I am seeking information on Canna Burnham, Jr. b. 1855 who supposedly died c1925-1930 at Youngstown, Florida. He married Texas Missouri Hawthorn b. 1860 d.1952, Fort Myers, Florida. They had several children including twin daughters Arminda Burnham and Artimissia Burnham b. Jan. 1895. Arminda married Mathew Ellis Nixon (1888-1976) and Artimissia married 1st to Andrew McCrary Nixon (1880-1957) and they had two sons and divorced. She then married Dr. Newton Elmer Coffield (1867-1934).
This family lived at Youngstown, Florida during the 1920s. Canna Burnham died in the 1920s and is supposedly buried there in the Youngstown Cemetery. Artmissia (Burnham) Coffield died there in 1930 and is also buried in that cemetery. Arminda (Burnham) Nixon died between 1920-1930 but I do not know when. I am trying to find anything on these people in the 1920s and am trying to verify exact dates of death.
I have searched for death certificates on all of them and came up empty. I have visited the Youngstown Cemetery and have found no marked graves for any of them or their spouses.I have searched the online editions of the Panama City papers and have only found the obituary of Dr. Coffield (more a detail of the accident rather than an obituary). I visited the courthouse to find any mention of an estate and came up empty. I looked for deed records to see if they bought or sold property during this time, I also found nothing.
Living children and grandchildren have verified the above information as much as possible, but I am not having any more luck. Does anyone have any suggestions for a resource that might shed some light on finding more information on this family? I appreciate any help or advice.
Canna Burnham, Jr. last shows up in the 1920 U.S. Census at Dowling Park, Suwannee County, Florida. He had moved there from Jackson County, where he was born. I checked Jackson County and found some deed records but nothing on estate. I do need to check Suwannee County. I am thinking he and his wife probably moved to Youngstown to be near their family when he was sick. Thank you for any help. Sincerely, Hank Burnham

Did you try a census lookup for 1930 for all the names you have given or the initials of the names? Sometimes I have found family members listed on the census with initials instead of their name.

Most Public Librarys have the census online through Ancestry and that would be an easy way to see where they were in Florida in 1930.

Did you try the family trees at the top of the Rootsweb page as they have Newton Elmer Coffield and his parents, first wife and child for Virginia. I didn't try any of the other surnames you have listed.

If you haven't already you might want to see if anyone has anything posted at LDS Family Search. Just be careful because much of what is listed at this website is not researched or they may even have the person connected to the wrong family or wrong siblings or children. The 1880 census listed at the LDS site and on Ancestry and Rootsweb site and others which all belong to the LDS site has many errors so make sure you check the actual scanned census to make sure the transcription is correct.

Thank you for your assistance. I have this information from the census records. I am trying to determine any information on their deaths. When and where they died. If you run across anything please let me know. Thank you for your assistance. Hank

O.K. if you go up to top of this page and click on Family Trees and type in surname- Coffield and first name- Newton a page will pull up that has two Newton Coffield's.

The second one shows a wife and a child. That must have been the first wife.
The person at this page also found Elmer Coffield on the 1870 census with his parents when he was only 3 which would make him born 1867 as you said.
I'm not sure if the note they show means his name was spelled different on the 1870 census but it could have been.
As you see it also list Fort Myers Lee County Florida.

Here is a death record for a Elmer Coffield born in 1921 but must have died in Fort Myers, Lee Co. Florida. This must be a relative to the one you listed above.

Found at SSDI on Rootsweb
Elmer Coffield
Birth Date: 14 Apr 1921
Death Date: 22 Jun 1988
Social Security Number: 271-12-9098
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Ohio
Death Residence Localities ZIP Code: 33917
Localities: Fort Myers, Lee, Florida





You don't mention if Canna Burnham has another first or middle name but I did find this on the 1880 census when he would have been 25 years old being born in 1855.
You didn't say where he was born either so I am just giving what I found.


There are about 150 men listed in this household and all of them are miners, laborers, saw mill workers and other type workers. These men are from all over the U.S. and many other countries so a company must have advertised in a newspaper for help in the late 1870's to 1880.

This could very well be one of the gold rush areas found in the late 1870's to 1880 and a company hired all these workers to work the mines and build cabins and other things for them. You know whole towns sprung up in just a few weeks when gold was found in an area and companies or men that had money moved in to do business and provide whatever was needed at the time.

I just finished reading Will Hobbs book "Jason's Gold" on Friday night. It has true facts about the Klondike gold rush in Alaska in 1896 to 1899.
Business men moved in and bought up land and started businesses, saw mills, started providing food, clothing and supplies, started food canteens and many even hired men to work the mines for them, so maybe this is what happened in this area of California.
The book says that 100,000 people set out for the Knondike but only 40,000 made it as far as Dawson City and only 4,000 are thought to have found gold and only several hundred actually struck it rich.

