Alfred Burnie
This distinguished looking gentleman was one of 10 children born to James Burnie and Mary Ann Lowry while they were still resident at the Morning Glory Inn (for a list of the others, see the Burnie Family Tree). It is not certain where he went from there, or how he spent his youth, but he eventually became a farmer, and owned property in Egypt, Ontario, as well as the farm that has remained in the Burnie name to this day. It is named the Morning Glory Inn Farm to commemorate the inn.
Apparently, he was a fairly successful farmer for a time, and operated both a steam engine and a thresher for custom work. Both these were considered quite progressive. However, he also enjoyed socializing at the Belvedere Hotel [the "Mansion House" in the photo of James Burnie], and the Doyle hotel (now the Mansion House) in Sutton. Eventually, therefore, most of the farming fell on the shoulders of his oldest son, Bernard, and to Maurice after Bernard died a premature death in 1917.
I remember him as a very amiable person, always properly attired, and very gallant. He loved to play checkers (drafts), and Euchre, and he had a passion for 'sweets' (candies). He was also a grand story teller, and one of the tales he related to me was of the 'murders' that had taken place at the inn. The one murder occurred when Kelly, a lumber jack with the Bel Ewart Lumber Company, stabbed O'Reilly. Afterward, Kelly was locked in a room at the inn until the constables could arrange for his transport to the Gould Street Jail in Toronto. He was eventually convicted and hanged, and the whole family went to see the hanging.
The other was a bit more mysterious. As the story went, a maid employed at the inn was having an affair with the osler (described as a very tall man). One day a man (reputed to be her husband) arrived on the stage coach from Toronto. That night the maid, osler, and the husband all disappeared.
While excavating for the Morning Glory Public School, bones were found in the area of the inn stable. I saw those bones before they were shipped to the Forensic Laboratory in Toronto, and they were indeed those of a very tall man.