So early as the eleventh century the name of Burnes appears in the English records. In Domesday Book Godric de Burnes is named in the year 1050 as the owner of wide domains in Kent. In Rymer's Fadera is recorded a bull of Pope Nicholas IV., whereby John de Burnes, knight, is in 1290 welcomed to Rome as envoy of Edward I. And according to Dugdale, in his Monasticon, William de Burnes is, in a charter of Edward II., included among the early benefactors of the hospital founded at Eastbridge, in Canterbury, by Thomas à Becket. Curious as pointing to the early origin of the surname, these notices do not otherwise avail our present inquiry, since it is certain that the family in which we are interested did not derive even remotely from an English source. The Scottish surname, Burns or Burnes, is formed from the compound word Burn-house, signifying a dwelling or croft resting upon the margin of a rivulet or small stream. Farm homesteads and private dwellings styled Burnhouse are common in all the lowland counties, especially in the counties of Fife and Kincardine, while the family name Burnes or Burns is or was common in every district in which existed the territorial appellative. In the parish and other registers of Kincardineshire the surname. is variously spelt Burnes, Burnas, Burnase, Burnace, and Burness,' and members of the Kincardineshire stock seem to have derived from a common ancestor at or about the farm of Burnhouse, now called Kair, in the parish of Arbuthnot. In the parish register of Arbuthnot are the following entries: At the kirk of Arbuthnot, the 23rd May 1635, William Burness, in the parish of Kineff, and Janet Milne, in this parish, were married. On the 11th April 1647, John Burnace of Boghall, in Arbuthnot, and Margaret Stevinson, in the parish of Glenbervie, were proclaimed in order to marriage. To John Burnace and his wife were baptized at Arbuthnot, Margaret, on the 15th October 1648; James, on the 22nd December 1650; and Robert, on the 20th January 1656. At Arbuthnot, on the 23rd March 1656, the banns of marriage were proclaimed between Robert Burnes and Margaret Mill in 1 In the Orkneys there are three places known as Burness-a small lake in the parish of Westray, an estate in the parish of Firth and Stenness, and the old parish of Burness, now annexed to that of Cross in the island of Sanday. But Burness or Burns, so far as we can ascertain, does not exist as a surname in any part of the Orkneys. 2 There was another Burnhouse in the parish of Montrose, of which the name was abbreviated into Burnes at or prior to the middle of the seventeenth century. On the 20th February 1661 Alexander Turnbull, son of Peter Turnbull of Stracathro, gave infeftment in liferent to his wife Jean Hunter, daughter of David Hunter of Burnes, in the northmost fore-tenement of land on the east side of Murray Street, Montrose. -Burgh Records of Montrose, Seisins, vol. 1656-1670, p. 112. Glenbervie, and on the 29th April of the same year John Burnes in Boghall of Arbuthnot and Agnes Jamie in Garvock were married. On the 26th of May 1664 Thomas Burnace and Mary Gib were married at Arbuthnot; and on the 6th September 1698 David Burness had baptized at Arbuthnot a daughter, Jean. At or prior to the middle of the seventeenth century, George Burnace, from Arbuthnot, settled at Barnsen Hill, in the parish of Benholm. He had a son baptized on the 2nd April 1662, but his name is in the register incidentally omitted. Tradition affirms that he had a son Robert, who was father of Robert Burnes, solicitor in Stonehaven. The latter married Isabel Meldrum, by whom he had a son, Robert, who became Sheriff-Substitute of Kincardineshire. The Sheriff's wife was Anne Cushnie. During the seventeenth century members of the Kincardineshire sept were variously employed. On the 5th April 1637 John Burnes, "servitor" or factor to Sir Alexander Strachan of Thornton, is named as a witness to an heritable bond granted by the Earl of Traquair, Treasurer of Scotland, to Alexander Straitoun of that Ilk. Patrick Burness, "Clerk to the Presbytery of Brechin," attests a bond, whereby, on the 26th August 1659, John Lindsay of Edzell grants "ane hundreth merks and six bolls of oatmeal," etc., to the parish reader at Lochlea. Colonel John Burnes is mentioned in the Act of 1690 for "rescinding the forefaultures and fynes since the year 1665." 2 We have found members of the Burnes family at Arbuthnot intermarrying with parishioners of Glenbervie, a course perfectly natural, since these parishes are contiguous. An early Burnes settlement at Glenbervie becomes known to us in the following narrative. 1 In his Notes on the Name and Family of Burnes, p. 13, Dr. James Burnes states that the instrument was in the possession of his father. 2 Ibid. p. 17. 3 Acta Parl. Scot., ix. 166. |