Gottlieb Burian and his Family History

From Hussinetz, Silesia to Sunnydale, Washington

by Earl F. Charvet

 The Death Certificate of Gottlieb Burian

Gottlieb Burian¹ (variously recorded as Burien,² Burrian,³ Von Boorien,⁴ and Von Boorian⁵ ) (1837-1902), was an early settler in the Washington Territory from Lower Silesia, Prussia, now in Poland. He became a popular businessman who owned saloons in downtown and the Skid Road district of Seattle, and was active in the city's German community. The city of Burien, in King County, Washington, and Lake Burien are named for him.⁶ (Note: Both places are spelled with a corruption of his name: "Burien," with an "e".)

Gottlieb Burian was born on 26 March 1837 in Hussinetz⁷ (now Gesiniec, Poland⁸), an ethnic Czech community 25 miles southwest of Breslau (now Wroclaw), at that time in province of Lower Silesia, Prussia. He was the tenth child of Johann Burian (b. 1798, Hussinetz-d. 1853, Hussinetz) and Anna Maria Laschtowitschka (b. 1800, Nieder Podiebrad (now Podebrady, Czech Republic) - d. 1869, Hussinetz).⁹ His great-grandfather, Mikulas Burian (1730-1786), was a member of the Hussite religious sect that founded the town of his birth in 1750.¹⁰ (The Hussenites based their faith on the writings of the Czech philosopher and priest Jan Hus who was burnt at the stake in 1415 for heresy.)

When he was about 24 years old, Gottlieb Burian married Emma Wurm,^{11 12} probably in Kolberg,¹³ Pomerania, Prussia (now Kolobrzeg, Poland) on the Baltic Sea coast. Seeking a life in the New World, the couple traveled west to the port city of Hamburg to emigrate. They purchased tickets and boarded the barque "Liriope" to sail to America on 15 July 1862.^{14 15} The wooden, three-masted vessel was designed to haul cargo, but deck space permitted 90 passengers to board in steerage with some personal belongings on this voyage. The barque spent eight arduous weeks crossing the Atlantic Ocean, and four people died during passage. It arrived in New York Harbor and anchored at Castle Garden emigrant landing depot on 15 September 1862.¹⁶

From New York, the Burians traveled overland to Minnesota, settling in the 4th Ward of the capital city St. Paul where Gottlieb worked as a shoemaker.¹⁷ Five years later, on 15 August 1867, Gottlieb went to Ramsey County District Court and filed a Letter of Intent, the first step to become a U.S. citizen.¹⁸ The couple's first two children Martha ("Mattie") and Franz ("Frankie") were born in St. Paul in 1867 and 1869.¹⁹

Before 1874, the Burian family moved again, this time more than 1,600 miles (2,600 km) over the Rocky Mountains and Cascade Range to the Pacific Northwest. Gottlieb, still working as a shoemaker, with Emma, and their children Mattie, Frankie, and baby Oscar (born in Washington) are recorded on the 1875 Washington Territorial Census living in Thurston County²⁰ south of Puget Sound. Tragically, all three children died of an illness in Seattle just one year later, in November 1876.²¹

Gottlieb and Emma started their family anew, soon having three more children: Martha in 1878, Frank in 1880, and Emma Clara in 1881. They joined the German Free Church at Seventh Avenue and Olive Way where they were active members for many years.²² The family made their home in the heart of Seattle on Sixth Avenue in the city's Second Ward.²³ The house was not far from where Gottlieb began a new career as saloon keeper.^{24 25} By 1887, he was the successful proprietor of two taverns in Seattle: the Saengerhalle Saloon at Seventh Avenue and Terrace Street, where Harbor View Medical Center stands today, and a second saloon at 134 West Yesler Street on Pioneer Square near the end of Skid Road.²⁶

