A General History of the Burr Family in America
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history generalAoftheBurrfamilyinAmerica ToddCharles Burr 0 GENERAL H ISTORY OF THE B URR FAMILY IN A MERICA. WITH A G ENEALOGICAL RECORD FROM 1870 TO 1878. BY CHARLES B URR TODD. "He o nly oeserves to be remembered by posterity who treasures up, and preserves the history of his ancestors." Edmund B urke. .°EW N YORK : Printed by E. Wells Sackett & Bro., 568 & 5 William Street. I878. COPYRIGHTED, 1 s78, BT CUARLBS BCRB TODD. STEREOTYPED B T THE N EWsi'KGII STEREOTYPE OO. CONTENTS. pasm I. P reface ....... 5 II. T he Name . .10 III. I ntroduction ...... 13 PART I . HISTORICAL A ND BIOGRAPHICAL. IV. J ehue Burr . .19 V. J ehue Burr, Jr. ...... 25 VI. C ol. John Burr . .29 VII. J udge Peter Burr ..... 36 VIII. C ol. John Burr . .46 IX. C ol. Andrew Burr ..... 55 X. R ev. Aaron Burr . .66 XI. T haddeus Burr ...... 76 XII. C ol. Aaron Burr . .NO XIII. T heodosia Burr Alston ..... 181 PART I I. GENEALOGY. XIV. F airfield Branch . .143 XV. H artford Branch ..... 229 XVI. D orchester Brancu ...... 323 XVII. N ew Jersey Branch ..... 869 XVm. I ndex 415 XIX. A ppendix ....... 387 PREFACE THERE a re people in our time who treat the inquiries of the genealogist with indifference, and even with contepipt. His researches seem to them a waste of time and energy. Interest in ancestors, love of family and kindred, those subtle questions of race, origin, even of life itself, which they involve, are quite beyond their comprehension. They live only in the present, and care nothing for the past and little for the future ; for " he who cares not whence he cometh, cares not whither he goeth." When s uch persons are approached with questions of ancestry, they retire to their stronghold of apathy ; and the querist learns, without difficulty, that whether their ancestors were vile or illus trious, virtuous or vicious, or whether, indeed, they ever had any, is to them a matter of supreme indifference. Nowe w think it can be shown that this state of feeling is an ab normal one, a perversion of the natural and kindly impulses of the heart, which lead us to regard our progenitors with respect and affec tion. Sometimes it is assumed; often it is caused by that lofty in dependence of character which disdains to admit that its eminence has been attained through the wealth or patronage of ancestors ; but more generally it arises from the disgust and aversion caused by that foolish pride of lineage, which refuses recognition to a man unless he can unfold a long and famous pedigree, and which claims honor and consideration from the mere accident of birth, and without re gard to character or attainments. This pride of lineage is, un doubtedly, one of the weakest and most foolish foibles of humanity ; yet there is above and beyond it a veneration and a love for ancestry that is commendable. Indeed, this forms one of the most pleasing traits of the race, and has obtained among all peoples and in all ages. We see it in that beautiful custom of the East, which makes an oath sworn by the tomb of ancestors forever sacred — in yEneas bearing his father from flaming Troy, in the thousand legends and poems of the 6 P REFACE. classics, i n the invention of the Jewish records, and their preservation so that the Saviour's lineage could be traced through them to its source. in Adam, in the stern Roman bearing with him in his migra tion, the carved images of his fathers, and giving them the choicest places in his new home, and, lastly and more markedly, in its power to rouse a slumbering people, when every other resource has failed, and lead them up to new Thermopylae and Nasebys. This d eep, underlying principle of humanity forms the basis of Genealogy, and gives strength and solidity to the structure. Again, o ne of the chief uses of the science is that it preserves pedigree; and pedigree has an intrinsic value in men, as well as in animals, whatever may be thought to the contrary by the unlearned and vulgar. It is a merit in itself and it confers merit on its posses sor. How often do we hear it said of a young man who is doing well — " It is to be expected ; he comes of good stock ;" and of another, who is following evil courses — "You can expect nothing better; I have known his family for years ; there is bad blood in him ;" and so experience and observation have wrought out the established truth that "blood will tell," and that it is good policy to look askance at a man of evil ancestry. (There are, however, exceptions to this rule. Virtue is of perennial growth in the human soul, and may bloom even in the breast of the convict's son, while boys