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Pioneers in Louisiana Mirliton History – Part 2

by | Sep 24, 2021 | Mirliton

Pioneers in Louisiana Mirliton History

John Burns Sr. (1884-1947)

On Thursday September 18, 1941 Hermann B. Deutsch, a reporter for many New Orleans newspapers over his 50+ year career, penned the following on page 8 of the New Orleans Item:

“Each artist chooses his own medium for the attainment of beauty. Wagner worked with music, Rembrandt with oil pigments. Keats with words, Phidias with the sculptor’s chisel. Pavlova with the dance. Cellini with the goldsmith’s mallet, Genthe with camera. But John Burns of New Orleans chose a Mexican vegetable with a French name and American devotees to create beauty in the Irish Channel.”

The title of the article was Orleanian Creates Beauty in A Mirliton Arbor1 and ran with the following picture:

Image 1: The New Orleans Item1 Article

When I first read through this article, I was curious as to who was John Burns, what kind of mirliton was he growing, how tall was the arbor given that Mr. Burns was standing on his shed roof, and where exactly was it located in the city?

John Burns Sr.

John Thomas Burns Sr. was born on March 27, 1884 in New Orleans to John Peyton Burns and Catherine Connert and grew up in the city’s 1st Ward. His father was originally from Canada and his mother appears to have been a native New Orleanian. Per the 1900 and 1910 Census2,3, it was recorded that everyone from his parents down to siblings could read, write, and spoke English and that the younger members were enrolled at school. Thus, we can conclude that the family was fairly literate and educated. In his early years in 1910, John held the job of being a Clerk for the railroad. On December 17th, 1913, John married Ellen “Nellie” Lacey. Like John, Ellen was born in New Orleans (March 15, 1884). Ellen’s father was Thomas J. Lacey originally from Ireland and her mother was Mary Smith from New Orleans. The 1930’s census4 lists Ellen as a homemaker who could also read and write. By 1918, when John filled out his WWI Draft Card, he had been working as a longshoreman and the couple had moved to 2419 St. Thomas Street in the neighborhood known as the Irish Channel. John was described as being of medium height at 5’ 5” and medium build with grey eyes and brown hair5. By 1920 John was employed as a “screwman” on the river front6. According to the article “THE 1907 NEW ORLEANS DOCKWORKERS GENERAL STRIKE”7 by Malcom Suber, “The New Orleans screwmen were responsible for tightly packing cotton bales in the holds of the ships. This critical task put them atop the labor force on the docks thus providing the screwmen with the highest wages on the docks.” A similar reference cited on Wikipedia also commented that “their work was highly skilled, required immense strength, and was indispensable to the smooth operation of the waterfront.”8 Thus, we can assume that despite his medium stature, John must have been a pretty strong man in his youth and earned a fairly decent wage. However, from then until 1928, John’s profession was listed in the New Orleans City Directories9 as simply a laborer. In 1928, his occupation is changed to that of Bridge Tender.10 The Bridge Tender is basically one in charge of the bridge ensuring its operation and safety both on the bridge and for the passage in the canal. At the time of the mirliton article, he was the Bridge Tender for the bridge at Broad Street and the New Basin Canal. Today that is basically where Broad crosses the Pontchartrain Expressway near the WLAE studios. Image 211 is a photograph of the south Broad Street side of the bridge in the last few years that John worked there. Around 1946, the city started to fill in the New Basin Canal which was eventually replaced by the Pontchatrain Expressway.

