I have repeatedly tried to find out about Mary Ann Johnson, second wife of Thomas Jefferson Burns, to no avail. I know she didn't come from outer space as she would have had to have parents. Was she born in North Carolina or Georgia as this family lived close to the state line. At one time on the census records, Tom is shown living in one county and the next census record another county. He never moved, the county line changed during a 10 year span. I just read a short story about her that I had never seen before when I googled her name. A daughter of Tom's had asked Mary Ann to marry her dad. Mary Ann was so shocked that she fainted, but she did eventually marry Tom and had 8 children. I never knew about his 2 wives until about 5 years ago when my sister-in-law told me the story. According to Tammy Burns who is the daughter of James J. Burns, her uncle Johnny had told her that his grandmother was Mary Ann Johnson, but Nick's mother was Mary Ann Hullender. Now Nick is the brother of James Edward Burns who was the father of James and Johnny. Four children were born to Tom and Mary Ann Hullender Burns before 1871. A daughter named Sarah Elizabeth came in the year 1871 about November. I don't know this for sure but I think her mother died in childbirth as after this event, Tom married Mary Ann Johnson. So the 1880 census record shows that he is still married to Mary Ann but her age is 25 with children, Abraham, James and Louise and no one was the wiser until a granddaughter by the name of Mary Lou Martin Kile (daughter of Radie Lou Burns Martin) started a family tree and in her research uncovered this fact. After this, it is just speculation as no one knows about Mary Ann Johnson. On the 1900 census record, she says that she is the mother of 8 children of which 7 were still living. This 8 includes John Abraham Burns, 1873; James Edward Burns,1876; Louise A. Burns, 1878; Candius Burns, 1884; Mendie Burns, 1885; Rose Burns, 1888; Jefferson Brisco Burns, 1892; David Sylvester Burns, 1894.Then I find no more record of her, even her death. When Tom died in 1927, he is listed as a widower. 22 years have passed with no record of her that I can find on the internet other than an affidavit for Tom's pension from the Civil War dated September 5, 1905. He is stated as living with his wife and 4 children and is unable to work. He also states that his wife has been sick for over 2 years. I can not find any record of her death or her burial location.
Then we come back to Mary Ann Hullender. Tom and Mary Ann had 5 children and there are records for all of them. I even found her parents but no burial location. Tom was buried in Zebulon Cemetery close to his son, Nick. Why wasn't Tom buried close to one of his wives. What was the reason for this? This remains a mystery to me as I wanted to save this story for my children. As time goes on, it will be harder to find anything on the family. My children are all Burns' and are a direct line from Thomas Jefferson Burns. Still am not sure if this name contains an "e". Some of the children add it to their names and some don't use it. Children of Tom and Mary Ann Hullender Burns are listed as William Jesse Burns born in 1863; Martha Jane Burns born in 1866; Joseph C. Burns born in 1868; Nicholas Elisha Burnes born in 1869 and Sarah Elizabeth Burns, born in 1871. Nick continued to use an "e" in his name until his death.
On the 1870 census record, he(Tom) is listed as married to Mary Ann Hullender. She is the daughter of Nicholas Hullender and Elmira Elizabeth Hambright. She was born in 1843 as she is listed on the 1850 and 1860 census record with her parents. On the 1870 census record, she is listed with Tom Burns and they are both stated as 28 years old.
