Terry Jr’s mother, Mary Maria Riley, was born on 5 May 1813 in the archipelago island of Bermuda, West Indies. Jacob Er Terry was born in 1805 and married his first wife, Catherine Hannah Brown, in 1828. Sometime after their marriage, Jacob and Mary moved the large family to Nauvoo, Illinois. Before moving, while living in Albion Township, Peel Co., Canada, they had heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its modern-day prophet, Joseph Smith. Jacob was converted after hearing the missionaries’ message but wanted to wait to be baptized by ‘Brother Joseph,’ which was accomplished on 12 January 1842. He had elected to wait for baptism because he and Joseph had been boyhood friends while living in Palmyra, Wayne Co., New York. Mary was baptized two months after Jacob, and they received their temple endowments on 24 January 1846 in the historic Nauvoo Temple, just ten days before the main body of church members were driven from the State of Illinois by mobs.

The family moved to Iowa and, during that summer of 1846, traveled to Chariton, Lucas Co., Iowa, where they spent the following winter. In 1847, the family moved to Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie Co., Iowa, and later settled in Carterville in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa. Here, they lived for five years before resuming their journey westward to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Terry Jr. was 14 when the family started west on 23 May 1852 as part of an unknown company. After arriving in the Utah Territory that fall, the family settled in the southeast corner of the valley, later named Draper. Soon after, they were called to settle the ‘Dixie Mission’ in Southern Utah, where they lived in Rockville, Kane County, just a few miles west of modern-day Zions National Park, along the Virgin River. Six years later, when Terry Jr. was 20, he married Eliza Ann Clark on 16 February 1858 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and received his temple endowments. Eliza was born on 4 September 1842 in Illinois to Benjamin C. Clark and her mother, Mary.

Terry Jr. and Eliza Ann Burns had eight children – three girls and five boys:

• Mary Eleanor Burns (daughter – LCCH-B24) was born on 24 July 1859 in Provo, Utah Co., Utah Territory, when her mother was sixteen and her father was twenty-one. She married about 1878 in Manti, Sanpete Co., Utah Territory, to Austin Moroni Bunch – two children. She died on 26 March 1917 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, and was buried in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California on 28 March 1917.

• Charles Vance Burns (son – LZ8Z-YVT) was born on 6 May 1862 in Provo, Utah Co., Utah Territory, when his mother was nineteen and his father was twenty-four. He married on 1 January 1889 in Provo, Utah Co., Utah Territory, to Mary Ann Hallett – two children. He died on 8 March 1930 in Riverside, Riverside Co., California.

• William Farrel Burns (son – LC6-27W) was born on 13 April 1865 in Provo, Utah Co., Utah Territory, when his mother was twenty-two and his father was twenty-seven. He married on 17 August 1893 in Hillsdale, San Bernardino Co., California, to Mary Frances Rogers – three children. He died on 12 May 1938 in San Bernardina, California, where he was buried. 

• Terry Chester Burns (son – LCM2-T58) was born on 2 August 1867 in Gallatin, Gallatin Co., Montana, when his mother was twenty-four and his father was twenty-nine. He married on 28 October 1901 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California, to Susanna A. Cook – one child. He died on 20 December 1929 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, and is buried in the Hillside Memorial Park, Redlands, San Bernardina Co., California.

• Edward Hallett Burns (son – KSFV-QZC) was born on 11 October 1868 in Gallatin, Gallatin Co., Montana, when his mother was twenty-six and his father was thirty-one. He married on 1 February 1899 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California, to Susan Belle Short – two children. He died on 10 December 1948 in Riverside, Riverside Co., California, where he was buried.

• Lura Ann Burns (daughter – LZ8Z-Y1Q) was born on 28 July 1874 in Sterling, Sanpete Co., Utah Territory, when her mother was thirty-one, and her father was thirty-six. She married for the first time on 19 May 1895in Riverside, Riverside Co., California, to George Bertis Finney – one child. She married again on 9 November 1908 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, to John A. Scott – no children. She died on 22 April 1951 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, and was buried in Glendale, Los Angeles Co., California. 

• Terry Doyle Burns (son – K46V-8N3) was born on 25 April 1882 in Sterling, Sanpete Co., Utah, when his mother was thirty-nine and his father was forty-four. He died five months later, in September 1882, and therefore was never married. 

• Clara DeLosta Burns (daughter – KH2H-FZT) was born on 18 September 1883 in Lander, Fremont Co., Wyoming, when her mother was forty-one and her father was forty-six. She married on 11 September 1917 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Co., California, to Charles Albert Brecht – no children. She died on 11 June 1970 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California.

The 1860 Utah Census for “Provo Valley,” the original name for the Heber Valley, lists Terry Burns and Eliza Burns living here with their oldest child, Mary. They had established their home in the northwest area of Fort Heber (see attached map – pg. 5). It can be presumed that the first three children, Mary, Charles, and William, were all born in “Provo Valley,” or Heber City, though birth records have not been found to substantiate that fact.

The 1870 U.S. Census shows that the family had moved from Heber Valley to Willow Creek, Gallatin Co., Montana. It lists Terry Jr. (33) as a farmer along with his wife, Eliza (27), their oldest child, Mary (11), the oldest son, Charles (8), another son, William (5), and the youngest child at the time, Edward (2). Additionally, Eliza’s mother, Mary Clark (65), was living with the family, and the census lists Kentucky as her place of birth. Because William was born in Utah in 1865, and Edward was born in Gallatin County in 1868, it can be presumed that the family moved from Heber Valley, Utah, to Gallatin, Montana, between 1865 and 1868. 

The 1880 U.S. Census for the Burns family indicates they had moved to Sterling Township in Sanpete County, Utah. Terry Jr. was the head of house at 42; his wife, Eliza, is listed at 37; son Charles is 18; son William is 15; son Edward is 12; son (Terry) Chester is 9; and daughter Lura is 5. Sometime in the next eight years, the family moved again, except this time to the State of California.

The 1888 Voter Registration records show that Terry Charles Burns registered as a voter in San Bernardino County, California, on 5 September 1888. By 1900, the Burns family had moved to San Moreno, Riverside Co., California. California seems to be the final settling location for the Burns family. It was in California that most of the children would marry and have grandchildren, as well as pass away and be buried.

Eliza Ann (Clark) Burns was deceased on 18 September 1914 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California, at the age of 72. Her burial location is unknown at this time.

Terry Charles Burns, Jr. was deceased ten years after his wife, Eliza, on 25 March 1924 in LosAngeles, Los Angeles Co., California, at the age of 86. He died of acute cardiac dilatation, with acontributory cause of bronchial asthma. He was buried in the Mt. View Mortuary & Cemetery in San Bernardino, San Bernardino Co., California, on 27 March 1924.