Page 7 - July 2022 News On 7

HAZZARD'S HISTORY NOTES

by Grant Ketcheson

THE BURRIS FAMILY - “A SCHOOL WAS NAMED FOR THEM”
The Burris family followed a familiar route to their home in Madoc Township. Thomas Henry Burris and his wife, Elizabeth
Rogers, came from the north of Ireland to the United States. While the first two of their seven children were born in New
York State, the next oldest, Jackson, was born in 1844 in Elizabethtown, Leeds County so we know about when the family
arrived in Upper Canada.
The Burris family came to Madoc Township in the 1850s and purchased a farm at Lot 11, Concession 6. Four generations of the
family farmed here (Henry, Jackson, James and Elliott). The farm was finally sold in the mid-1980s, following Elliott's death.
Sometime in the early 1850s, the growing community saw the need for a school. An acre in the north-east corner of the farm
was selected as the site and a log school was built. There are no records of the early days of this school; it may have been
there when the Burris family arrived. Local lore tells us that the log school burned and was replaced by a frame structure.
There is no doubt that the Burris family was on the farm when the new school, known as S.S.# 9 Burris School, was built.
This local landmark served the community until 1959, when it was moved to the Tobin farm next door to be used as a
workshop. In its place, the new, eight-room Madoc Township School was erected to serve the educational needs of the whole
township. Extra land was purchased from Elliott Burris and neighbour, John Curtis, to enlarge the school yard.
An interesting sidelight is the fact that for many years, Elliott Burris, a great-grandson of Henry Burris, served as secretary-
treasurer to the Madoc Township area school board. This plot of ground from the Burris farm has been the site of a school for
more than 170 years. No wonder residents of Madoc Township mounted such a spirited campaign in 2017 to save their beloved
school from the “wrecking ball of progress”!
Four generations of the pioneer Burris family are buried in Hazzard's Cemetery. There is no record of the graves of Henry and
Elizabeth Burris. Their graves, like so many others, likely had wooden markers, now long gone. Graves of succeeding Burris
generations bear suitable memorials.
Many have decried the limited opportunities afforded those who attended such one-room schools. There are many
exceptions to this notion. In this 1904 picture of Burris School, the tall student on the left is Frank Ballam, whose desire for
higher education was such that, after public school, he walked the six miles to Madoc every day to attend high school. He
succeeded in becoming a barrister and solicitor and maintained offices in Madoc and Bancroft for many years. He is also
remembered as being a noted collector of rocks, many of which are preserved in the walls of his Moira Lake cottage.
That little plot of ground from the Burris farm produced many fine citizens who contributed in many ways to the
development of our country. “From little acorns, mighty oaks grow.”
Caption #1 Caption #3
Burris School, S.S. # 9. Students and their teacher in 1904. Burris School in the 1920s. The school yard was beautifully
(Frank Ballam is on the left.) shaded by maple trees, planted in the 1880s.

Captiion #2
Hazzard's Cemetery, the final resting place of four
generations of the Burris family. It is now maintained by a
3rd-great grandson of Henry and Elizabeth Burris.