 Gottlieb Burian's Obituary

Gottlieb joined German lodges that met at Germania Hall, and he became active in the Sons of Hermann, an insurance and mutual aid society that launched regular events for Seattle's immigrant German community. When the Seattle Turnverein, a German culture and athletic club, was founded in 1885, he became a charter member.²⁷ Twenty-two years after his arrival in America, Gottlieb officially became a U.S. citizen, swearing his Oath of Allegiance and signing his final naturalization papers on 11 April 1884 at the Third Judicial District Court in Seattle.²⁸

In the 1880s, the area ten miles south of Seattle called Sunnydale (now Burien) was densely forested by tall Douglas firs and hemlocks, and mostly unsettled. Land patents for homestead sites were still available for purchase directly from the Federal government. The first record of the Burians residing in Sunnydale appears in March 1885,²⁹ which confirms family accounts stating they arrived in Sunnydale in "about 1884."³⁰ However, Gottlieb Burian did not purchase his 120 acre homestead in Sunnydale from the Federal land office until about five years later, on 31 August 1889.³¹ This parcel of land (in Township 23 North, Range 4 East, Section 19; around today's 12th Avenue SW and SW 156th Street) was handsomely sited on the southeast corner of a lake, later named Lake Burien in his honor.

Evidence from city directories and census records prove that the Burian family maintained two primary residences. The house on the lake served as a home where they raised their children and was a comfortable retreat from city life.^{32 33} A photo taken about 1893 shows Gottlieb and Emma dressed simply in black on the steps of Sunnydale School, clearly in a place of honor, surrounded by school girls in white dresses with women wearing their finest hats and men in starched collars and ties.³⁴ The occasion is unknown, but it is obvious they were highly respected citizens in the community. Their city home at 1716 Spring Place on Capitol Hill, one block away from Minor Park, was not far from the center of Seattle's commercial hub, its social events, and Gottlieb's places of business.³⁵ A few years before Gottlieb's death, they sold this house and moved seven blocks west to another home at 1020 Spring Place, where Virginia Mason Hospital stands today.³⁶

Gottlieb Burian is sometimes mistakenly thought of as the first settler in the city of Burien area. However, this honor belongs to George Ouellet (variously spelled as Oullet, Ouellette, Oulett, Oulet, etc.), a French-Canadian immigrant born in Sainte-Marie de Beauce, south of Quebec City in 1837.³⁷ Ouellet purchased the first of his several Federal land patents in the area in 1864, fully twenty-five years before Burian bought any land.^{38 39}

Late in life, Gottlieb and Emma retired at their downtown Seattle home. When a census taker arrived in June 1900 and interviewed Gottlieb at age 63, he amusingly gave his profession as "shoemaker."⁴⁰

In November 1900, Gottlieb was struck by a street railway car when he changed direction while crossing Third Avenue at Madison Street, and was badly injured. Claims of negligence were disputed by the Seattle Electric street car company and fractious legal battles ensued. The personal injury case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Washington on appeals (Burian v. Seattle Electric Co., 14 December 1901). In the final decision, a Superior Court ruling was overturned and judgment was served in Gottlieb's favor, however, the verdict did not come until after his death. The $3,000 award was assigned to his widow, Emma Burian, and their daughter, who were substituted as plaintiffs.⁴¹ The case law is widely cited.^{42 43}

Gottlieb Burian died at his home at 1020 Spring Place in Seattle at age 64, on 21 February 1902, due to cirrhosis and hepatitis of the liver.^{44 45} Three days later, an obituary with his photo appeared in the Seattle Daily News that described German residents in large numbers paying their final respects. The Sons of Hermann, the Turnverein, and German lodges in Seattle coordinated services at Butterworth's funeral parlor and at Germania Hall, where they later drank toasts to his memory. A funeral procession from the hall to Lake View Cemetery⁴⁶ was led by Lueben's Band, followed by a horse-drawn hearse and his friends. The floral offerings were so numerous, it was reported, that a wagon was filled with them.⁴⁷