Image 2: South Broad Street bridge over the New Basin Canal (1941-07-09)11

John and Nellie had six children: Eleanor, Lorraine, James Joseph, Rita, John, and Raymond. July 17th, 1925 was a sad day at the Burns residence when one year old John Benedict Burns passed away. The funeral was conducted from the residence the next day and the child was buried in St. Patrick Cemetery #1.12

John Burns appeared in the New Orleans papers a couple of times from 1913 through the 1941 article. In some of the articles he was either the main subject or in a “supporting role”. In September of 1925 he was charged with impersonating an officer after trying to extort $1 (equivalent to about $15.50 today) from a bar owner by showing him a “special badge”13. In this case it appeared that he had been as Bob Cratchit would say “making rather merry” before the event. In 1931, he was credited with saving the lives of those trapped in a cab on the bridge14. However, in 1932, John unfortunately made a poor choice that end up with him in the hospital due to the negligence of an intoxicated driver he rode with15. About 2 years later, he had to be called upon to help police drag the New Basin Canal when a train porter had jumped to his death from the bridge16. After this, there weren’t any more mentions of Mr. Burns excluding the mirliton article and his obituary which appeared in the Tuesday April 15, 1947 edition of the New Orleans Item17.

What Kind of Mirliton?

This question is probably the hardest to answer. The reason being is that mirliton comes in so many sizes, shapes, and colors and until Dr. Lance Hill and Mirliton.org started giving them “names” it was probably described by just that – size, shape, and color. There unfortunately isn’t a picture of Mr. Burn’s mirliton, but they are described “great green bells”. Some things we can glean from the description is that these were rather large mirlitons with a narrow top but a wider flat bottom. Even though the author called them “vegetable pears” he doesn’t describe them as pear shaped. In a lot of cases the mirlitons have a rounded bottom like a pear or avocado. He also only described them as green versus light green and there is no mention of spikiness. Based upon his description, I would venture to guess they might have looked like the Sister Morgan or Joseph Boudreaux varieties.18

Image 3: Sister Morgan Variety

Image 4: Joseph Boudreaux Variety

Arbors

The American Heritage Dictionary defines arbor as a shady garden shelter19. According to some online sources, the concept of the arbors goes back as far as the ancient Egyptians, helping to create a shady resting place in the unforgiving hot dessert. There is recorded evidence of their popularity in Ancient Greek and Rome as well as through the Medieval period in Europe. In these references they speak of vining plants covering the arbors and they seem to add both beauty and functionality to the outdoor spaces. Newspapers in the New Orleans area also describe properties for sale in the mid to late 1800s with either grape, ivy, or rose arbors. In fact, there were a lot written of arbors in the New Orleans papers of the early 20th century extolling the virtue of the arbors to help hide unsightly fences as well as providing a nice shady and cool area to endure the summer heat of the semitropic New Orleans area.20 It also would make sense that especially in newly established, closely situated neighborhood yards of the early 20th century without many big trees, it would be just the answer for backyard privacy especially since folks probably spent more time outside then in. To note, the first house in the New Orleans area built with central air conditioning was Longue Vue House built in 194221. Thus in 1940, attic and window fans were the norm. According to the Sears advertisements of the day, a window fan could range between $32- $55. At the time, it looks like a bridge tender’s salary was around $25 per month. Of course, you could put down $5 to purchase, but I am sure it would easily be a year or so to pay just one fan off at a salary of $25 per month. Thus, even in the modern age of the 1940s, an arbor didn’t just hold value for its aesthetics, but also for its functionality.

Life in the Irish Channel

The Irish Channel is a name of an older working class New Orleans neighborhood south of the Garden District and adjacent to the Mississippi River, just upstream of the French Quarter. There apparently isn’t a definite origin of where the name came from, although the popular one is associated with the influx of Irish immigrants who came to New Orleans in 1830 to help dig the New Basin Canal and in turn, they “channeled” into the area where they settled.

