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One of the daughters of John Robbins married a man by the name of Humphries, Uncle Billy, who became the head of one of the very prominent families in the early settlement of that portion of Red River County, what is now Rosalie and Bogata, formerly known as Maple Springs.

[The Burkes Family]

One of the most highly respected and prominent families of early Red River County, a man of vast help in its early days, was Hon. Joseph H. Burkes. He was a native of Georgia, born February 10, 1838. The father, Joseph H. Burkes, Sr., was born in Meriweather County, Georgia, but moved to Lowndes County of that State, where he lived for several years. He served in the Florida War in 1836 as colonel of a regiment raised in southern Georgia in 1845[1835?]. He came to Texas and served three terms in the State Senate as a member from Bowie and Red River Counties, and one term in the lower house of the Legislature in 1859. He died during this term of service. His wife, Miss Winford Cade before she was married, was a native of Alabama, and was of English extraction as was her husband.

Joseph H. Burkes was the sixth of a family of ten children and was educated in Clarksville and Boston, Texas. He was a farmer most of his life and was at one time one of the largest land owners in Red River County. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E, 11th Texas Cavalry, Confederate Army, under the command of his brother, Col. John C. Burkes, served west of the Mississippi River until 1862, then joined the


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The History of Clarksville and Old Red River County
Pat B. Clark   1937