Helen Burgess – A Deck of Ancestors

52W Mark V – Week 11: Martha Burns

Continuing in my adventures in brick walls, this week I look at my Great x4 Grandmother, Martha Burns.

Several decades ago, while visiting my Aunt Diana, she told me that she understood that through our Nelson line we had Scottish ancestry and that Robbie Burns was one of our ancestors. I was thrilled, because Burns was one of my favourite poets. So when I learned that I had an ancestor surnamed Burns I was excited, because it meant what my aunt had told me was plausible.

Unfortunately, like many family legends, the story does not hold up to scrutiny.

First of all, none of the Bard of Ayrshire’s children – legitimate and illegitimate – were named Martha. Furthermore, the Nelsons weren’t Scottish. They’re Irish. Martha was born in 1787 in Muff, Donegal, Ireland. As far as I know, Martha never left Ireland, where she may have died in 1865. Martha’s son Robert and his wife Elizabeth left Ireland for Scotland in their mid twenties and remained there for five or six years before emigrating to America. It’s possible that Robert brought his mother to Scotland, but I don’t know why he’d leave her there when he left for the States.

Like my other seventh generation Irish ancestors, I have precious little information about Martha Burns. So like the others, anything I can say about her does not have a great foundation. It is hardly definitive.

For decades, I have seen trees naming a Mary Slaak or Slaught as Martha’s mother. While this person has been persistently named and connected with Martha in many trees I’ve seen over the decades, I’ve never seen any evidence to support it. I’ve seen various fathers attached to Martha, but I don’t recall seeing one that has been consistently named or been attached for very long.

Martha married Samuel Nelson sometime around 1810. The only child that I know of was their son Robert (my Great x3 Grandfather). I have seen the names of other children come and go, but there’s never been much if any evidence to support the connection. Heck, I don’t think I’ve seen much compelling evidence to indicate that Martha was Robert’s mother. Most of the information I have is as far from the Genealogical Proof Standard as you can get.

Martha died on September 25, 1865. Again, I have little reason to believe that’s correct, but it’s the date I’ve seen most consistently set out over the years. Of course, consistency could only mean that the same mistake has been repeated ad nauseum. Is Martha my ancestor? Did she even exist?

All in all, I’d like one less brick in the wall. 🎶

52W Mark III – Week 22: Creativity

In addition to being a scientist, my Aunt Diana was also liked to create. My mother has several of her paintings hanging in my parents’ home. In addition to amazing books and sciency items, gifts from Aunt Diana would occasionally be pieces of art.

I don’t have any photos of Aunt Diana’s paintings (I’ll have to rectify that next time I visit my parents), but I do have some of the little art pieces she gave to me when I was a kid. However, in going to find them, I came across these pysanky – Easter eggs – my great aunt Connie made.

Aunt Connie is my mother’s last living aunt. She was married to Ralph Burgess (1935-1999), my grandpa Leo Burgess’s youngest brother.

Until recent years, Aunt Connie made pysanky – Easter eggs. While associated with Ukraine, pysanky are common to many slavic cultures. I have not researched Aunt Connie’s lineage, but if memory serves her heritage includes Germans from Russia, people from the various German states who settled in the Russian Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. This included colonies in what is now Ukraine.

Writing about Aunt Connie, I am reminded of two things. First, she also made some of the most delicious sausage I’ve ever eaten. Second, I owe her a letter!

52W Mark II – Week 9: Gone Too Soon

I’ve written many times about my aunt, Helen Diana Burgess. Coincidentally, I wrote a significant piece about her for Week 9 of the 2022 52 Ancestors Challenge. Sadly, she left us too soon, at age 48. Despite the short period of time I had her in my life, Aunt Diana made an incredible impact on me. Even though she died 23 years ago, it is rare for a day to go by in which I do not think of her. Whether it’s a favourite book, a memento, or piece of art, there is always something that brings back fond memories of my aunt. I am frequently sharing stories of her with my wife and children.

Moreover, as an avid genealogist, I frequently see queries on social media asking about paper preservation and proper storage of family heirlooms. Diana was a leading conservation scientist, whose expertise included paper, so these queries always remind me of her. I wrote about this last year in Week 40, “Preservation”.

Unfortunately, in the early 1990s, when she was at the height of her career, Diana developed lupus. She was a senior conservation scientist at the Canadian Conservation Institute at the time, but was forced into early retirement by the effects of the disease in 1998. Aunt Diana passed away a year later. At the annual conference of the Western Association for Art Conservation following her death, several of the presentations were dedicated to her memory.

Diana was also godmother to one of my brothers.

Many of my interests that Aunt Diana nurtured in me I have passed on to our children. Some of the most treasured books I have from my childhood were gifts from her. I still have those books and my kids have read and re-read them voraciously. While Diana could not have known it, not only did she foster my development as a person, but that of my kids as well.

52 Weeks – Week 40: Preservation

This week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge theme is “Preservation”.

I often see queries on social media asking for recommendations or advice about the preservation of paper documents and other media. Those questions always make me miss my late aunt, Helen Diana Burgess, who was a conservation scientist. She’d have known the answer. I wish I had gotten more conservation tips from her.

Helen Diana Burgess (1951 – 1999). I love this photo because it shows her at work doing cool science stuff.

The professional world knew her as Helen Burgess, to me she was my Aunt Diana. I wrote about her in Week 9, “Women”. Sadly, she passed away in 1999.

Fortunately, I learned early on from her about things like the acids in paper and what not to do with photographs. Based on advice I had received from my aunt, I created one of my very first pieces of preservation, an album of compiled family photos, past and present.

The cover is boring but the contents are awesome.

I started putting this album together sometime in the mid-1990s. As a result, I cannot remember where I bought the materials, the brand names, or other specifics of the items I used to create this album. I don’t even know if the retailers I visited are still in business. Clearly I was more focused on preserving the family memories than preserving the methodology and materials.

What I can say is that the book is about 11″ x 17″ and contains several hundred pages of very high-quality acid-free paper. I used photo corners Aunt Diana recommended that were acid-free, with adhesive that would likely result in minimal harm to the paper and photos over time and remain in place for years. I even recall buying the types of pens she recommended for the project. I only use the odd numbered pages, so photos don’t press against each other when the book is closed.

I organized the book by starting with myself and then my four siblings. I then have a section for my parents, followed by sections for each set of grandparents.

On the first page I’ve included the card with my birth announcement. I mounted it on the page in such a way that you can see this *delightful* photo of me taken shortly after I was born.

It progresses to great grandparents and then onto direct ancestors beyond my great grandparents. I then move on to aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, and then finally cousins.

I am quite proud of the results so far. While I haven’t worked on it in twenty years, it remains very much a work in progress. There are many blank pages waiting to be filled and there is no shortage of material to add. In the time since I last worked on it I’ve married and had kids. While one sister was married when I started this, she has had two children since I set it aside. One of my brothers has married and has a child of his own. Other marriages have occurred and many babies have been born. There are also graduations and other milestone occasions that could be included.

I can say with certainty that the materials are well preserved. The pages are crisp and white and the photos look as good as they were when I started. I see no signs of discoloration, fading, wear, or decay. Hopefully this book has many long decades ahead of it.

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