Image 5: Irish Channel 22

At the time John Burns and his wife lived there, the area was essentially an 80-year-old neighborhood. Despite the name, there were other nationalities such as the Germans, Italians, and African Americans as well. The inhabitants primarily work around the Port of New Orleans in the 1900s, as was seen with John’s jobs prior to 1928. The area also garnered a reputation as being a tough area with a lot of gang rivalry that was more prevalent in the latter part of the 1800s. As with most of the city, the Irish Channel was predominantly Catholic and actually had 3 churches established in the early years for the different nationalities: St. Alphonsus for the Irish, St. Mary’s Assumption Church for the German, and Notre Dame de Bon Secours Church for the French. The churches were all consolidated in 1925 with St. Alphonsus becoming the Parish Church. It closed in 1979, but has been reopened as the St. Alphonsus Arts and Cultural Center. 23

John Burns Sr. lived at the St. Thomas residence basically from (I’m guessing) 1914 till his death in 1947. The house number is listed as 2419 to 2409 during his lifetime and appears the twin shotgun was basically combined into one residence of 2407 sometime in the 1970s. Image 6 shows what this location looks like in the present day.

Image 6: Location of John Burn’s Irish Channel residence.24

From Image 7 we get a sense of what the back property’s dimensions were. Based on a measure of the current backyard, it is about 52 feet long by 28 feet wide, but in 1941, this house was a duplex, so one can only assume the yard may have possibly been split. The article list that the arbor was 28 by 16, which would match up with about half of the available yard in the backyard. The article also stated that “…behind it is a garden where there’s a peach tree that bears, fruit, a trellised rose vine that blooms the year ‘round a big chrysanthemum, shrub, a fig tree…” “Behind the garden is the shed and behind the shed the present pride of the Burns estate, an arbor of mirliton vines.” Evidentially the backyard was packed! As a side note, I am also speculating that the house looks to have been added onto, so I imagine there may have been more room in the early days.

Image 7: Lot John Burn’s Irish Channel residence.25

Per the rest of the article, we get a sense of how the arbor was constructed. Mr. Burns stated “I planted seven mirlitons last April right up against the fence there, opposite the shed and let them grow up as high as the top of the arbor now. Then I built out the arbor for about three feet, and put wires every three inches, and worked a half hour or an hour every day, spinning the new shoots around the wire, and when they went beyond that, I put on another three feet of arbor top, and spin the shoots along that, and so on till it covered the whole yard. That vine is a solid arbor 16 feet wide and 28 feet long now, and we can sit under the shade of it and enjoy ourselves.” This had to definitely be an impressive structure to behold. The amount of time to string the vines around astounds me, but I can feel his passion as I have easily spent 30 minutes retraining the direction of my vines. If a shed was approximately 6 feet tall and John Burns added another 6 feet (about 12 feet total) to it, it would also give a higher “ceiling” for the hot air to rise to. My mirliton arbor in Mobile is 8 feet wide by 24 feet long and 7 feet tall, so about half the size of Mr. Burns. I can only image the size and shade his provided. I am attaching a few pictures of mine so one might get a sense of how much shade this structure could provide, plus it must have been even more magnificent as the mirlitons hung down in the fall.

Image 8: Under the author’s shady mirliton arbor.

Image 9: The exterior of the author’s “unruly” mirliton arbor.

As a quick aside you might wonder how the Burns’ enjoyed their mirliton. Well according to Mrs. Burns, “when the mirlitons come -you see you scoop them out and stuff them with mirliton meat mixed with shrimp and sweet peppers and bread crumbs as a bit of bacon – that’s very good.” Mr. Burns also added that “Just frying a slice of mirliton with a slice of baloney sausage is mighty good too…I expect we’ll eat mirlitons this fall till we’re tired of them and maybe sell the rest. Not so bad, is it?”

