The Early History of the McLarans of Dalby

  • Search the site
    • Executive Summary
    • Contact & Recommended Reading
  • OVERVIEW
    • Introduction
    • Family Names
    • Family Trees of the Moreton Bay Immigrants
    • Scottish Roots
    • Clan McLaren
    • Cambridgeshire Roots
    • Oral History
    • Ancestors' Graves
  • McLeoran Family 1800
    • 1792 Census
    • McVicar Family >
      • John McMillan MacNeill >
        • The Forbes Mackay Family
        • Alistair Forbes Mackay
        • MacNeill Compt Book
    • Family tree 1700 - 1800
  • Jean McLeoran's Family
    • Isabella McLeure
    • Ann Mackay >
      • Margaret Jones Mackay (Burns) >
        • Alister Colville
      • Catherine Burns
  • Archibald McLeoran's Family
    • Donald McLeoran
    • Mary McLeoran
    • Isabella McLeoran
    • Malcolm McLeoran
    • Edward McLeoran
  • Malcolm McLaran Jnr's Family
    • Malcolm McLaran >
      • The America
      • World War 1 Soldiers
    • Jane McLaran
    • Archibald McLeoran b. 1822
    • John McMillan McLeoran
    • Malcolm McLeoran the Younger
    • Catherine McLaren >
      • James Milford
      • Walter Goodman Jnr
    • Donald McLaran - 1833 - 1879 >
      • 1857 Dalby Town Allotment Sales
      • Deaths on the Condamine
      • Paths cross on the Condamine
      • McLaran v Wuth
      • Frogmore
      • Kilkevan & Cockatoo Point
      • Why Squatters don't marry
      • Bronzewing
      • 1874 Police Assault cases
      • Donald McLaran's Lost Watch
    • Duncan McLaran
    • Margaret McLaren >
      • Denis Sullivan
      • Ellen (Helen) Sullivan
      • Margaret Sullivan
      • Agnes Sullivan
      • Daniel James McLaren
      • The Sullivans in court
    • Alexander McLaren >
      • Alexander's selections
  • The Dockrill Family
    • William Dockrill
    • Martha Goss
    • Tartha >
      • The Tartha Graves
    • Death of Amos Slight
    • Edwin Gransden
  • The Eversden Family
    • Lewis James Eversden >
      • The Flying Cloud
      • 1864 The Arrival of the Eversdens >
        • Laura Eversden
        • 1864 Rain event
      • Eversden at Tartha
      • Southport & Cambridge House >
        • Hammerchewer Visits Cambridge House
      • Clara Eversden - pre marriage
    • Lewis and Jane Eversden
  • The Brown Family
    • Thomas Huntley Brown >
      • Death of Thomas Huntley Brown
    • Jane Rider 1837 - 1880 >
      • Thomas Ross Brown
      • Isabella Brown
      • John Brown
      • James Brown
      • Susan Brown
      • William Joseph Brown >
        • McCowan Scandal
  • 1879 - 1956 Donald McLaran's Family
    • Haran
    • The McLaran Cordial Factory
    • 1900 McLennan - McLaran Wedding
    • Kupunn
    • 1912 Death of Donald McLaran
    • Post Kupunn to 1956
    • 1956 Death of Clara Eversden
    • Malcolm Lewis McLaran
  • Queensland History
    • Ipswich History
    • Ludwig Riethmuller
    • Post 1956
    • Dalby History
    • IMAGE UPLOAD PAGE
  • Search the site
    • Executive Summary
    • Contact & Recommended Reading
  • OVERVIEW
    • Introduction
    • Family Names
    • Family Trees of the Moreton Bay Immigrants
    • Scottish Roots
    • Clan McLaren
    • Cambridgeshire Roots
    • Oral History
    • Ancestors' Graves
  • McLeoran Family 1800
    • 1792 Census
    • McVicar Family >
      • John McMillan MacNeill >
        • The Forbes Mackay Family
        • Alistair Forbes Mackay
        • MacNeill Compt Book
    • Family tree 1700 - 1800
  • Jean McLeoran's Family
    • Isabella McLeure
    • Ann Mackay >
      • Margaret Jones Mackay (Burns) >
        • Alister Colville
      • Catherine Burns
  • Archibald McLeoran's Family
    • Donald McLeoran
    • Mary McLeoran
    • Isabella McLeoran
    • Malcolm McLeoran
    • Edward McLeoran
  • Malcolm McLaran Jnr's Family
    • Malcolm McLaran >
      • The America
      • World War 1 Soldiers
    • Jane McLaran
    • Archibald McLeoran b. 1822
    • John McMillan McLeoran
    • Malcolm McLeoran the Younger
    • Catherine McLaren >
      • James Milford
      • Walter Goodman Jnr
    • Donald McLaran - 1833 - 1879 >
      • 1857 Dalby Town Allotment Sales
      • Deaths on the Condamine
      • Paths cross on the Condamine
      • McLaran v Wuth
      • Frogmore
      • Kilkevan & Cockatoo Point
      • Why Squatters don't marry
      • Bronzewing
      • 1874 Police Assault cases
      • Donald McLaran's Lost Watch
    • Duncan McLaran
    • Margaret McLaren >
      • Denis Sullivan
      • Ellen (Helen) Sullivan
      • Margaret Sullivan
      • Agnes Sullivan
      • Daniel James McLaren
      • The Sullivans in court
    • Alexander McLaren >
      • Alexander's selections
  • The Dockrill Family
    • William Dockrill
    • Martha Goss
    • Tartha >
      • The Tartha Graves
    • Death of Amos Slight
    • Edwin Gransden
  • The Eversden Family
    • Lewis James Eversden >
      • The Flying Cloud
      • 1864 The Arrival of the Eversdens >
        • Laura Eversden
        • 1864 Rain event
      • Eversden at Tartha
      • Southport & Cambridge House >
        • Hammerchewer Visits Cambridge House
      • Clara Eversden - pre marriage
    • Lewis and Jane Eversden
  • The Brown Family
    • Thomas Huntley Brown >
      • Death of Thomas Huntley Brown
    • Jane Rider 1837 - 1880 >
      • Thomas Ross Brown
      • Isabella Brown
      • John Brown
      • James Brown
      • Susan Brown
      • William Joseph Brown >
        • McCowan Scandal
  • 1879 - 1956 Donald McLaran's Family
    • Haran
    • The McLaran Cordial Factory
    • 1900 McLennan - McLaran Wedding
    • Kupunn
    • 1912 Death of Donald McLaran
    • Post Kupunn to 1956
    • 1956 Death of Clara Eversden
    • Malcolm Lewis McLaran
  • Queensland History
    • Ipswich History
    • Ludwig Riethmuller
    • Post 1956
    • Dalby History
    • IMAGE UPLOAD PAGE
Picture
1950 Catherine (Burns) Chesrown (seated 4th from right) at Eva Petrie's birthday party
Note: 
  • Mrs Petrie's husband was a prominent Linton businessman.
  • 10 German / European surnames, including Chesrown.
  • The museum in the small Queensland town of Laidley has a sign which says: "The English came first - the wallabies ate them out; the Germans came next, they ATE the wallabies." 

