The Burnses

     When I first started working on our genealogy, I was told there were 4 Burns brothers and they were born in Boston.  This turned out to be geographically incorrect.  First records in the USA for the Burnses were found in Stoughton, Massachusetts and they begin not with the four brothers, but with their father and his brother. .

     There were two brothers, Timothy and Daniel Burns.  According to Timothy's gravestone, they were were natives of Killquane, parish of Ballimona, County Cork Ireland.  After doing some searching, I was unable to find the place on any map of Ireland. With the help of volunteers specializing in Irish genealogy at the Irish Genealogical Society International, it was determined that the name place I was seeking was likely Kilquane, Ballinamona, County Cork.

     In records for the area, there were Burnses living there.  On one of our early visits to Ireland Jim and I stopped at the church in what is now called Mourne Abbey. There were Burnses in the record, and they did spell it B-u-r-n-s!!  People always wonder about that. There weren't any records for Timothy or his brother. The records don't begin until June of 1829.  Daniel was older than Timothy, and if the information given on Timothy's marriage certificate is correct, he was born about 1827.  Correspondence with one of the descendants in the area eliminated one of the Patricks as the father of our two. There are plenty of our given names in the record such as:  Jeremiah, Patrick, Timothy, Daniel and John. If the families here followed the naming pattern, the parents might have been Patrick and Ellen, but we will never know! In 1852 according to the Griffith's Valuation, a Daniel and a John lived in Kilquane.  So close, yet so far. The question remains!
     The next record is of Timothy in the 1850 Federal census in Stoughton, Massachusetts. His occupation is recorded as a "boot crimper".
     There is an intent to marry record in 1852 for Timothy Burns and Elizabeth Barry in Stoughton also.  On the same page was also an intent to marry for John Barry and Hannah Mansfield. I believe that John Barry is Eliza's brother.
  

     The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has marriage records for both Timothy Burns and Elizabeth Barry and for John Barry and Hannah Mansfield. The marriage record gives the fathers' names for both Timothy and Elizabeth.  Timothy's father is Patrick and Eliza's is Garrett.  In the Mansfield-Barry record, it also reveals that John Barry's father is Garrett as well. More on this family later.

Timothy Burns & Eliza Barry Marriage Records

    The above certificate from the Commonwealth likely has inaccurate information on it.  The intent to marry was dated 19 November 1852. Timothy and Elizabeth were married on the 20th of November 1852 according to the church records. (So I believe the above certificate is in error for the month).  Records from the Archdiocese of Boston reveal that the marriage took place at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Boston. The witnesses to the marriage were Patrick Sweeney & Ellen Sweeney.  Eliza's brother was also married on 20 November 1852 by the same priest--Rev. J. Fitzsimmons.

     The records for the baptisms of the older were not found at Sts. Peter and Paul.  The Commonwealth has birth records for Patrick (7 Mar 1854) and Daniel (16 Dec 1857).  There is no record for Elizabeth Frances, though census records indicate she was born in Massachusetts. Patrick is our ancestor.

     In the interim, it appears that Daniel made his way west to Minnesota.  There was a sale of property in Town 112, Range 25W (later known as Tyrone Township) to him in Minnesota in November 1856. He appears in the 1857 Minnesota Territorial census. By 1860, Timothy and family has joined him.

     The rest of the children born to Timothy and Eliza were John, Timothy, Ellen, Honora, William, Jeremiah, Mary Jane and Agnes. 

     Timothy died on 5th of August 1872.  Eliza is left with 10 living children.  In the 1875 Minnesota Census, she is recorded as "Widow Burns".   Interestingly, in the 1880 census, her brother is living in DerrynaneTownship. One may speculate that he came to help out his sister. By 1887, they were back in Stoughton, Massacusetts.  John Barry's wife, Hannah, died that year.

     Eliza died in 1885. Her obituary follows:

Mrs. Timothy Burns, who had been a widow for some years and who resided near the line of Tyrone and Derrynane township, died on Monday evening at the age of 50 years and was buried at St. Thomas yesterday. She had been more or less sick for the past year. Mrs. Burns and family were among the earliest settlers in her neighborhood. She was a woman of great energy and industry, and was generally esteemed as a good woman. She leaves a family of six or seven children.

Le Sueur Sentinel, April 30, 1885

     Timothy's brother Daniel married Mary Murray.  There is sometimes confusion in the records about her last name, but that stems from the fact that her mother remarried. They had 7 children. There is a sad story attached to Daniel.  He committed suicide in his barn on the farm. 

Suicide of Daniel Burns

Daniel Burns, aged between 50 and 60 years, committed suicide at his home in Tyrone township on the road from St. Thomas to Belle Plaine, on Sunday morning a week ago. A son of Mr. Burns and another boy had been watching a sick horse on Saturday night until 12 o'clock, when they were relieved by Mr. Burns, whose lifeless body was found the next morning hanging from a rail which had been placed across the inside of his granary. No possible cause can be assigned for the act as he had never manifested anything unusual. Mr. Burns had lived in Tyrone township from its earliest settlement and was always a very peacable, upright citizen, and it is not known that he had an enemy or was in enmity with any person. He leaves a wife and three children

Le Sueur Sentinel, April 17, 1884