Thomas RATTRAY and Agnes BURNETT - part 1

Thomas RATTRAY and Agnes BURNETT are the maternal grandparents of Lorne Kyle.

From Lilian O. Kyle 

“Shortly after the death of Lorne’s mother (Martha Rattray), Lorne and I were visiting with Lorne’s father (Henry Kyle) in his apartment at the corner of Sherbrooke Street in Montreal. He was living alone but would soon have a housekeeper. He gave us the bible that had belonged to his wife’s parents, Thomas Rattray and Agnes Burnett Rattray. There were no signatures in it, no underlined passages, but there was a piece of paper which seemed to be used as a bookmark and, interestingly, in Thomas’s handwriting. This passage of scripture read,

“And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

Right away I turned to Lorne and said, “Your grandfather wants you to get busy and do their temple work for them. “ (this has since been done) I wish I had kept that slip of paper.

Grandpa and grandma Rattray lived with Henry and Martha Kyle (and therefore Lorne) for about ten years before their death. Grandpa Rattray read the Bible every day. It was the only book that Lorne ever saw him read. He read the newspapers and kept up to date on politics – he was a staunch Conservative – all the Rattrays were conservative (members of the Conservative Party).

I think the reason that the Bible was not written in or any passages underlined is that in those days and also when I was young, we felt it was sacrilegious to mark up a Bible.”   

Written by Lilian O. Kyle, March 1977

Thomas Rattray jr. was born in Dundee, Scotland in 1845 to Thomas and Agnes Milne Rattray. His future wife Agnes Burnett, was born a few months earlier, also in Dundee.  Thomas and Agnes became sweethearts in that town. According to family tales, Agnes was warned by her father, not to marry Thomas because he had a bad temper and had plans to move to Canada. Thomas did emigrate to Canada.

 (date and reason are unknown at his point however, much emigration resulted from a great disruption in the Church of Scotland. Another reason for mass immigration was insecurity for renters. They could be evicted at any time at the will of the landowners)

Thomas sent letters home to Agnes telling of his new life in this young country, and also to his mother, Agnes Milne. At some point Thomas sent for Agnes (Burnett) who ignored her fathers complaints The couple was married in Mitchell, Ontario, 1870.  As it turned out, Thomas and Agnes probably left just in time. In 1878, the Bank of Glasgow failed which caused widespread economic turmoil in the country.

(Alexander Burnett is listed as a gardener in the St. Clements parish record in Dundee. Martha Shaw, a cousin of Lorne’s recalls that one of their ancestors was the head gardener at Blair Castle and surmised that a green thumb runs in the family. )

They were married for 58 years and had seven children. Thomas worked his whole life as a moulder  (metal worker) with the Grand Trunk Railroad in Canada. He retired early due to heart problems and did not receive a pension. This is probably why they came to live with Henry and his family.