born to good fami lies sometimes go astray — generally, however, from want of parental care and management, or from other extraneous causes, and not from any predisposition to evil.) Men's e xperience, then, has settled that the virtues as well as the vices of the fathers are transmitted to their children. Genealogy, by its researches in heredity and transmission, goes further, and asserts that their traits and predilections, their acquisitions, mental and physical, their modes of thought and even of expression are trans mitted also, and teaches that generations whom we thought long since dead still live in us, exist in our existence, act in our actions, and think in our thoughts. Now, if these things are so — and their truth is established beyond cavil — are not the votaries of the science justified in propounding a new axiom, that he is the real millionaire who inherits a virtuous ancestry ; since he must receive with it a good name, good abilities, and sound judgment, and these in turn will confer on him a clear title to wealth, honest fame, and all the acquisitions and achievements of the human mind. Genealogy p reserves this blessing of ancestry to man. It also in cludes in its province the questions of heredity, transmission, and PREFACE. 1 selection — q uestions which affect the origin and perpetuation of life itself. It becomes a point, therefore, for modern society to deter mine, whether it is not worthy of a better fate than to be imprisoned in the pages of the Doomsday-Book, or delegated to the monkish antiquary and the cobwebbed sanctum of the vital statistician. Of l ate there has been a marked revival of public interest in the labors of the genealogist. Publications devoted to his specialty have met with more generous support. Societies have been incorporated by legislatures for the better prosecution of genealogical inquiries, and in most States an accurate registration of the births, marriages and deaths in each township is provided for by law, so that at no distant day we may hope to see the restless, migratory spirit of the early days of the republic succeeded by a better cultivation of home ties and sanctities, and of the humanizing virtues of filial respect and affection. After s ome years of labor, and many unavoidable delays, the " History," is now offered to the family ; that it has some deficiencies is not denied : it is hoped that it has also some merit ; these will prob ably be discovered by the critically inclined and need not be adverted to here. Few however who read the pages of the work will form any just idea of the labor and difficulty involved in its compilation ; in tracing the scattered members of the family through all their wander ings for a period of nearly three centuries ; in the labor of extensive correspondence, which alone would fill volumes ; and the examina tion of town, parish, and state records, histories, ancient wills and deeds, tombstones of the dead, and other sources of information ; and these labors too sometimes increased by the neglect, or refusal to respond of those from whom information was sought. In c onstructing the genealogy the compiler has visited most of the towns where the family early took root, and has personally ex amined the records pertaining to his subject; its accuracy, except in the few instances stated, may be received without question ; its statements are supported by either documentary or oral evidence; in completeness it is believed that it will compare favorably with most family histories published ; the earlier generations will be found complete, or nearly so— the later more fragmentary — but for this the author should not be held responsible, since he was forced to depend upon the living for his data. But t he record has been a much more than ordinarily difficult one to construct. The family is a pioneer one par excellence, and the S P REFACE. insatiate s ea, and clamorous West, alike absorbed great numbers ot its members, all knowledge of whose fate was lost by their kindred at home, and of course to the family historian who sought to pre serve it. The partial loss of the Fairfield records also added to the difficulty of tracing that branch of the family. The m aterial for the biographies has been drawn mainly from old papers and records preserved in the State Library at Hartford, for free access to which, as well as for many valuable hints, I am indebted to Charles J. Hoadley, Esq., State Librarian, agentleman whose antiquarian research is exceeded only by his courtesy. For t he matter contained in the sketch of Colonel Aaron Burr, 1 am largely — though not wholly — indebted to preceding biogra phies ; especially to Mr.