Elisha Cantrell BURGE was born on 2 Oct 1819. He died on 23 Sep 1873. He was buried in Centralia, Illinois. He is buried in the Burge Cemetery, which is northeast of Centralia. The Fairview Southern Methodist Church was 1/2 mile east of the Burge home and the Burge Cemetery was on the northeast corner. The first one buried there was Richard Hill (the grave is not marked), a relative of Mary Landrum Purdue (Elisha's wife). Elisha's father must have been in Tennessee in 1840, as Elisha returned there to bring his father and mother to Illinois. We do not know his father's name, but his father visited back and forth between Elisha's and Jim's (Elisha's son) places. Elisha's father may have died at the Jim Burge home in Wayne County, Illinois and been buried there. He was married to Mary Landrum PURDUE on 21 May 1840 in Salem, Illinois. They came to Illinois by covered wagons, drawn by sturdy oxen from Tennessee, and settled on a farm. Mary rode behind Elisha on a horse to Squire James Marshall, Justice of Peace, to be married. Mary Landrum PURDUE was born on 13 Jan 1822. She died on 8 Mar 1910. She was buried in Burge Cemetery, Centralia, Illinois.

Elisha built the original house on the farm in 1863. The cost of the building materials were $475.20. Richard Jarrett (Elisha's son) hauled the bricks for the building from Richview with a team of oxen. Elisha (also known as "Hostler") drove cattle from Tennessee to Chicago on horseback. Elisha and Mary's youngest seven sons settled close by as each got married. The oldest, John Nelson (who never married), went about 20 miles east of Kell, Illinois and settled there. Burrell Perry moved to Decatur, Illinois, as did Orlena Ann and her husband. William Henry was in the Civil War during 1865. He came home and married Jane Farthing and they settled near Elisha and Mary.