Gottlieb's widow Emma died of "dropsy" (congestive heart failure) three years later, in 1905, at age 66, at her home on Spring Place.⁴⁸ Daughter Martha died fifteen years earlier 1890, at age 12. Son Frank M. Burian worked as brewer in 1901, then, as a bartender at a transient hotel on King Street in 1910. He married Floy Z. Richards, née Pritchard, in Seattle in 1912,⁴⁹ and moved to southern California where he was employed as a driller at a shipyard.⁵⁰ He died in Los Angeles in 1923, at age 43,⁵¹ with no children that survived him. Daughter Emma Clara Burian was married in 1904 to Gottlieb Henry Pfeiffer, a stationary engineer, and raised one son, Henry Frank Pfeiffer (1910-1987). She died in Kirkland, Washington at age 74, in 1956.⁵² Gottlieb Burian, his wife, and all six of their children are buried at Lake View Cemetery, near Interlaken Park in Seattle.⁵³

After Gottlieb and Emma's deaths, the land around Lake Burien was purchased by Fred Dashley, Bill Dashley, and Charles Schoening, miners who had struck it rich in the Alaskan Klondike gold rush. Fred Dashley bought most of "Old Burian land," part of the northeast portion of the lake, as well as land extending north and east from the lake.^{54 55}

 Gottlieb Burian's Grave Marker at Lake View Cemetery

There is no evidence that Gottlieb Burian descended from a noble Prussian family or that family members spelled their name in any way other than "Burian." Naturalization papers, state legal records, contemporary newspaper accounts, city directories, marriage records of his children, and the family's grave markers at Lake View Cemetery all show the name spelled "Burian." If Gottlieb was referred to as "Von Boorian" during his life, it may have been a self applied honorific or a tribute by his friends at the Turnverein and the Sons of Hermann Lodge. Another possible explanation for the Von Boorian myth may be that it arose from the notoriety of Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Stephan Burian von Rajecz, called "Baron von Burian" in newspaper headlines during the early years of World War I.⁵⁶

Advertising in The Seattle Times for waterfront property on Puget Sound and Lake Burien show the spelling "Burian" with an "a" was preferred at least to 1907. The adoption of "Burien" with an "e" cannot be readily explained, although this variation appears on a few Washington Territorial censuses during the family's lifetime.

¹Find-A-Grave, photos of Gottlieb Burian and family cemetery markers at Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, WA, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=76890&GSfn=&GSln=Burian, accessed 7 May 2011.

²1875 Washington Territory Census, Thurston County, Washington Terr., lines 37-41, Goteleib Burien (sic, Gottlieb Burian) & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Washington State Archives microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011

³"Funeral of Gottlieb Burrian (sic)," obituary, Seattle Daily News, 24 February 1902.

⁴Joseph R. Svinth, "Sunnydale," except from Getting a Grip: Judo in the Japanese American Communities of Washington and Oregon, Circa 1900-Circa 1950, online article, Highline Historical Society, http://www.highlinehistory.org/oral_histories/Sunnydale_monograph.htm, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁵"Burien, the Ultimate Suburb," Seattle Weekly, 19 January 2011, http://www.seattleweekly.com/2011-01-19/news/burien-the-ultimate-suburb/, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁶"Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb von Boorien - circa 1893," cropped and annotated photographic image by unidentified photographer, Highline Historical Society, http://www.highlinehistory.org/Gottlieb.html, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁷Ditmar Kühne, Familienbericht Ortsfamilienbuch Hussinetz (database), http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=hussinetz&ID=2023&nachname=BURIAN&lang=de, accessed 7 May 2011, re: Gottlieb Burian *1837.

⁸Reference.com, Gesiniec, http://iad.reference.com/browse/G%C4%99siniec, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁹Ditmar Kühne, Familienbericht Ortsfamilienbuch Hussinetz (database), http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=hussinetz&ID=2023&nachname=BURIAN&lang=de, accessed 7 May 2011, re: Gottlieb Burian *1837.

¹⁰Peter Tscherny, Gründerfamilien von Hussinetz, Stand: 10.September 1752, ab Taufe 24, http://petertscherny.pe.funpic.de/strehlen/hussinetz/index.html, accessed 7 May 2011.

