From the McDonald PA Record, 10/14/1927 (McDonald, Pennsylvania):

Addison F. BURNS, one of the last of McDonald's aged members of the Grand Army of the Republic, died at 5:15 Friday evening, October 7, 1927, at his home at the corner of Third street and Jefferson avenue. Had he lived until November 25th he would have been 81 years old. He had been kept in bed by illness since February 18. His disability extended over a period of twenty years. The past four years he had been confined to his home. Mr. BURNS was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, November 25, 1846, a son of William and Mary Jane (SERGENT) BURNS. The father, William BURNS, was engaged in the lumber business for a number of years but later turned his attention to the oil industry and continued to be associated with that until his death, which occurred in 1893. He married Mary Jane SERGENT, who died in 1889. They had five children, of whom Addison F. was the second. All of them are dead except a sister, Miss Harriet BURNS, and a brother, Charles N. BURNS of Pittsburgh. Addison F. BURNS attended the district schools until he was 14 years of age and then began to be useful to his father on the home place, and worked for him until he went into the army, becoming a member of Captain EASTON's Light Battery A, First Pennsylvania Reserve. He served until the end of the war, taking part in the siege of Petersburg, the Battle of Seven Pines, and was present in Richmond on the day of LEE's surrender. After the war was over he returned home and went into the lumber business with his father, until 1872, and then gave his main attention to dealing in real estate, until 1877, at which time he became interested in oil production and that was actively pursued until physical disabilities compelled him to curtail his activities. He came to McDonald in 1898 and was identified with the producing end of the oil business to some extent until his death. Mr. BURNS was married in 1867 to Miss Sarah E. UNDERCOFF, who died June 15, 1879. They had five children: Harry BURNS, who is a right-of-way man in the Southwestern oil field; Forest E. of Burgettstown, Ora I., who married LeRoy W. GIBBS of Altoona; (Mrs. GIBBS died in Baltimore, Mc., in 1920, while on a visit to her daughter, Mrs. J. L. POTTER. She was brought to McDonald and laid to rest in Robinson's Run cemetery); Cressie, who died in 1881, and Naomi, who died in McDonald in 1907. Mr. BURNS was married July 26, 1881, to Miss Lida PIKE, who survives him. Mrs. BURNS is a daughter of William and Eliza PIKE, who were natives of St. Johns, Newfoundland. William PIKE was a sea captain who lost his life at sea in 1868. Richard PIKE, a cousin of Mrs. BURNS, commanded the ship Kite in the GREELY expedition to search for the North Pole. Mr. BURNS had four children by the second marriage: Charles A. of Beaumont Tex.; Mrs. Lillian HAND at home; Robert of Los Angeles, Calif., and LeRoy at home. There are seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Mr. BURNS was an honored veteran of the Civil War and served for years as secretary and treasurer of the Survivors' Reunion Association of Captain EASTON's Light Battery A., First Pennsylvania Reserves. In politics he was a Republican. He took an intelligent interest in public affairs and those who knew him well valued his good judgment and high sense of equity and justice. Funeral services were held Tuesday afternoon at the late home in Third street in charge of the Rev. B. F. HEANY, pastor of the First Presbyterian church of McDonald, who was assisted by the Rev. J. M. BRICELAND of the Sheraden Presbyterian church. Mr. BURNS was given a military funeral by Ernest Phillips Post No. 485, American Legion, of McDonald. Interment was in Robinson's Run cemetery.

Transcribed by Victoria Hospodar Valentine