Michael Burns (Tennessee politician)

Michael Burns was born in March 1813 in County Sligo, Ireland.[1][2] His father was Patrick Burns and his mother, Catharine Clark.[2] He became an orphan when his father died when he was 9 and his mother died when he was 15.[2]

Burns was apprenticed as a saddler.[1] He emigrated to Canada in 1831, settling in Montreal.[1] He emigrated to the United States, first working as a saddler in New Haven Connecticut, New York City and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[1] He settled in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1836.[2] Burns worked as a saddler in Nashville, spent two years in Jefferson, Tennessee (located in Rutherford County, Tennessee) from 1837 to 1839, and returned again to Nashville.[2] He made and sold saddles and other leather products.[2]

Burns served on the board of directors of the Nashville and Northwestern Railroad from 1853 to 1868.[1][2] He served as its vice president from 1861–64, and as its president from 1864 to 1868.[2] He also served as the president of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad.[1][2] Meanwhile, he served on the board of directors of the Bank of Tennessee from 1853 to 1859.[1][2] He then served on the board of directors of the Union Bank of Tennessee from 1859 to 1865.[2] In 1878, he joined the board of directors of the Third National Bank of Nashville and the American National Bank of Nashville.[2] He also served on the board of directors of the Nashville Commercial Insurance Company for two decades.[2] He served as the president of the First National Bank of Nashville from 1870 to 1878.[1]

Burns remained neutral during the American Civil War of 1861–1865.[2] However, Burns' Artillery of the Confederate States Army was named in his honor.[2] However, he was opposed to secession. Although he supported the Union Army, he assisted the CSA.[2] Burns was a personal friend of Andrew Johnson, who served as 17th President of the United States from 1865 to 1868.[2] Burns was a member of the Democratic Party.[2] He served as a member of the Tennessee Senate from 1882 to 1890, representing Davidson County, Tennessee.[1][2]

Burns married Margaret Gilliam on March 14, 1842; she died in 1885.[1][2] He was a Roman Catholic.[1] He died on July 14, 1896, in Nashville, Tennessee.[1][3]