¹¹Ditmar Kühne, Familienbericht Ortsfamilienbuch Hussinetz (database), http://www.online-ofb.de/famreport.php?ofb=hussinetz&ID=2023&nachname=BURIAN&lang=de, accessed 7 May 2011, re: Gottlieb Burian *1837.

¹²Washington Secretary of State, "Marriage Records," Frank Burian & Floy Z. Richards, King County license 33938, 15 February 1912, digital image, Washington State Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 7 May 2011, Note: parents of groom: G. Burian & Emma Wurm.

¹³Outbound manifest, ship Liriope, departure 15 July 1862 from Hamburg "Hamburg Direct Passenger List," digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Staatsarchiv Hamburg, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁴"Hamburg Passenger Lists, Handwritten Indexes, 1855-1934," Year: 1855-1889 (Direkt), Band 004, 1862: B-no. 444, Gott. Burian (image 6/19) , digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Staatsarchiv Hamburg, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁵Outbound manifest, ship Liriope, departure 15 July 1862 from Hamburg "Hamburg Direct Passenger List," digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Staatsarchiv Hamburg, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁶Inbound manifest, ship Liriope, arrival 15 September 1862 at Port of New York, "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957," digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁷1870 U.S. Census, Ramsey County, Minnesota, St. Paul, 4th Ward, p.47, dwelling 325, family 325, Gottlieb Burian & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁸Peterzen, Conrad, ed., "Minnesota Naturalization Records Index, 1854-1957," for: Gotlieb (sic) Burian, Ramsey County, vol. K, p. 219, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, accessed 7 May 2011

¹⁹1870 U.S. Census, Ramsey County, Minnesota, St. Paul, 4th Ward, p.47, dwelling 325, family 325, Gottlieb Burian & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011

²⁰1875 Washington Territory Census, Thurston County, Washington Terr., lines 37-41, Goteleib Burien (sic, Gottlieb Burian) & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Washington State Archives microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: shoemaker

²¹Lake View Cemetery Association, Burial Index (database), http://www.lakeviewcemeteryassociation.com/burials.php, accessed 7 May 2011.

²²"Deaths and Funerals: Burian" obituary, The Seattle Daily Times, 15 November 1905, p. 4.

²³1887 Washington Territorial Census

²⁴1880 U.S. Census, Washington Territory, King County, Washington, Seattle, ED 7, p. 46, lines 29-32, Gottlieb Burian & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: keeps saloon

²⁵1881 Washington Territory Census, King County, Washington, Seattle, p.10, lines 3-6, Gotleib Burien (sic, Gottlieb Burian) & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Washington State Archives microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: saloon keeper

²⁶"Seattle City Directory, 1888-1889," Gottlieb Burian, Polk's Seattle Directory Company, in Seattle, Washington City Directories, 1888-1890, database search by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, accessed 7 May 2011,

²⁷Funeral of Gottlieb Burrian (sic)," obituary, Seattle Daily News, 24 February 1902, n.p.

²⁸Indexes to Naturalization Records of King County Territorial and Superior Courts, in "U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992," Gottlieb Burian, Court District: Washington, Date of Action: 7 Nov 1884, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011.

²⁹1885 Washington Territory Census, King County, Washington, Sunnydale, p.201, lines 9-13, G. Burian & family, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Washington State Archives microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: farmer

³⁰"Mrs. Pfeiffer, Burien-Area Pioneer, Dies," obituary, The Seattle Times, 23 January 1956, p. 33.

