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Thanks to Dr Graeme Morton for alerting
me to this article at
http://guelpharts.ca/news_detail.php?nid=556
How is Woodlawn Memorial Park connected to
the great Robbie Burns? Read on to find out...
Isabella
Ferguson Brown, great-granddaughter of the famous
Scots poet Robbie Burns, died in 1870 at the age of 10. Her remains
lay in the plot of a family friend, Alex MacKenzie. Named after
his celebrated father, Col. Robert Burns, eldest son of Jean Armour
and the famous Scots bard, Robbie Burns, was born in 1789 at
Ellisland, Scotland. As a young man he went to London to work for
the excise office. His daughter, Jane Emma Burns, was born there in
1831. In 1833, Robert returned with his family to Dumfries,
Scotland, his father’s home. Raised and educated in Dumfries, Jane
Emma married Thomas Brown, a foreman carder in the tweed mills
there. They had two daughters, Isabella Ferguson brown and Jean
Armour Burns Brown. The bard’s grand-daughter, Jane, her husband and
their two daughters came to Canada about 1870. The family settled
in Guelph. They attended Chalmers Church. Friends of her father’s
family, the Mackenzie’s, from Dumfries, had come to Guelph in 1851.
MacKenzie was a clerk of the surrogate court here. The new
immigrants and the MacKenzies became close friends. Thomas worked at
the McCrae Woolen Mills. Soon after their arrival in Guelph, and
while they were still getting settled, their daughter Isabella, fell
ill and died of a heart disease. She was ten years old. Alexander
MacKenzie allowed them to use a grave in his family plot in the
Union (Woodlawn) cemetery. The child was buried there on May 10,
1870. Several years later the Brown family returned to Scotland.
Jean Armour Burns Brown, young Isabella’s surviving sister, lived
for many years in her great-grandfather’s original home. She took
part in all notable events in Scotland honoring him. Jean was the
curator of the museum built at Ayr to honor Robbie Burns. Jean was
his last legitimate descendent. Young Isabella’s grave remained
unmarked until May 25, 1958 when the Jane Kennedy auxiliary, Order
of the Scottish Clans, had the MacKenzie family monument inscribed
to read: ISABELLA F. BROWN, GREAT-GRANDDAUGHTER OF
ROBERT BURNS, POET The information about the history
of this inscription was placed in the archives maintained at Burn’s
cottage in Alloway, Dumfrieshire, Scotland. The Robbie Burns Society
of London, Ontario erected a bronze plaque at roadside in the
cemetery to indicate the location of the child’s grave. (take the
first road to your left after circling the fountain going towards
the Mausoleum) “If there is another world, he lives in
bliss. If there is none, he made the best of this.” –R.Burns This
information and more can be obtained from: Guelph Mercury, June 9,
1973, December 18, 1978 and January 29, 1988 and from the Golden
Triangle Weekly, January 24, 1986.
For more information, contact:
Vicki or Ceska
info@woodlawnmemorialpark.ca
519-822-1271
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