The Burns family of Falkirk originated in Bo’ness, West Lothian, where John Burns senior was a customs collector. His eldest son, John Burns studied law at Edinburgh University and became a lawyer in Falkirk in the 1790s. This John Burns had several sons, one of whom also became a lawyer and, and another became a singer, studying in Italy, despite parental disapproval. John Burns was also one of the first elders of the Free Church in Falkirk. The family were connected to Rev Robert Burns who was Secretary of the Glasgow Colonial Society and was instrumental in taking the Disruption to the churches in Canada