Albert Triplett Burnley was born on the 15th day of April, 1800, in Hanover county, Virginia. His grandfather, General Zachariah Burnley, was an officer of the revolution and an intimate friend of General Sumter, of South Carolina. General Burnley was one of three brothers who came to Virginia in the early years of the eighteenth century. One of the brothers, Hardin Burnley, returned to England when hostilities commenced, and remained. His descendants have occupied prominent positions in England; one of them represented that country as the head of the British Embassy at Washington during the Civil War.
Albert's father, William Reuben Burnley, died when Albert was about ten years old, and a few years after, his mother married Judge Nooe, of Alabama, and removed to that State. For some reason my father did not accompany her, but remained with her relatives in Virginia and was brought up by them. He lived first with his uncle, John Richards Triplett, of Richmond, but later with his mother's cousin, Mrs. Charles Smith, of Norfolk, whom he always considered his real mother, and her children as his brothers and sisters.
All these were people of the highest character, and from them he imbibed those principles and standards of honor and integrity which regulated his conduct through life. He had no collegiate education, only the teachings of the best schools the country afforded, but had a fine taste for reading and mental improvement of every kind. Added to this he grew up strikingly handsome and with a grace of manner and distinction of appearance which lasted him through life. I think no Virginian has ever been accused of indifference to his native State, but my father's attachment to Virginia was something particularly deep and romantic. Nevertheless, at the age of twenty-two, he decided to try his fortunes in Kentucky. He brought letters to the prominent men in Frankfort, Hon. J. J. Crittenden, Hon. George M. Bibb and others, and decided to remain in Frankfort and study law with Judge Bibb, who was at that time chief justice of Kentucky.
After a few years, however, finding this slow work, he and his uncle, Robert Triplett, near his own age, bought some coal mines near Owensboro, Kentucky, which they operated successfully for some years. In 1827 he married Frances Ann Bibb, daughter of Judge Bibb, and they lived for some years on a farm near Owensboro, where his interests were.
In 1834, Judge Bibb was appointed first chancellor of Louisville and made my father his deputy, when he removed with his family to Louisville.
I can not remember the exact date of his becoming interested in the struggling Republic of Texas. I think it was greatly through his friendship with General Albert Sidney Johnston, though I recall many names familiar to my childish ears, Colonel Love, Mr. Peter Grayson, General Houston and others. They bought many thousands of acres of land there and took the deepest interest in the welfare of the country. The archives of the State will probably show the date of his appointment as commissioner to negotiate a loan for the Republic. It was probably about 1839, 94 as he was much pleased in England to be presented to the young Queen Victoria, just crowned, though he rather criticised her, allowing the Duke of Wellington to stand during the whole performance in her box at the theater. He thought it would have been more graceful to have invited a person of his age and distinction to be seated. Though this mission was unsuccessful, as was a second one a year later, he flattered himself that he had by his descriptions and representations at least brought Texas to the notice of the great world. He had letters to the prominent people in England, France and Spain, which he presented and was the recipient of much attention. He also in Paris had his fortune told by Madame Le Normand, who had foretold the Empress Josephine of her future grandeur, and was also in England a guest of the celebrated Eglinton Tournament, where Mrs. Norton, the poetess, was crowned “Queen of love and beauty.”
When he returned from his second mission he was accompanied by Senor Fuñez, a relative of the then queen of Spain. Why this gentleman came to America I do not remember, or perhaps never knew, as I was a small child at the time. I think perhaps there was some hope of a loan from Spain, which was never realized. However, he remained for some years in this country and was engaged with my father in a commission business in New Orleans; the style of the firm was A. T. Burnley, Johnson &Co., the royal name appearing only as the company.
