Barent Burhans ^{2 3 4 5 6}

   FamilySearch ID: LZBP-1TS.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Occupation: social and recreational adviser on 17 Jan 1930 in Ankara, , Ankara, TUR. ¹

2. Census in 1950 in Vancouver, Clark, WA. ⁷ The 1950 census recorded at 414-A East 39th Street: Barrett Burhans, social work for public welfare, 55, living with wife Estelle B., social work for public welfare, 57. He was born in New York and she in Ohio.

3. Residence: on 5 Sep 1957 in Vancouver, Clark, WA. ³

4. Obituary: Poughkeepsie Journal: obituary of Barent Burhans on 30 Dec 1963 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, NY. ⁵ Barent Burhans, Formerly of City Barent Burhans, 65, a native and former resident of Poughkeepsie, died Dec. 14 in Vancouver, Wash., where he had resided since 1938.

Son of the late George W. and Carrie Flagler Burhans of Poughkeepsie; he was a graduate of Poughkeepsie High School. He attended Springfield (Mass.) College.

While residing here, he was associated with the Young Men's Christian Association, where he worked with the late Frank O. VanNess. He was a member of the Poughkeepsie Friends Meeting and a veteran of World War I. For the last several years he was a social worker for the State of Washington.

Survivors include his wife, Mrs. Estelle Beecher Burhans; a daughter, Mrs. James Tonder, Rockdale, Tex., and four sisters, Mrs. Ada Smith and Mrs. Althea Merritt, Pleasant Valley, Mrs. Ella Lawson, Albany, and Miss Gertrude Burhans, Roseland, R, 3. Funeral services and burial were in Vancouver.

5. LifeSketch: Shared on Ancestry.com by Burhans descendant SueJBF, on 3 May 2013,. Barent's parents (George and Caroline) were devout "Silent Meeting" Quakers whose lineage was published in Samuel Burhans Jr.'s book, Burhans Genealogy, indicating close connections with the Holland Dutch Quaker community.

Although Barent's father owed and farmed 100 acres (mostly in award-winning apples) the family lived in a large home called "The Maples" in nearby Poughkeepsie, N.Y. There Barent's father also operated a milk delivery business and his mother (Caroline) took in boarders. At the time of Barent's birth three of his sisters were married and raising families.

His paternal grandparents lived in the home also and occupied the only main floor bedroom. As devote Quakers they used the "old" (Bible) language. His grandfather would admonish him with, "Barent, dost thou think God would look kindly on thee?" Barent felt that this was worst than a spanking.

Twenty-five were served meals in the home which boasted the largest (backyard) oven in the area. All of the sisters, including the married ones who lived nearby, helped prepare meals and bake. Barent's job was to supply the 10 fireplaces in the home and the outdoor oven with fuel.

Barent's only brother, Flagler, drove the milk wagon, but at 17 years old he left home never to return. Then Barent at age 6 took over the route (the horse knew the way), and by the age of 12 he was the sole operator of the business. Barent never spoke of having a playmate. It seems as though the family horses were his best friends. He spent a lot of time with them. As a teenager he raised award-winning corn, cared for the horses and helped in the apple orchard.

Barent's high school interests were in sports and art (mostly cartooning). He was very active in the YMCA, winning state contests in wrestling, swimming, and team sports, but he enjoyed gymnastics the most, practicing at home and at the farm. He told of filling a barrel with dirt and jumping on and off. Each day he would take out a shovel of dirt and continuing jumping upon and out until he could jump into and out of the empty barrel. (Is this one of his tall tales?) After high school he worked at the YMCA (the Dairy business having been sold). When he was 18 he attended Springfield College (a YMCA institution) in Springfield, Mass. As he could not take a horse, he rode a bicycle, loaded with his belongings, the 100 plus miles up and down hills to reach the middle of Massachusetts.

During WW I Barent enlisted in the Army Cavalry and was sent to Officer's Candidate school, and later to France with the Field Artillery where he served as a balloon observer. He found French an easy language to learn. Because he was an excellent horseman, the Army sent him to the French Riding school for further dressage training so that he could establish an Army "show" Cavalry Team. When there was no longer any funding for this program, he transferred back into the Field Artillery as Captain, a reserve rank he retained until WW II.

Around 1929 he was chosen as an authority on parks, playgrounds and recreation to advise the budding "Democratic" Turkish government at the request of Mustafa Kemal Ataurk to the U.S. Government. In a sense it was a sort of diplomatic service.

After WW II Barent returned to the New York City area, first as a salesman of the new Wearever cookwear for Westinghouse, and he also played on the first New York professional football team, which won the one game they played. His next job was as head of the New York state basketball commission, and at the same time, YMCA secretary in Huntington, (Long Island), N.Y. where he met Estelle.

Both Barent and Estelle were social workers.

Barent married Estelle Margarite Beicher, daughter of John Edward Biecher and Louisa Margarite Mayer, on 28 Aug 1928 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, NY.^{1 2} (Estelle Margarite Beicher was born on 18 Jan 1892 in Marion, Marion, OH ^{1 2 8 9 10} and died on 4 Aug 1987 in Vancouver, Clark, WA ^{9 10}.)