My cousins grandfather was in Napa Valley California in 1880 and on the census it says he is a gold miner so I think this could very well be the case with many famlies during that time.

Makes me wonder if we they had another great gold find somewhere in the U.S. would people be as crazy today as they were back then. Of course with an ounce of gold selling for about $1100 right now this country would probably go crazy.


1880 Bodie Mono California Census
Head Of Household - Samuel Moody
Matthew Burnham age 25 Laborer
Born Fl Father Born GA Mother Born Fl


Good luck with your research and sorry I couldn't find more but I searched all the sites available on the internet. Hope maybe some of this will help.


By the way if you will list your post a little different you might find someone with an Ancestry database that can help you find their deaths.

In the Subject line put:
Need lookup for death records/burial records/cemetery for Joe Blow in Fl.

In the message put every person you are looking for and list them like this to make it easier on the researcher to help you.

JOE EDWARD BLOW Born app 1900 FL Died app 1950 FL.
JANE BLOW Born app 1915 AL Died app 2000 FL
HONOR B.SYSTEM Born app 1860 OH Died app 1925 FL
SALLIE SYSTEM Born app 1865 VA Died app 1945 AL

O.K. if you go up to top of this page and click on Family Trees and type in surname- Coffield and first name- Newton a page will pull up that has two Newton Coffield's.

The second one shows a wife and a child. That must have been the first wife.
The person at this page also found Elmer Coffield on the 1870 census with his parents when he was only 3 which would make him born 1867 as you said.
I'm not sure if the note they show means his name was spelled different on the 1870 census but it could have been.
As you see it also list Fort Myers Lee County Florida.

Here is a death record for a Elmer Coffield born in 1921 but must have died in Fort Myers, Lee Co. Florida. This must be a relative to the one you listed above.

Found at SSDI on Rootsweb
Elmer Coffield
Birth Date: 14 Apr 1921
Death Date: 22 Jun 1988
Social Security Number: 271-12-9098
State or Territory Where Number Was Issued: Ohio
Death Residence Localities ZIP Code: 33917
Localities: Fort Myers, Lee, Florida





You don't mention if Canna Burnham has another first or middle name but I did find this on the 1880 census when he would have been 25 years old being born in 1855.
You didn't say where he was born either so I am just giving what I found.


There are about 150 men listed in this household and all of them are miners, laborers, saw mill workers and other type workers. These men are from all over the U.S. and many other countries so a company must have advertised in a newspaper for help in the late 1870's to 1880.

This could very well be one of the gold rush areas found in the late 1870's to 1880 and a company hired all these workers to work the mines and build cabins and other things for them. You know whole towns sprung up in just a few weeks when gold was found in an area and companies or men that had money moved in to do business and provide whatever was needed at the time.

I just finished reading Will Hobbs book "Jason's Gold" on Friday night. It has true facts about the Klondike gold rush in Alaska in 1896 to 1899.
Business men moved in and bought up land and started businesses, saw mills, started providing food, clothing and supplies, started food canteens and many even hired men to work the mines for them, so maybe this is what happened in this area of California.
The book says that 100,000 people set out for the Knondike but only 40,000 made it as far as Dawson City and only 4,000 are thought to have found gold and only several hundred actually struck it rich.

My cousins grandfather was in Napa Valley California in 1880 and on the census it says he is a gold miner so I think this could very well be the case with many famlies during that time.

Makes me wonder if we they had another great gold find somewhere in the U.S. would people be as crazy today as they were back then. Of course with an ounce of gold selling for about $1100 right now this country would probably go crazy.


1880 Bodie Mono California Census
Head Of Household - Samuel Moody
Matthew Burnham age 25 Laborer
Born Fl Father Born GA Mother Born Fl


Good luck with your research and sorry I couldn't find more but I searched all the sites available on the internet. Hope maybe some of this will help.


By the way if you will list your post a little different you might find someone with an Ancestry database that can help you find their deaths.

In the Subject line put:
Need lookup for death records/burial records/cemetery for Joe Blow in Fl.

In the message put every person you are looking for and list them like this to make it easier on the researcher to help you.

JOE EDWARD BLOW Born app 1900 FL Died app 1950 FL.
JANE BLOW Born app 1915 AL Died app 2000 FL
HONOR B.SYSTEM Born app 1860 OH Died app 1925 FL
SALLIE SYSTEM Born app 1865 VA Died app 1945 AL