Oregon Pioneer of 1847.
She was born Margaretha Rebecca Ann Baltzell on Oct 28th, 1800 in Frederick County, Maryland and baptised on Dec 16th, 1800, at the Evangelical Reform Lutheran Church, Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland, where she would marry John Burkhart on March 7th, 1816, (Reverend David F. Shafer [Shaeffer] officiating,) at the age of 15. She was the daughter of John Jacob and Charlotte [aka Charity] (Christ) Baltzell of Frederick Co., Md. Her new husband was 29 years old, and a veteran of the War of 1812; he took her to live in Sullivan County, Tennessee where his brother, Peter, lived, as well as other family members. They had the first of twelve children one year later, Raymond Sanderson, in Hawkins County, where they remained for 13 years. During that time, they had four more children, Calvin Peter, Coriolanus "Crill" Domaras, Leander Columbus, and Charlotte Elizabeth. According to his family Bible, they were in Brandenburg, Meade Co., Kentucky, in 1828, where little Volumna Vitturia was born and died, then in Hancock Co., Illinois in 1832 and in Carrollton, Greene Co., Illinois in 1835, where Catherine Jane and Loueasa Matilda were born. The last four children, John Baltzell, Rebecca Ann, Augustus Henry and George Washington were born in Burlington, Des Moines Co., Iowa from 1838 through 1845.

The exact names, dates and locations of birth for their twelve children are as follows:
Raymond Sanderson, b.Feb 2, 1817, Hawkins Co., Tennessee
Calvin Peter, b.Feb 24, 1819, Hawkins Co., Tennessee
Coriolanus Domarus, b.May 8, 1821, Hawkins Co., Tennessee
Leander Columbus, b.Nov 14, 1823, Hawkins Co., Tennessee
Charlotte Elizabeth, b.Jun 8, 1826, Hawkins Co., Tennessee
Volumna Vitturia, b.Jun 1, 1829, Meade Co., Kentucky
Catherine Jane, b.Dec 1, 1832, Greene Co., Illinois
Loueasa Matilda, b.Jun 15, 1836, Greene Co., Illinois
John Baltzell, b.Feb 3, 1838, Des Moines Co., Iowa
Rebecca Ann, b.Jan 5, 1841, Des Moines Co., Iowa
Augustus Henry, b.Aug 29, 1843, Des Moines Co., Iowa
George Washington, b.Oct 18, 1845, Des Moines Co., Iowa.

In early 1847, Rebecca followed her husband one last time, this time it being a five month and 2,000 mile journey across the Plains and the Oregon Trail to the Willamette Valley of the Oregon Territory, arriving October 16th of 1847 at what would become Albany, Linn County, Oregon. She was the mother of twelve children, almost 47 years old and a true Oregon Pioneer. She had survived, as had almost all of her children, which was unusual in the early and mid - 1800's. She once more set up a new household for herself, children and husband where she and John lived out the rest of their lives. John died in 1856 at the age of 63. On March 9, 1878, Congress passed an act to compensate all veterans or their heirs (widows and children) for the service to the United States. John had already requested and been denied "bounty land" which each veteran had been entitled to. He then filed under the Donation Land Claim act. When the pensions were authorized, Rebecca, with the help of Raymond, her eldest son, applied for a widow's pension of $8.00 per month. It was denied, although John had kept the original statement written by his commanding officer which verified that he had served honorably from 1813-1814. Letters went back and forth and copies of her marriage license, affidavits and "summaries of proof" were sent from Oregon to Washington, D.C. to no avail until congressmen became involved, not just because she was a dear, elderly lady known and loved by many, but, in a touching letter penned by her son, Raymond, on June 27, 1883 (5 years since the pension had been applied for and the family had been advised that the claim was being processed) when he wrote "I wish you would look after this business as soon as possible and find out the cause of the delay as ...[she]..has lost all her property by fire and needs it now if it ever can be got, she is old and not likely to live long and if this ever does her any good it must be had soon." I also found a form from Nov 10, 1856 that gave the correct information regarding his service under Cpt.King in the Tennessee Militia, stating that his last name had been misspelled as "Bruckit". Sadly, the name was misspelled as "Buckhart", although his commanding officer had spelled it correctly when giving him his discharge paper. The widow's pension of $8.00 per month was finally approved on July 26, 1883.
Rebecca lived to be 83 years old, passing away on July 27, 1884. She was affectionately known as "Grandmother Burkhart" in her later years and loved by all. She is buried next to her beloved husband at Riverside Cemetery, Albany, Linn County, Oregon. She is my maternal great, great, great grandmother.
Corrected on November 28th, 2013, amended Jul 30th, 2015, pension information found and added Sep 29th, 2017.
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