The theme for this week is shock. What was something shocking or surprising that you'd found in your research? The Oxford Languages/Oxford English Dictionary gives one definition of shock as a sudden upsetting or surprising event or experience. I chose to focus on the sudden and surprising part of the definition. I experienced a surprising event several months ago when I made this discovery. Although, I have to say I was shocked too! I heard my Great Great Great Grandfather's voice from the past....
I have been working on the Burrows family history now for several years. When I began my research, all I had to go on was information passed down to my Great Grandmother Vere Burrows Hansen from her father, Alexander Burrows. This was the information that my Auntie Claire had when she began her genealogy work. He was born in Sligo, Ireland, somewhere near Riverston/Manorhamiliton in 1847. He came to the United States as a young man in the 1870's. Beyond that, I did not know who his parents were, if he had siblings, or what circumstances led to his immigration. His background was a mystery!
Since then, DNA matches have helped open the door just a little bit. I have been in touch with several wonderful Burrows distant cousins who either had family from Sligo, or have visited the area in search of their branches of this tree. It turns out, there were many Burrows in the area, and they tended to intermarry with cousins, muddying the waters quite a bit. But, with ongoing correspondence back and forth we have begun to piece together a working tree with the help of two wills and several newspaper articles. I have previously written about the beginning of this journey (11-13-2020 Alexander Burrows, An Irish Mystery and Some DNA Clues).
Several months ago I was fortunate to come across more family ephemera and artifacts that a cousin had borrowed over 40 years ago from the Hansen family in Grass Valley, California. I had no idea what was in her collection of items. It was a surprisingly serendipitous find! As I was going through albums and pictures I came across a pack of old envelopes bound by a fragile rubber band that were full of old correspondence. It took awhile to unfold each letter, quickly peruse each one to see dates, locations and names, and put them in chronological order. What slowly came to light was these letters were not only from family members of Alexander Burrows, but most were from Ireland where remaining relatives still lived at the time. Chills literally ran down my spine as I read them. I was shocked to realize that after 140 years they still existed, and once again thanked my Great Grandmother who kept everything! As I read them, I heard voices from the past.
The last several months my DNA cousins and I have been working to transcribe the oldest letter, and were able to connect some dots on the working tree. It took awhile, as Alexander Burrows' handwriting was difficult to read and we had no context of the letter. But, here is the transcribed letter, along with our notes and thoughts. This letter was written on July 18, 1878 by Alexander Burrows of Drum (the father to my Great Great Grandfather Alexander Burrows). A death had occurred in the family, and there were concerns over wording in the will, and the dispersal of property. At the time this letter was written, my Great Great Grandfather was a lawyer in California. So, it was natural that a father would write to his son for legal advice.
The area around Sligo where the Burrows lived and owned property in 1889.
The letter reads as follows:
Drum July 18th 1878
Dear Alick,
As the old man is now dead and gone I mean to look after the manorhamilton property at once. Before Harloe Phibbses death he had an opinion on it as the deed now stands and the opinion was that limitation was against it at present but after my death the next ear (heir) would com(e) in for it I did not let him no (know) anything about the erasure that you mead (made) in the deed which is after the death of Addam Eliott and Jean his wife and (?) (now or and?) as I have Attorney (Jeavis or Deavis?) imployed he intends going to Dublin some of those days to look after the draft of the deed in the registry office to see will it correspond with deed before the erasure was made as the deed was long registered before it (,) now if the draft does not agree with the deed before the erasure was maid (made) I intend having it sent to you to have the words after the death of Addam Eliott and Jean his wife inserted again as no one noes (knows) where the word should be placed better than you do the hole (whole) thing is do you think it will rech (reach) you in (safety?) As soon as you receive this let me have an answer from you at once
Your affectionate Father
Alex Burrows
The "old man" was Adam Elliott, Alexander's father in law who died in 1878 and was registered at Manorhamilton. His daughter was possibly Fanny Francis Elliot. His wife was possibly Jean mentioned in the letter. Adam would have been 97 years old when he died. We are working to verify this by searching deeds in Dublin. It looks like Alexander was trying to make a revocation or a change in this will, which is what the erasure refers to.
This is a snippet of a newspaper article published in 1896 talking about four small houses in Manorhamilton which may have been the Adam Elliot property that was registered to him in 1857. This property was set aside for the upkeep of Alexander Burrows' son Adam who was in the asylum in 1889.
Harloe Rutledge Phibbs was a solicitor in the area, as well as a relative. He turned up as a witness at marriages and attended family funerals according to newspaper research. He passed away in 1876, two years before this letter was written. We are not sure how he is related, but there is a connection. The middle name of Rutledge appears in this family, as well as the Burrows family.
In his will of 1889 Alexander of Drum disposed of property in the town of Manorhamilton to be held in trust with rents going towards the upkeep for his son Adam who was living in the Sligo Asylum. It looks like this property was handed down to him from his wife's side of the family and he used it later on to make sure his son was taken care of. In his will he also disposed of property in Largan and Drum. The proceeds from the Largan and Drum properties were divided amongst his children.
Alexander ended his letter with "Your affectionate father". Even though this was more of a business type letter, I could still hear his voice from the past as I tried to decipher his hurried handwriting and unravel what he was trying to say. He had a pressing matter on his mind, and he needed to take care of the will. He trusted his son who was far away in America. He sounded urgent. In the end, it appears that everything turned out the way he wanted it to, as he was in possession of that property when he wrote his final will right before his death in 1889. The plight of his son Adam is mentioned in more letters, which I have not finished transcribing. It seems there was some family drama after Alexander of Drum's death!
I will continue this part of the Burrows story under the title Burrows Working Tree. This post is the first in many to come, as I unravel more voices from the past!
The following tree is our "working tree". It will change as we do more research, fit more pieces together and verify family members. This is the basic tree as of now.
Alexander Burrows of Carrowcrin (based on his will of 1834)
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Alexander Burrows of Drum (based on his will of 1889) m. Fanny Francis Elliot (possible)
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1. Margaret Burrows Porteus (married Rober Porteus) of Clara
2. Jane Burrows (married Adam Elliott White) of Sligo
3. Adam Burrows (lived at the asylum in Sligo)
4. Alexander Burrows (married Elizabeth Jane Hurd in America) my G G Grandparents
5. John Elliott Burrows (came to America)
6. Thomas Burrows
7. Ismena Burrows (possibly spent time in America but went back home to Ireland)
8. Elizabeth Burrows (came to America and married Herman Bucher) in New York.
A more current view of Manorhamilton, Ireland.
Remarkable the letters are still in one piece and legible after all this time. Do the old envelopes still have their postage attached? Thanks for sharing!
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