDINE born 4 June 1936 married Joy Norton.
They had two daughters:
(a)Kristi Joy Burdine who married Johnny Houston James and they
have two sons.
(b) Kimberly Jayne Burdine who married Adam Kenneth Motherwell and
they now have a little daughter.

Vester Burdine died on 20 December 1974.
Sallie Jane Cheatham Burdine died on 8 June 1969.
Both are buried in Smith Cemetery,Vendor,Arkansas.
Evelyn Flood
Rkinfolks@aol.com
Part of this story was published in the Newton County Historical
Society Family History Book I.
The rest is my genealogy research.
NOTE:
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PS
There is one really big thing that irks me in doing genealogy
That is the people who copy research just to add to their collection
of names on their websites.
They are not related to these people.
They care nothing about how the lives of these people were, or how
these people weathered the storms of this life.
I call them "people collectors".
I think they are too lazy to do the research themselves.
They just want to see who can collect the most names for their
websites.
To you people collectors.....get a life.

Write me: Rkinfolks@aol.com