Sadly, on Monday, April 14, 1947 at the age of 63, John Burns Sr. passed away. His wife Ellen lived on almost another 20 years and passed away on April 11, 1965. She apparently moved from the St. Thomas Street house the year after John died. At the time of his passing, John and Ellen had 5 children and 6 grandchildren. His funeral was held on Tuesday, April 15, 1947 at Leitz-Eagan Funeral Home which at the time was at 2241 Magazine St. Religious services followed at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church and he was interred at the St. Patrick No.1 Cemetery in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Image 10: John and Ethel’s Grave Stone26

Closing Thoughts

As I got into researching John Burns Sr., I felt a real admiration for his mirliton work. As I read about the Bridge Tender’s job, it occurred to me – having to take care of both activities on the road and water plus maintenance and safety had to be quite draining and stressful at times. I can imagine that when he got his arbor started it must have been a source of enjoyment and solitude away from the day-to-day operations. From what I can tell the house had to be around 850 square feet and with 5-7 people living there, things must have been often cramped. Utilizing the mirliton as an arbor is a brilliant idea that provided both beauty, functionality, sanctuary, and food to his large family. I think in many ways I could set up my arbor in a similar way and could easily utilize it as a nice space to relax and enjoy a cold beverage especially after yard work. Hopefully this will inspire others to set up a nice backyard arbor that can work their mirliton vines into the landscape. While John Burns Sr. had seven plants, my experience has been that one mature vine could be more than sufficient to provide cover in a small area. As we are seeing, the early 20th century mirliton growers were a creative bunch that didn’t simply just grow a plant, but utilized them in such a way that was both fun, functional, and committed to their hobby. I hope you are also inspired by the latest Pioneers in Louisiana Mirliton History, John Burns Sr.

Sources:

  1. Desutsch, Hermann B. “Orleanian Creates Beauty in a Mirliton Arbor.” New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) 18 September 1941, page 8 GenealogyBank
  2. 1900; Census Place: New Orleans Ward 1, Orleans, Louisiana; Page: 20; Enumeration District: 0001; FHL microfilm: 1240570
  3. 1910; Census Place: New Orleans Ward 1, Orleans, Louisiana; Roll: T624_519; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0001; FHL microfilm: 1374532
  4. 1930; Census Place: New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0193; FHL microfilm: 2340544
  5. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
  6. 1920; Census Place: New Orleans Ward 11, Orleans, Louisiana; Roll: T625_622; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 184
  7. http://nolaworkers.org/2018/12/17/the-1907-new-orleans-dockworkers-general-strike/
  8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_dock_workers_and_unionization
  9. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
  10. U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
  11. Charles L. Franck / Franck-Bertacci Photographers Collection, The Historic New Orleans Collection – https://louisianadigitallibrary.org/islandora/object/hnoc-clf%3A1100
  12. New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) 18 July 1925, page 2 GenealogyBank
  13. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 28 September 1925, page 4 GenealogyBank
  14. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 14 November 1931, page 7 GenealogyBank
  15. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 22 May 1932, page 10 GenealogyBank
  16. New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) 1 July 1934, page 4 GenealogyBank
  17. New Orleans Item (New Orleans, LA) 15 April 1947, page 5 GenealogyBank
  18. https://www.mirliton.org/photo/ed-landry-james-boutte-joseph-boudreaux-mirliton-varieties-dec-2010-chayote-sechium-edule/
  19. The American Heritage Dictionary, Dell Publishing, 1983, pg. 35.
  20. Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) 11 March 1934, page 21 GenealogyBank
  21. https://wgno.com/news-with-a-twist/first-house-in-new-orleans-to-built-with-central-air-conditioning-still-operates-at-this-historic-landmark/
  22. https://www.datacenterresearch.org/pre-katrina/articles/IrishChannel.html
  23. https://readtheplaque.com/plaque/st-alphonsus-church
  24. Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps directions for driving from 2407 St. Thomas St, New Orleans, Louisiana]. Retrieved September 5, 2021, from https://www.google.com/maps/place/2409+St+Thomas+St,+New+Orleans,+LA+70130/@29.9236126,-90.0764497,3a,75y,10.91h,75.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0i31zWsT2KcsgVUY5ECu0g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m5!3m4!1s0x8620a42a485e3ec1:0x9d258ff1c1881d79!8m2!3d29.9238154!4d-90.0764713
  25. https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=979&LayerID=19792&PageTypeID=4&PageID=8665&KeyValue=2407-STTHOMASST
  26. U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.