Malcolm Burley History

Footprints of Yesterday & Today - P.412, 413, 414.
History of St. Walburg & Surrounding Districts. Vol 1 & Vol 2.
St. Walburg History Book Committee, St. Walburg, Saskatchewan, Canada S0M 2T0
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesen Printers, a Division of D.W. Friesen & Sons Ltd.
Altona, Manitoba, Canada R0G 0B0, First Printing, 1988.

Malcolm Burley was born March 17, 1894 1 in Creemore, Ontario. His wife, Caroline was born September 2, 1882 in Belleville, Ontario. They were married March 19, 1899 2 at Lake of the Wood, Ontario.

Malcolm was a first class carpenter, but at the time of their marriage was working on construction for the railroad on a double track from Port Arthur to Fort William. He continued this work and lived in Ontario until 1915. Far away fields looked greener so he moved his family to Regina for a short time. He then moved north to file on a homestead which was the SW Sec. 24 Rge. 24 Twp. 54 West of the 3rd in the Kilronan district. First he had to make logs to build a cabin. Money was short and Mr. Burley had to find work soon after arrival. As the years passed he cleared some land and was able to do some farming and rent more land. Mrs. Burley had the post office for approximately a year. Kilronan school was built and the children walked two and a half miles to attend.

One day Mr. Burley went to his neighbor's farm, Joe Marshall to watch him plow with his three oxen. After he got there, Joe was telling him how he had two good oxen and the third one was lazy. After watching him plough, Mr. Burley noticed the evenor was hitched wrong and the lazy oxen was pulling two thirds of the load while the other two were pulling only one third.

Between 1924-26 Mr. Burley bought a quarter of land further north, SW Sec 1 Twp 55 Rge 24 West of 3rd. He built a large house there and moved in. By this time his sons were older and Mr. Burley started logging again and built a sawmill. He also kept on carpentering.

In 1936 the Burleys had a sale and moved to Port Alberni, B.C. where some of the family were living. Mr. Burley started working for the city of Port Alberni. He worked there for eleven years before retiring at the age of 73. He continued to plant a garden each spring and kept his yard and home in immaculate condition as he always had. He was willing to help others anytime.

In 1969, Mr. and Mrs. Burley celebrated there 70th 3 Wedding Anniversary. Mr. Burley passed away at the age of 95 years in 1970.

After her husband's death, Mrs. Burley moved to Parkville into the Arrowsmith Lodge. A few years later she moved to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and after five years of living there, although failing in health, celebrated her 100th birthday in 1982. Two months later, November 11, 1982, she passed away. Mrs. Burley was a very cheerful and alert person.

The Burleys had a family of 13 children, 10 sons and 3 daughters. Deceased are sons Jim, Clarence, Harley, Joe, Frank, Leonard, and one daughter Ida Atkinson. On March 3, 1984 Roy passed away and on June 13, 1986 Ken also passed away. Surviving are Jack of High Prairie, Alta., Fred of Nanaimo, B.C., Bernice Mannix and Ann Hamilton of Port Alberni, B.C., many sons- and daughters-in-law, 27 grandchildren, 67 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren.

The Burleys were just folks you could always depend on.


Notes

1Typo. Malcolm was born on March 17, 1874.

2Malcolm and Caroline always claimed that they were married on March 19, 1899.
The actual marriage record at Ontario Archives shows that the marriage occured on March 19, 1902.
The birthdate for their first son James is 1901 which may explain the reason for this claim.

3Because of the discrepency pointed out in Note 2, this would be the 67th anniversary.