The Cemetery on the Nith: George and Edward Burgess

Edward Burgess 1788-1841

One of the earliest New Brunswickers to settle in Blenheim Township was Edward Burgess. Edward brought his young family to Upper Canada from New Brunswick about 1820. Twelve years later he was joined in Blenheim Township by his brother George.

Edward Burgess was born about 1788 in Norton, Kings, New Brunswick, the youngest child of John Burgess (1750-1789) and Jane White (1752-1797). John died shortly after Edward's birth, while Edward's mother died when he was eleven.  About 1809, Edward married Rachel Doyle (1791-1861), daughter of Hugh Doyle (1750-1824). In 1816, Edward received a grant of 260 acres in Sussex Parish, on the same day his brother John received his grant.

Edward and Rachel had ten children, all of whom survived into adulthood. Their oldest, Hugh, was born about 1809 in Sussex, while their youngest, Rachel Mary, was born in Blenheim on 13 Jan 1832. Two of Edward and Rachel’s children married cousins, children of Edward's brother George.

On 20 Jul 1820, Edward sold his grant of 260 acres to James Secord for £200. Edward and Rachel appear on the passenger manifest for the brig Nancy which arrived at New York from Saint John on 12 Aug 1820. No children are listed on the manifest, however, it is known that their son John Chalmers Burgess was born in New Brunswick in 1819, while their next child, Samuel Goselin Burgess, was born in Upper Canada in 1822.

Edward died in 1841 and was buried at Riverside Cemetery beside the Nith River. Rachel married John Beriah Tree (1781-1880) on 15 Jul 1843 and was living in East Zorra, Oxford in 1852 with her husband and two youngest sons. When she died in 1861 in East Zorra, she was buried at Riverside. None of their children were buried at Riverside, however, two sons are buried at nearby Drumbo Cemetery.

George Burgess 1782-1863

Edward's brother George, was born in New York City in October of 1782. He was baptised at Trinity Church on 27 Oct 1782, the same place his sister Elizabeth had been baptised two years earlier on 13 Aug 1780.

George married Elizabeth Wilcox (1791-1855) about 1810 in Norton, Kings, New Brunswick.  Their first child, John Henry Burgess, was born in 1812. George and Elizabeth had eleven children. All except the youngest were born in New Brunswick.

George was granted 324 acres in Sussex Parish, Kings, New Brunswick in 1813. After the birth of his son Thomas in 1831 but before the birth of his daughter Maria in 1834, he moved his family to Upper Canada.

The 1857 Tremaine Map shows various members of the Burgess family owning Concession 6 Lot 12 south of the village of Drumbo as well as the SE 1/4 of Concession 6 Lot 13 and the NW 1/4 of Concession 5 Lot 12.

George Burgess died in Blenheim in 1863 and was buried beside his wife Elizabeth at Riverside. Three children of George and Elizabeth are also buried there. Two sons and a daughter are buried at Drumbo Cemetery.

Edward and George’s father, John Burgess, was born in Monmouth, New Jersey about 1750. John was a Loyalist who during the Revolutionary War served in the New Jersey Volunteers, a British provincial military unit raised in New York in 1776 by Cortlandt Skinner. John served in the 1st Battalion and likely joined when the battalion was in Monmouth, New Jersey in early 1777.

When the British Army pulled back to New York later that year, the New Jersey Volunteers were assigned garrison duty on Staten Island.

On August 22, 1777, John was captured during the Battle of Staten Island, a failed raid by Continental Army troops commanded by Major General Sullivan. John was one of 80 prisoners taken when Sullivan’s forces attacked the 1st Battalion from behind at dawn.

Edward Moran, Sandy Hook Lighthouse,
Oil on Canvas, 1876

John spent the next two years in prison. Upon his release he returned to New York and to active duty with the New Jersey Volunteers. John was stationed at the Sandy Hook Lighthouse until the Spring of 1780 when his company returned to Staten Island.

John's marriage to Jane White likely occurred prior to his enlistment. Their first child, Sarah, was born about 1778, possibly while her father was a prisoner. Their daughter Elizabeth was born in New York in 1780, followed by George in 1782. John and Jane's youngest children, John and Edward, were born in New Brunswick after the war.

In August 1783, Sir Guy Carleton received orders from London to disband the provincial corps. Officers would be retired on half-pay, grants of land would be provided in Nova Scotia to any willing to settle there, and provisions would be supplied for one year.

The 1st Battalion of the New Jersey Volunteers and their families departed New York on 15 Sep 1783 on the Duke of Richmond and arrived at Saint John Harbour on 27 Sep 1783. They were officially disbanded on 24 Oct 1783.

John and his family, however, were on board the Ann which departed New York on 8 Jul 1783. In June 1783, John had received a commission as a First Lieutenant, however, this was not a military appointment. Refugees departing New York for Nova Scotia were organized into "militia" companies, although the companies had no military function. John was assigned as First Lieutenant in Captain Robert Chillas's company.

John David Kelly, United Empire Loyalists Landing at
Saint John, New Brunswick, c. 1935

The Ann arrived at Saint John Harbour on 24 Jul 1783. Upon arrival, John would have been given “two pairs of stockings, two pairs of mitts, two pairs of shoes, also an axe and spade.” The Fort Howe commissariat would also provide provisions until the following October consisting of bread or flour, salted beef or pork, oatmeal, butter, dried peas, suet and salt.

John drew a town lot in Parr Town and would have lived there that winter under canvas or in a crude hut. Tents were covered with spruce boughs to provide some protection from the cold. The following spring, John was granted 200 acres in Norton Parish, Kings County.

Regrettably, John died in 1789, only a few years after arriving in New Brunswick. His daughters Sarah and Jane married and remained in New Brunswick, as did his son John. In the 1851 Census, the younger John is listed as a farmer in Studholm Parish, Kings County. With him is his wife, Margaret McDonald, and three of their adult children. It is believed that John died on March 19, 1862, however, the source for this date is unclear.

It is also possible that John died in December 1855. A coroner's inquest held at Studholm into the death of a John Burgess concluded that John was a "confirmed drunkard" who "committed suicide by cutting his own throat." This, however, may refer to the John Burgess who came to New Brunswick in 1835 and was also living in Studholm in 1851.

While John, the father of George, Edward, and John, did not live to see his children reach adulthood, his numerous descendants can still be found in Kings County, New Brunswick and Oxford County, Ontario.