My Family Tree

Thomas A. Burns married Hannah Ellis from Lot 12, in 1864. They had a son George Charles baptized on June 11 1869 in the Church of England, under the name Burns. He could be the Thomas Burns who sold 53 acres of land to James Yeo in 1870.

Thomas, Hannah, George (age 12), James, Josephine, William, Maud, Thomas and Georgiana were in Lot 6 in the 1881 census. Thomas was 40, or born on the Island about 1841. A close neighbour in the census was Nathaniel Morrill: on the Meacham's Atlas for 1880, the farm next to Morrill's was under the name Thomas A. Brown.

Thomas (age 58, born 1833) and Hannah were in the same place in 1891, in Lot 6 near O'Leary, with Hattie, George, James, William, Thomas, Maud and Georgianna. Thomas was working as a ship carpenter, and the boys were farming.

Sarah Georgianna, daughter of Thomas from O'Leary and born in 1879, was baptized in 1899 under the name Brown in the Church of England.

On the 1891 census, Thomas said his father was born on the Island and his mother in Scotland. When Mary Brown Sippel from PEI, who had a brother Thomas A on the Island, died in Ilinois, she said her father Thomas was born on the Island and her mother Flora in Scotland.

It was sometime after the 1891 census that the family changed its name. Thomas and Hannah were under Brown for the 1901 and 1911 census records.

The gravestone for Thomas and Hannah and their son Charles was under Brown.

Thomas left 5 acres of his farm, his cows, hens and household furniture to Louise Ellis of O'Leary Station. The money in his bank accounts with the Bank of N.S. in Summerside and O'leary he left to his daughter Maude Brown who was his executrix. The residue of the estate to be shared equally among the members of his family (Unnamed) The will was written on 23 Sep 1916 with witnesses A.J. Matheson and G.M. Matthews.

Brown or Burns?

Preserving the Past, the history of Cascumpec, says:

"Thomas Burns, a young Scottish sailor, served on a Man O'War during a time when it was much easier to sign for service than it was to be released. According to family tradition, the ship was sailing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the east coast of PEI when Thomas Burns decided to escape from a life which did not appeal to him. After a daring swim, he came ashore near Souris. He did not wish to return to the ship, so to conceal his identity he changed his name to Thomas Brown. He worked his way west to O'Leary where he met and married Hanna Ellis of that place."

This does confirm that the family changed its name, but the records do not support this story. The Thomas who married Hannah Ellis said he was born on the Island, and that his father was born on the Island as well. Perhaps the sailor was Thomas' grandfather?

I have been unable to locate Thomas' brother Charles in Avon, Massachusetts.