Cousins Adrian (born 1905) and Ted (born 1908) Burnett on the Max Burnett farm in Halls in the 1910’s. Their fathers Max and Nathan were brothers.

Brothers Max and Nathan Burnett were born in what is today Poland, sons of Benjamin and Golda Dobrzynski.  How they came to have the name Burnett is unknown.  After coming to the U.S., Max peddled his way to Tennessee, where he settled and began farming in the Halls community of Knox County.  He was one of the earliest members of the new Heska Amuna Synagogue, and became at naturalized US citizen in 1894.  In 1904, Max married Emma Weinstein (originally from Raseiniai, in today’s Lithuania) in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and in 1905 their son Adrian was born.

The younger brother Nathan came to America after his brother was living in Halls. He worked as a handyman while learning English and then became a salesman for Max Finkelstein. Nathan later opened his own clothing store on Gay Street, which he operated until 1958.  Nathan married Fannie Samuels in Knoxville in 1906, and their son Garrett was born in 1908. Because of his curly hair, Garrett was nicknamed Teddy Bear and later went by the name Ted.  After Ted's mother died in 1911, he lived on the farm with his Uncle Max, Aunt Emma, and cousin Adrian.

Adrian Burnett remained a farmer throughout his life. He delivered dairy products to many of the Jewish homes in Knoxville.  He was the only local source of Kosher for Passover milk. While making a delivery to a Jewish client on 5th Avenue, he met Yetta Resnick from Baltimore, Maryland, who was visiting her sister (Sarah Gerber) who lived with her family in Knoxville.  They married in 1932 and had children Sidney, Evelyn, and latecomer Michael. Adrian later entered politics as a member of the Knox County School Board, and after his death, Adrian Burnett Elementary School was named in his honor.  Sidney married Marilyn Holt and they had Lenny.  Evelyn married Harold Silvey; their son is Mark. 

Ted Burnett showed a talent for art at a very early age.  He graduated from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and studied at the Chicago Art Institute and Eliot O'Hara Watercolor School in Maine. Ted, who produced a great many paintings, taught art throughout his life and was well respected in the Knoxville artist community. Ted married Hazel Nadler of Birmingham, Alabama, and had three sons -- Fielden, Mitch, and “Bim.”