Richard Burns 1879

One day in 1879, Richard Burns wrote on a strip of wood. He then put the wood into this bottle, corked it, and placed it under the floor of a property in Haddington, East Lothian.
Some (many!) years later, joiners (probably my grand-father), found it and took it home. I now have it in my office.
I often wonder what happened to Richard Burns. Did he live there? Was he working on the house?