Catherine Morison Burns 1874 - 1967


Catherine Morison Burns - an overview
Putting the McLeoran family tree into perspective, Donald McLaran's children and Catherine were second cousins. Catherine's birth has been covered on her mother's page.

In the 1891 Census, Catherine (known as "Kate") was recorded as working at Carskey House as a general servant.  Shortly after, Catherine, her mother Ann Mackay Burns, and her nephew Alister McNiven (later aka Colville) emigrated to North Dakota to join her sister Margaret and husband William Colville.

Catherine's life story may be found in a history of Linton ND and it is included below.

A short summary of her life is as follows:
  •  Catherine was born on 16 Oct 1874 at Southend, four months after her parents' marriage. Her father James Burns was a journeyman mason. Her second name "Morison" is her father's mother's maiden name.​
  • Catherine was a general servant at Carskey and not then 17 when she emigrated to North Dakota with Ann and Alister in 1891.
  • Fort Yates in the 1890s was a US Army post and in the centre of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribal area. 
  • Catherine worked at various places around Fort Yates - a mission station, a family business at Winona, and a stagecoach station.
  • In 1899 she married the 13 years older Frank Chesrown, a Minnesota native who had been in the area for some years - see the 1890 photo below - and lived at Winona.  
  • The 1900 census - prior to the birth of Anne Ellen - recorded that Frank and Catherine were living at Ranch 14 in Morton County alongside two of Frank's younger brothers.
  • Between 1901 and 1917 the Chesrowns had four sons and two daughters, four of whom lived into their 80s and beyond. Only one died in infancy, Ella (6) in 1915. Ella was the first descendant of Malcolm McLeoran and Margaret McVicar to pass away in the USA.
  • Catherine's first child, Anne, was born at the Colville ranch near Winona - see Anne's 1995 obituary below. Sister Margaret and mother Ann would have been present.
  • This suggests the closeness of Catherine to both her sister and mother Ann, particularly at the time of the birth of her first child.
  • It appears that the next three Chesrown children (Charles, Francis and Robert) were born at Ranch 14 in (then) Morton County, around 40 miles east of Fort Yates - see map and comments below.
  • Son Robert's obituary suggests the family may lived there continually until they moved to Linton.
  • After 1907 the Chesrowns lived in the new town of Linton on the railroad on the eastern side of the Missouri, as it offered schooling for their children. It is unclear whether the Chesrowns lived at Horse Head Ranch between 1900 and 1907.
  • Census records indicate that Catherine's mother, Ann Mackay Burns, lived with the Chesrowns in Linton from at least 1907 until her death in 1931. 
  • Husband Frank passed away at Linton in 1943, aged 82. Frank was a prominent Linton businessman and his success and service to the community set an example that future Chesrown generations followed.
  • Catherine at the age of 76, appeared hale and hearty in the 1950 photograph of Eva Petrie's party.
  • Daughter Anne's 1995 obituary says she cared for Catherine after 1956.
  • Catherine passed away at Linton in her 93rd year. 

