Burnett, Thomas R.

Thomas R. Burnett (1842-1916), newspaperman, journalist, and Church of Christ evangelist, moved to Texas from Tennessee in 1850. While serving in Polignac’s Brigade, Texas Cavalry, in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Burnett wrote and published a compilation of poetry and short stories, The Confederate Rhymes. Besides this compilation, Burnett produced several works of religious poetry and religious dialogs during his lifetime.

Following the Civil War, Burnett became a journalist, founding the Bonham News and the Ladonia Enterprise . Burnett also established the Christian Messenger in Bonham in 1876 after his conversion to the Church of Christ. Before moving to Dallas in 1888, Burnett traveled Texas extensively, preaching and debating. In Dallas, Burnett continued to publish the Christian Messenger, even after it merged with the Gospel Advocate in 1894. By 1898, Burnett started Burnett’s Budget, a religious publication, which originally began as a column written by Burnett in the Gospel Advocate . He published Burnett’s Budget until his death in 1916.

Source: Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "Burnett, Thomas Robert," http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu92.html (accessed July 1, 2010).