KSHB 41 reporter Claire Bradshaw covers eastern Jackson County, including Blue Springs and Grain Valley. Share your story idea with Claire.
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A Blue Springs archivist is sharing the remarkable story of Jeremiah Burnett, a Revolutionary War soldier who helped shape the history of the city through his family's legacy.
Kay Burris, an archivist with the Blue Springs Historical Society, said Burnett is directly connected to the city's origins.
"Well, Jeremiah Burnett was the father to Rhoda Harris. Rhoda and William are actually the founders of Blue Springs," Burris said.
Burnett enlisted as a volunteer soldier in 1777 at Valley Forge alongside his brother.
"You have to remember when Jeremiah signed up as a volunteer, he was 16 years old, no screens, no really formal education, he went out and did what he thought was right with his brother, who was 18, they, they wanted freedom, they wanted to be able to cast their own destiny and give their children a better life, and look what it became," Burris said.
Burris said the conditions Burnett and other soldiers endured at Valley Forge were brutal.
"The hardship that they had to go through at Valley Forge... As I've been reading more and more information about it, and understanding when they went AWOL, this was not uncommon at that time. They had run out of food, they, their clothing was actually tattered, they had no, there was just no supplies," Burris said.
Burnett went on to build a life as a farmer, raising a large family and outliving 3 wives.
"So, in the harsh reality of life for them, he was a remarkable person," Burris said.
His daughter Rhoda later made a journey back to Virginia to bring her aging father west to Fort Osage.
"Rhoda decided to take one of her sons, Samuel, back to Virginia to go meet her father, who was 90 years old at the time, and they went over trails to Virginia, picked him up and came back over trails to St. Louis, and at St. Louis they got on a river boat," Burris said.
The riverboat journey came with its own dramatic chapter.
"One of the stories they talk about is while they're on the riverboat, they have a wreck. He gets separated from Rhoda. She cannot find him. She goes into a town and finds him singing and dancing a jig at ninety years old, entertaining the townspeople," Burris said.
As the nation marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, Burris said Burnett's story feels especially close to home.
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