SEVEN EPOCHS IN BURNS'S LIFE. FIRST EPOCH—ALLOWAY. Seven years were passed in the Auld Clay Biggin at Alloway, from the 25th of January, 1759, until the Whitsuntide of 1766. SECOND EPOCH-MOUNT OLIPHANT. Eleven years (from his seventh to his eighteenth year) were passed in the farm at Mount Oliphant, from the Whitsuntide of 1766 until the Whitsuntide of 1777. THIRD EPOCH-LOCHLEA. Six years (from his eighteenth to his twenty-fourth year) were passed in the farm at Lochlea, from the Whitsuntide of 1777 until the Martinmas of 1783. FOURTH EPOCH-MOSSGIEL. Three years (from his twenty-fourth to his twenty-seventh year) were passed at Mossgiel, from the Martinmas of 1783 until the Martinmas of 1786. FIFTH EPOCH-EDINBURGH. Nearly two years (from his twenty-eighth on into his twenty-ninth year) were passed in Edinburgh, or in tours to the south, and into the West Highlands. SIXTH EPOCH-ELLISLAND. Three years (from his twenty-ninth to his thirty-second year), from the Whitsuntide of 1788, nearly the end of 1791, were passed at the farm of Ellisland. SEVENTH EPOCH-DUMFRIES. Five years, from the end of 1791, until the 21st of July, 1796, when he died (at the age of thirty-seven years and six months), were passed in the town of Dumfries, first in the Wee Vennel, now known as Bank Street, and finally in a narrow street near the church, now called Burns Street, in memory of its having been the last place of residence of the National Poet of Scotland. THE FAMILY OF WILLIAM BURNES. WILLIAM BURNES and AGNES BROWN were Married together, 15th December, 1757: Had a son,.............. Had a daughter,............Isabella,......... 27th June, 1771." Robert.. GILBERT'S CHILDREN. Gilbert Burns married Jean Breckenridge, (a relation of Sir James Shaw), who was born in Kilmarnock, 6th February, 1764, and had issue :— William James... Thomas ..born..May 15, 1792..died... ..Nov. 22, 1797.. 1839 ..Jan. 23, 1871 ,, ..May 23, 1799.. ..Nov. 16, 1800..,,..Sept. 14, 1815 ...July 6, 1802.. ..Feb. 26, 1827 ..Sept. 12, 1805.. ..June 8, 1807.. ..Jan. 4, 1827 ..Oct. 30, 1816 CHILDREN OF ISABELLA (MRS. BEGG.) William............... born..July 29, 1794..died.. May 15, 1864 ..April 27, 1796.. ..Oct. 11, 1867 John .... Robert Burns........ Gilbert.................. (In Kilmarnock). 1798.. ..July 25, 1876 ..Feb. 16, 1802.. Isabella Burns....... ..April 16, 1804..,, ..July 7, 1822 James Hope...........", ..Feb. 2, 1809.. ..Nov. 2, 1840 Edward Hamilton... "..Aug. 12, 1811..,, ..May 2, 1824 GRANDCHILDREN OF MRS. BEGG. John Begg, eldest son of Robert Burns Begg, Schoolmaster of Kinross, became partner in Kinneil Ironworks, Linlithgow, and died 28th September, 1878. Robert Burns Begg, fourth son of Robert Burns Begg, born 1st May, 1833, is a Solicitor in good practice in Kin ross. THE POET'S ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN. Elizabeth Burns (dear-bought Bess), daughter of Elizabeth Paton, was born in November, 1784; married John Bishop, overseer at Polkemmet, and died on January 8th, 1817, leaving several children. Elizabeth Burns, daughter of Ann Park (a niece of Mrs. Hyslop of the Globe Tavern, Dumfries), was born on 31st March, 1791; married John Thomson, a retired soldier; and had issue : Agnes became Mrs. Watson; Eliza became Mrs. M'Lellan; and Maggie, the wife of the late David Wingate, the well-known Scottish Poet. LIVING DESCENDANTS OF BURNS, IN 1895. Ir may not be as widely known as it ought to be that there are members of the direct line of Burns's family still living who form connecting links with a past that is generally deemed, in a vague way, so far removed from the present as to be more a chapter of national history than a record of personal experience. Mrs. Sarah Burns Hutchinson, the only surviving member of the first family of Lieutenant-Colonel James Glencairn Burns (the fourth son of the poet), who lives in Cheltenham with her half-sister, Annie Burns, the only child of his second marriage, is perhaps the sole individual living who directly connects the poet's household with the present generation. Born in India, she was sent home an infant on the death of her mother, and placed under the care of her grandmother, "Bonnie Jean," with whom she lived till the death of the latter, at the date of which event she was twelve years old. Her son, Robert Burns Hutchinson, is the only male descendant of Burns in the direct line living at the present day. He is employed as a clerk in a shipping insurance office in Chicago; and it will perhaps be remembered that about eighteen months ago he was set upon in that city by a gang of robbers, and almost murdered. An appeal on his behalf was at that time made through the medium of a section of the Scottish Press, to which the response was anything but gratifying. During the time he was incapacitated, the support of his household was cheerfully undertaken by his devoted mother. We have received several communications from the estimable lady. References to the family genealogy are scattered through the correspondence, but so mixed up with matters of a more private nature, that we deem it best to submit them in our words in a collected form:-Robert, the eldest son of the poet, had one daughter, Eliza, who was taken out to India by Colonel James Glencairn Burns in 1833, where she married a Dr. Everitt of the Madras Medical Service. They returned from India in 1839, and Dr. Everitt died the following year. Their issue was a daughter, who married Mr. Mathew Thomas, a connection of her father's family. She lives at Martinstower, Killiwick, County Wexford, Ireland, where her husband farms the Everitt estate. They have no family. Colonel William Nicol Burns married Catherine, daughter of R. Crone, Esq., Dublin, and died without issue. Lieutenant-Colonel James Glencairn Burns married, firstly, Sarah, daughter of James Robinson, Esq., of Sunderland, by whom he had issue, one son and two daughters, of whom Sarah Burns Hutchinson is the only survivor. She was born in India. Her mother dying at her birth, she was sent home an infant and brought up by her grandmother "Bonnie Jean," with whom she lived till the latter's death. She married Dr. B. W. Hutchinson, who died in Australia, and her family consists of one son and three daughters. This son, Robert Burns, the only living male descendant of Burns in the direct line, is, as we have said clerk in a shipping insurance office in Chicago. He is married, and at the present date his issue is one daughter. The eldest daughter, Annie Vincent Burns Hutchinson, married a Mr. James Scott, who possessed vineyards near Adelaide, Australia. They have no issue and still live in Australia. The second daughter, Violet Burns Hutchinson, married, in 1889, George Gowrney, M. A., headmaster, junior department, of Berkhamstead Grammer School, Hertfordshire. They have no family. The third daughter, Margaret Constance Burns Hutchinson, is unmarried, and lives with her mother at Cheltenham. Lieutenant-Colonel James Glencairn Burns married, secondly, Mary, daughter of Captain Beckett of Enfield, who died in 1845, leaving one daughter, Annie Burns. She is unmarried, and lives with her sister, Mrs. Sarah Burns Hutchinson, in Cheltenham. Mr. M'Naught gives a number of interesting letters from Mrs. Hutchinson, the last being dated so recently as December 8th, 1893. BURNS'S BOOK OF POEMS. "Excerpt from Minute of Meeting of the Royal Caledonian Hunt, held at Edinburgh on 10th January, 1787:— Present Lord ELIBANK, Preses. The Duke of Gordon. Lord Maitland. The Earl of Glencairn. Sir Archibald Hope. |