White male, born about 1861. Died 16 November 1931 at the Escambia County Poor Farm of mitral regurgitation at the age of about 70. The informant on his death certificate was the Poor Farm, and many of the blanks on his death certificate were left unfilled. He was buried at the Escambia County Poor Farm cemetery by Waters & Hibbert Funeral Home.
There is very little information to go on for Mr. Burns. He was not enumerated in the 1930 census as residing at the Poor Farm as of April 1931 – in fact, there is no J.W. Burns enumerated on any census in Florida or surrounding states for 1930. Nor does he appear in the City Directories in the years preceding his death. (A John W. Burns listed in 1927 is not him.) The death certificate includes the detail that Dr. V.R. Nobles had treated him for his heart condition since February 15 of the year he died, so he must have been in the area for several months before his passing.
SOURCES:
Florida Certificate of Death for J.W. Burns (No. 16958), Florida Deaths, 1877-1939. Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City.