Biographical Sketch of W. H. BURNS (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadel- phia, PA, 1893, pp. 787-8. "W. H. BURNS, whose record as a progressive business man is one of achieve- ment and remarkable success, is a son of Peter and Ellen J. (Dyson) Burns, and was born at Berwyn, in Easttown township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, November 5, 1857. He attended the common schools of Easttown and Tredyffrin townships, and after receiving a good English education he learned the trade of a carpenter with William H. Webster. In 1878, at the end of his three years' apprenticeship, he commenced life for himself, and in a short time engaged in contracting, which he has followed ever since. His ability and industry soon carried him forward from the building of dwelling houses to the erecting of public buildings, and within the last eleven years his career of success has been as steady as it has been remarkable. He has erected sixteen stations on the Pennsylvania railroad, beside building the fine Berwyn Presbyterian church, and many elegant and tasteful residences in different parts of the county. Mr. Burns owns and operates the Berwyn planing mill, in which he prepares most of his building lumber, and in his business, including his contract help and mill force, he employs forty-five men, whose weekly wages aggregate six hundred dollars. He has built up a contract business in his line of work second to none in the county and equaled by few in the State. W> H. Burns is of that class of self-made men who have relish for hard and persistent labor, and possess a genius for overcoming obstacles and making circumstances the obedient servants of their will. He has won success by system, energy and the ability to read the future effects of present causes in the business world. He is a repub- lican in politics, and a member and trustee of the Presbyterian church. "On July 20, 1881, Mr. Burns married Ximena M., daughter of Enoch S. and Mary J. Wells, of Berwyn, Pennsylvania. To Mr. and Mrs. Burns have been born six children, five sons and one daughter: Austin M., Lotta M., Willie D., Carroll H., Roy W. and Louis W. "The Burns family is of Scotch descent, and Isaac Burns, the paternal great- grandfather of W. H. Burns, was a native of Chester county, where he died in July, 1830. His wife was Margaret Greene, of English descent. Their son, Peter Burns, sr. (grandfather), was born about 1795, and lived at Berwyn, where his occupation was for some time that of farming, and where he died in 1877. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was a cabinet maker by trade, and during the late civil war was engaged at Philadelphia in working int he navy yard of the United States. After the war he returned to his farm of seventy-five acres, on a part of which the present town of Berwyn is built. He was a republican, and a member of Berwyn Presbyterian church, whose original house of worship he was largely instrumental in erecting. He married Elizabeth Jones, who was of Welsh descent, and had seven children: Benjamin, Isaac, Hannah, Eliza, Peter, Sallie J. and Henry, who died from the effects of a wound received at the battle of Chattanooga during the civil war. Peter Burns (father) was born May 12, 1827, in Phil- adelphia, and is a stone mason by trade. He has followed contracting on masonry work for a business, and has, until within the last few years, made a specialty of stone bridges. He is an active and well posted republican, and a trustee of Berwyn Presbyterian church. He is also a member of Berwyn Presbyterian church. He is also a member of Berwyn Lodge, No. 999, Inde- pendent order of Odd Fellows; and Thompson Lodge, No. 340, Free and Accepted Masons, and in the Masonic fraternity has attained a high rank, being a third degree Mason. He married Ellen J. Dyson, daughter of John Dyson, of Millerstown, Perry county, Pennsylvania. Their children are: William Henry, Estella J., Joseph S., John D., Frank L., Anna May, Martie and Bessie."