In 1842, by father thought of making his home in Texas, and we spent some months in Galveston in the spring of that year, but my mother's health was delicate and conditions very unsettled. I remember my childish terrors as night would come on lest we should be awakened by the bombardment of the city from a Mexican battleship. I feel quite sure now that they had no battleship. During that year we returned to Louisville, Kentucky, my father continuing his business in New Orleans and spending his winters there. Of course, he was much pleased when the annexation of Texas took place. At that time he had a cotton plantation in Brazoria county, Texas, but he soon after removed these interests to Issaquena county, Mississippi. His business in New Orleans prospered for some years, but about the close of the Mexican War they had heavy losses which led to the dissolution of the firm.
When General Taylor was elected president, my father joined with his friend Mr. Alex G. Bullitt, of Louisville, in establishing in Washington, a Whig newspaper, called The Republic, which was the official organ of the administration. When General Taylor died and Mr. Fillmore became President, the same conditions obtained, and in 1850 he removed with his family to Washington. His friend Hon. John J. Crittenden was then attorney general, and, having lost his wife some little time before, lived with us for some years. My father, whose tastes were all in that direction, dispensed a generous hospitality, and the house was the resort of all that was notable, socially and politically, in Washington at that time; Mr. Webster, Mr. Thomas Corwin, General Winfield Scott, General Houston and others were frequent visitors, as also the younger and gayer of the resident society and the diplomatic corps. General Scott received the news of his defeat for president at our house. My father had invited him and a few of his friends to an oyster supper and made arrangements to have the telegrams of the news brought to the house. Of course, they grew more and more discouraging and the last one saying “New York gone Democratic by large majority; accounts look bad from every quarter,” closed the incident. The General, however, received it calmly and said he would sleep as well as he ever had in his life.
In all this my father never forgot his interest in Texas, both financial and friendly. He spent some months there every year, and was also a frequent visitor to his plantation in Mississippi, always doing all in his power for the welfare of his slaves, even to paying a chaplain to give them religious services once a month.
In 1854 he returned to Kentucky, taking up his residence this time in Frankfort. Here he spent some quiet, happy years with his old friends. A part of every winter he spent in Texas or on his plantation, always taking a deep interest in politics for his friends, but entirely without political aspirations for himself.
About the year 1858 his health began to fail and symptoms of tuberculosis developed. All was done that could be done to stay its course. He went for two summers camping on the plains, towards the Red River of the North, and improved a little, but the disease was not so well understood then as now, and progressed steadily for three years. Like almost all Virginians up to the War Proclamation, he was much opposed to secession, though an ardent Southerner in all his feelings. He was very, very weak and reduced, but I well remember his look of distress when the news came of the firing on Fort Sumter. From that time he seemed to take but little interest in anything and sank gradually. On the eleventh of May he received the Holy Communion of the Episcopal Church and soon after lapsed into unconsciousness, breathing his last in the early morning of the thirteenth of May, 1861, surrounded by his family and his oldest and best friends.
There were other mourners besides his family. He had many devoted friends and was himself most loyal and unselfish in his friendships. He was generous to an extreme and no one in need ever applied to him in vain, so far as his means would allow. We found among his papers after his death notes of persons to whom he had loaned money, usually in small sums, amounting to nearly thirty thousand dollars. He was also quite ingenious in devising ways and means of giving pleasure and advantages to some who could not well afford these things. In all transactions where strict integrity and a delicate sense of honor were concerned he was considered authority, and questions were often referred to him in such cases for decision.
Of course, in all his ill health his business interests had suffered and the result of the war destroyed the value of his plantation; but he never knew the worst, and the memory of his blameless life will always be a precious heritage to his children and grandchildren.
My mother, three daughters and one son survived him, but only my sister, Mrs. Crittenden, and myself are now living. His only son, Lieutenant George Bibb Burnley, of the Fourth Kentucky Infantry, C. S. A., was wounded at Shiloh and recovered, but was killed on the second of Janary, 1863, in the famous charge of Breckenridge's Division at the battle of Murfreesboro, gallantly fighting for the Southern Cause.
How to cite:
Burnley, Martha A., "ALBERT TRIPLETT BURNLEY ", Volume 014, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 150 - 154. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v014/n2/article_5.html
[Accessed Sun Nov 23 12:20:53 CST 2008]