³¹U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records - Federal Land Patents http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/

³²"Mrs. Pfeiffer, Burien-Area Pioneer, Dies," obituary, The Seattle Times, 23 January 1956, p. 33

³³1902 Washington State Census, King County, Sunnydale

³⁴"Mr. and Mrs. Gottlieb von Boorien - circa 1893," cropped and annotated photographic image by unidentified photographer, Highline Historical Society, http://www.highlinehistory.org/Gottlieb.html, accessed 7 May 2011,

³⁵1900 U.S. Census, King County, Washington, Seattle, Ward 7, ED 109, p. 7B, lines 70-71, Gottlieb & Emma Burian, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: shoemaker

³⁶Polk's Seattle Directory, 1901, Seattle: Polk's Seattle Directory Co. p. 281, Gottlieb Burian, occupation: shoemaker http://books.google.com/books?id=yU7OAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA281#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed 7 May 2011

³⁷Quebec Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967, Sainte-Marie, Co. Beauce, (Canada) 1831, B138: George Ouellet, (birth record, 3 June 1831), digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from Institut Généalogique Drouin, Montréal Québec, accessed 7 May 2011

³⁸Glore search

³⁹Burien (City of), Washington, "General Background," http://www.burienwa.gov/index.aspx?NID=385, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁴⁰1900 U.S. Census, King County, Washington, Seattle, Ward 7, ED 109, p. 7B, lines 70-71, Gottlieb & Emma Burian, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: occupation: shoemaker

⁴¹"In November 1900, Gottlieb Burian was hurt by a Madison Street car while crossing Third Avenue," Seattle Daily Times, 12 June 1902, p. 12

⁴²The Pacific Reporter, vol. 67, St. Paul, MN: West Publishing, p. 214, "Burian v. Seattle Electric Company" (Supreme Court of Washington, 14 December 1901), 26 Wash. 606,

⁴³Thomas Michie, ed. (1902), Railroad Report: Vol. 24, The American and English Rairoad Cases, Charlottesville, VA: The Michie Co., p. 218, http://books.google.com/books?id=2849AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA218#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁴⁴King County, Washington, Register of Deaths, 1902; record no. 7300, G. Burian, date of death 21 Feb 1902, age 66, place of death: 1020 Spring Place, cause of death: cirrhosis hepatis

⁴⁵Find-A-Grave, photos of Gottlieb Burian and family cemetery markers at Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, WA, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=76890&GSfn=&GSln=Burian, accessed 7 May 2011

⁴⁶Lake View Cemetery Association, Burial Index (database), http://www.lakeviewcemeteryassociation.com/burials.php, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁴⁷"Funeral of Gottlieb Burrian (sic)," obituary, Seattle Daily News, 24 February 1902, n.p.

⁴⁸"Deaths and Funerals: Burian" obituary of Emma Burian, The Seattle Daily Times, 15 November 1905, p. 4.

⁴⁹Washington Secretary of State, "Marriage Records," Frank Burian & Floy Z. Richards, King County license 33938, 15 February 1912, digital image, Washington State Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov, accessed 7 May 2011, Note: parents of groom: G. Burian & Emma Wurm.

⁵⁰1920 U.S. Census, Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles, Assembly District 74, ED 414, p. 25A, lines 46-47, Frank M. & Floy Burian, digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com, from NARA microfilm, accessed 7 May 2011, note: Floy Burian was residing next door to her father, Jack Pritchard, and her sister and brother-in-law.

⁵¹"Deaths: Burian - At Los Angeles, Cal. January 6, 1923, Frank Burian," death notice, Seattle Daily Times, n.d., ca. 12 January 1923.

⁵²"Mrs. Pfeiffer, Burien-Area Pioneer, Dies," obituary, The Seattle Times, 23 January 1956, p. 33.

⁵³Lake View Cemetery Association, Burial Index (database), http://www.lakeviewcemeteryassociation.com/burials.php, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁵⁴Burien (City of), Washington, "Lake View Park Background," report: 2 September 2008, PDF, http://www.burienwa.gov/Search.aspx, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁵⁵Burien (City of), Washington, "Lake View Park," http://www.burienwa.gov/index.aspx?NID=428, accessed 7 May 2011.

⁵⁶"Austrian Minister Throws Out New Peace Feeler. Baron von Burian Says Nobody Would Refuse Homage to Wilson's Genius," The Seattle Daily Times, 16 July 1918, n.p.