Comment
Frank, 38 and Catherine, 25, married on Christmas Day 1899 at Fort Yates. Their age difference is similar to that of Donald McLaran and Clara Eversden when they married in Brisbane in 1879. The reasons for the disparity are probably the same:
  • The short supply of women allowed the fairer sex to be selective.
  • Men had to establish themselves financially before they could attract a marriage partner.
Refer "Why Squatters don't marry". 

Picture
Catherine Burns' and Frank Chesrown's Children

Picture
1874 Catherine Burns' Scottish birth record
Refer Ann Mackay's page for details of James Burns and his family.

Picture
Linton Cemetery - the Chesrown family plot marker.
Robert Chesrown's and wife Frances' graves middle left.

Picture
1967 Catherine Burns' death certificate
Date of birth and age are incorrect (born 1874)

Picture
A short life story of Catherine Burns and Frank Chesrown
Note: 
  • Frank owned various properties in Emmons County over the years.
  • The Chesrowns also lived on Ranch 14 in Morton County in the early years of the 20th century.
  • It is unclear when the Chesrowns may have lived at Horse Head Valley.

Picture
1890 photo of Frank Chesrown and a group from Winona
Note:
  • Frank's mother was Ellen McCrory 1839 - 1909.
  • Perhaps the township of Wade was named after William Wade.

Picture
1923 Robert and Francis "Chet" Chesrown - Linton football team

Picture
1988 Robert Chesrown's headstone at Linton ND
Picture
Picture
1988 Robert Chesrown obituaries

Picture
1903 Map of Morton County
Note: 
  • With the passage of time, many details in obituaries and family histories are mistakenly recalled or recorded.
  • Ranch 14 was on Cannonball River - not Cedar Creek.
  • The Colville Ranch 33 was near Cedar Creek.
  • Morton County at that time included the future Grant County. 
  • Today Ranch 14 is no longer in Morton County but in Grant County.
  • Ranch 14, approximately 40 miles west of Fort Yates, was in a remote and lowly populated area. Its location is supported by the 1900 Census.

Picture
1900 Census Township 131 Range 88, Morton County, North Dakota
Note: 
  • Sec 14 was located astride the Cannonball River, thus identifying the location of Ranch 14.
  • ​Frank's younger brothers Wilhem (26) and Japhe (23) were living with him and Catherine.

Picture
Anne Chesrown b. 1901: aged 11 in  1912.
Picture
Anne's 1995 obituary covers an extended Chesrown family and the family ties between Catherine and her mother and sister in 1901.

Picture
1914 Horse Head Creek and Chesrown holdings Sec's 17 and 18 - prior to inudation by the Missouri.

Picture
Linton Cemetery , Linton ND - the Chesrown family plot:
- Chesrown marker under the tree.
- plaques for Frank, Catherine, and three children in the row at front - see below.
- Robert and wife Frances far side and left of tree - Robert's grave has the Emblem Gravemarker.
- Ann Mackay Burns' plaque is near the dark depression middle right 

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Linton ND - five of the Chesrown family plaques

Comments - Catherine Burns' Legacy
Catherine had no need to rush into marriage upon arrival in North Dakota, but after seven years she wisely chose Frank Chesrown. She spent 60 years of her life in Linton ND, the final 24 years as a widow. The 1950 photograph demonstrates that Catherine was a prominent figure in the Linton community, as was husband Frank.

Catherine's legacy is an ever-growing and successful family, spread across the USA today. The Chesrown family has followed in Frank's footsteps and generously contributed to community service and assistance. The story of her years in North Dakota has been successfully passed on to her descendants 
https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/interview-with-grandma-bonnie-about-her-childhood-and-life The intention of this web page is to reveal Catherine's early life  in Southend, Scotland, her Scottish ancestors and relatives, and the extended McLeoran and Burns families spread around the world.

Proudly powered by Weebly