I AM looking for family history and possible relatives of my great-grandfather’s sister, Christina Burns, who had Rhu and Helensburgh connections.
Christina was the sister of my great-grandfather, John Burns (1834-1883) who had an adventurous life — he was a gold miner at one point but became a baker — and died in New Zealand.
Christina, who was born in 1833, was married in Rhu, then Row, on July 1 1851 to planter’s son Gavin Fullarton, who was born around 1810 in Demerara, Guyana.
Gavin, an accountant, died at La Retraite, 6 Suffolk Street, on June 14 1894 at the age of 84, and Christina died at Dunbeg, 60 James Street, on January 29 1922 aged 89.
I believes they had five children: John, born about 1853, married but no children; Katherine, born January 31 1855, married name Rowe, living at Rocky Lane, Heswell, Cheshire, in 1929; Christina, born September 17 1857 at Rhu, known as ‘Dick’, lived in Germany in 1929; Isabella Alice Mary, born November 5 1860 in Rhu; and Sarah, born September 12 1862 in Rhu.
A relation of Christina’s was Mrs Effie B.McKim, of Braehead, 9 East Montrose Street.
John Burns, who was born in Rhu about 1834, came to New Zealand at about 18 or 19 years of age and died aged 49 of lung disease on August 19 1883 in Westport on the west coast. He left a wife, from Yorkshire, and three children, but only his son subsequently had children.
John Burns’ family in Scotland seemed to keep an eye on his children in New Zealand. His son, my grandfather, was sent kilts by Christina Fullarton and was supposed to go back to Helensburgh to be educated, but decided to stay in New Zealand.
I am not sure if all my information is correct but I would love to find out more about the Fullarton family and what they have done over the years.
Jennifer Lamm
New Zealand
