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| Burnett 712 |
Burnett, Wisconsin, is located on state highway 26 between Waupun to the north and Juneau to the south. It lies just west of the Horicon Marsh. About 250 people live there.
According to The Romance of Wisconsin Place Names and Wikipedia, the area was named for Ellsworth Burnett(e), a surveyor. The book also relates this story about Burnett and Colonel James Clyman. (Below I piece together the accounts found in the Burnett and Clyman listings.)
They walked from Milwaukee to the east fork of the Rock River to the area where Theresa now stands. The men bought a canoe from a squaw and traveled to the Ox Bow (not sure where this was). When the squaw's brave returned home and found his canoe gone, he (and one other?) went to look for the men who had bought it. He got close to Burnett, who was in camp, and shot him. Then he waited for Clyman who was gathering wood to come back to camp. Clyman discovered what had happened and turned to run but was wounded by a bullet. After running several miles through the woods, Clyman came to a fallen tree. He leaped over it, then dropped down behind it. The Indian jumped over the tree and ran on. Clyman remained quiet until about midnight and then resumed his flight. After several days of wandering, he found his way back to Milwaukee. Two Indians later told this story of the murder and chase to Solomon Juneau, fully corroborating the account by Colonel Clyman, who later returned to his camp site area to settle.
This story falls into the category of Too Good To Check.