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Person

Burton C. Mellencamp

Also Burton C. Mellencamp · B. C. Mellencamp · B. C. Mellen-camp

Draft — sources verified, prose evolving

TypePerson
Born1900-07-02
Died1981-09-01
ErasModern era
On this page
Person
Born
1900-07-02
Died
1981-09-01
Work
County Agricultural Agent
Eras
Modern era
Concepts
agricultureenvironmenteconomycommunityheritage

Summary

Burton C. Mellencamp (1900–1981) was the Charlevoix County agricultural agent. A 1924 Michigan Farm Bureau report names him as the incoming county agent, which is what ties the initials-and-surname bylines in the Beaver Island material to a full name.1 An indexed Social Security record reports his exact birth and death dates.2

A September 1932 report identifies him as the agent who accompanied P. J. Rood on Beaver Island soils work, and carries his byline.3 A June 1941 announcement of the second County Agents Summer Conference at Beaver Island is signed by the same initials and surname in the same county-agent role,4 as is the July 1937 bull-club report — B. C. Mellencamp, County Agricultural Agent — which describes a Beaver Island visit to four bull-association animals.5

History

Mellencamp was named Charlevoix County’s incoming Agricultural Agent in a June 1924 Michigan Farm Bureau report.1 His documented Beaver Island work spans the following two decades of that tenure: he accompanied soils specialist P. J. Rood to the island in September 1932 for five fertilizer experiments,3 visited four bull-association animals on a July 1937 tour of the island’s bull clubs,5 and signed the June 1941 announcement of the second County Agents Summer Conference held at St. James.4 Michigan State Board of Agriculture minutes from August 1945 record Edward F. Rebman replacing Mellencamp as Charlevoix County Agricultural Agent after Mellencamp’s transfer, closing out a Charlevoix tenure of roughly two decades; the minutes do not name his destination.6

Evidence and limits

The external Farm Bureau report supplies the full given name and the same Charlevoix County agricultural-agent role, so the identity bridge is direct. The indexed Social Security result supplies exact dates and is consistent with his MSU-documented work from 1923 through the 1960s; it is retained as an index source rather than as a replacement for a primary birth or death record.

Open questions

  • What civil or obituary records supply Mellencamp’s birth and death information?
  • Did the agent publish results from the five alfalfa experiments?
  • Did the 1941 conference produce proceedings or an extension report?
  • What records identify the four Beaver Island bull associations and document the planned sire exchange?

See also

Footnotes

  1. Michigan Farm Bureau, “Charlevoix Gets New County Agr’l Agent,” June 27, 1924. ↩ ↩2

  2. Locate Ancestors, “Mellencamp index,” entry for Burton Mellencamp. ↩

  3. Charlevoix County Herald, September 2, 1932, “FIVE FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS STARTED ON BEAVER ISLAND.” ↩ ↩2

  4. Charlevoix County Herald, June 20, 1941, “County Agents Summer Conference At St. James, Beaver Island.” ↩ ↩2

  5. Charlevoix County Herald, July 30, 1937, “Beaver Island Bull Clubs Visited Last Week.” ↩ ↩2

  6. Michigan State Board of Agriculture, minutes, August 16, 1945. ↩

The dated record

3 dated events · 1900–1981These years on the timeline →

Sources

  1. Charlevoix County Herald, September 2, 1932, “FIVE FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS STARTED ON BEAVER ISLAND.”
    Identifies B. C. Mellencamp as County Agricultural Agent accompanying Rood; the article’s byline is B. C. MELLENCAMP. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · Charlevoix_County_Herald_1932-09-02
  2. Charlevoix County Herald, July 30, 1937, “Beaver Island Bull Clubs Visited Last Week.”
    Signs the report as B. C. Mellencamp, County Agricultural Agent, and describes the July 21–22 visit to four bull-association animals. The externally documented full-name and Charlevoix-county-office bridge identifies this as Burton C. Mellencamp. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · Charlevoix_County_Herald_1937-07-30
  3. Charlevoix County Herald, June 20, 1941, “County Agents Summer Conference At St. James, Beaver Island.”
    Signed by B. C. Mellencamp as County Agricultural Agent and announces the second County Agents Summer Conference at Beaver Island. The externally documented full-name and Charlevoix-county-office bridge identifies this as Burton C. Mellencamp. No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.
    charlevoix · Charlevoix_County_Herald_1941-06-20
  4. Names Burton C. Mellencamp as the new Charlevoix County Agricultural Agent in June 1924. Together with the same initials, surname, county, and office in the Beaver Island reports, this establishes the expanded name; it does not give life dates.
  5. Records Edward F. Rebman replacing B. C. Mellencamp as Charlevoix County Agricultural Agent after Mellencamp’s transfer, corroborating the office continuity; it does not identify the transfer destination or give life dates.
  6. Searchable transcription reports Burton Mellencamp, Social Security number 374-42-8888, born July 2, 1900 and died September 1, 1981. The rare full name and the chronology independently documented by Michigan State University sources make this a strong match, but the index is not a primary death certificate.

Added 1 August 2026 · revised 5 August 2026. Recent changes

Cite this article

Beaver Island Archive, “Burton C. Mellencamp”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/people/burton-c-mellencamp/, accessed [date], citing Charlevoix County Herald, September 2, 1932, “FIVE FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS STARTED ON BEAVER ISLAND.” (and 5 further sources listed on the page).

Last revised 2026-08-05. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.

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