THE RICHARD BRUSH CONNECTION TO
THE BURTIS, FINNEY, RHODES, BINFORD, LOFTIN, BAKER FAMILIES
OF TEXAS

Compiled by: Harold Thomas Rhodes

Richard Brush, born most likely in England of Puritan parents. Names of his parents have not been discovered yet. Probably came to Massachusetts as a servant or apprentice to Joseph Cooke (ancestor of Laura Fidelia Jones) to escape persecution by the Royalists. He was a witness on the deed the citizens of Huntington, LI drew up in purchasing land from the Indians on Long Island. It is believed he was a mate on a ship and not available at Huntington at all times. Most likely the mate to Ambrose Sutton.

He was a home and land owner by 1 January 1668 and married Joanna Sammis about this time. He was townsman, collector, and trustee for the town from 1692 to 1705. Large land owner in the Huntington area.

Several of his descendants, John Burtis, Gilbert Brush, and Elkannah Brush, moved to Utica, New York area to get in on the boom caused by the building of the Erie Canal. It should be noted that Laura’s father, Joseph Jones, was at Utica during the boom. When the boom went to bust. Joseph Jones moved to Huntsville, TX before 1849. John Burtis moved first to Ohio then to Fayette County, Tennessee. Later one of his sons, John Smith Burtis, moved to Texas. He married Alice Finney daughter Laura Fidelia Jones. Gibert Brush died in Vorona, New York. Elkannah Brush moved to Texas in October 1834 and received a Spanish Land Grant near Refugio on Sarco Creek; later became involved in the Texas fight for independence. He took part in the capture of Goliad and on 10 October 1935 signed the Goliad Declaration of Independence.

By 1845 the Descendants of Richard Brush of Huntington, LI had put their mark on the State of Texas and local counties in Texas, as the Brush and Burtis Families had put their mark on Long Island.

Harold Rhodes, Great-grandson of Laura F. (Jones)(Finney) Rhodes and the GrGreat-grandson of Elkannah Brush.

References:
Madison County Historial Commission, A History of Madison County, Texas. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company, 1984

The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record Volume LXVI, 1935, pages 204, 217, and 368

Long Island First Italian – 1639 “Pietro Caesar Alberto” “BURTIS”, by Berne A. Pyrke.

The Descendants of Thomas and Richard Brush of Huntington, Long Island, compiled by Stuart C. Brush with Russell B. Brush, Baltimore: Gateway Press, Inc., 1982