Aaron Burr Sr.

A native of Connecticut, Burr was born in 1716 in present-day Fairfield to Daniel Burr (1660–1727) and Elizabeth Burr, nee Pinckney (1675–1722), daughter of captain Philip Pinckney (1618–1689). His father was a wealthy farmer. He was of English ancestry (his paternal grandfather Jehu Burr (1625–1692) had been born in Lavenham, Suffolk, England, settled in the Connecticut Colony as a young man, and died there).

Aaron Burr attended Yale College (now Yale University), where he obtained a B.A. in 1735. After graduation, he studied theology in New Haven and witnessed the First Great Awakening, a significant religious and spiritual movement of the 1730s and 1740s. He was personally acquainted with Jonathan Edwards and his wife Sarah, daughter of James Pierpont, who is credited with founding Yale. Edwards, a leader of the Great Awakening, was Burr's mentor and would later become his father-in-law.

On December 21, 1756, Burr became a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Newark, Newark, New Jersey. He also taught Greek and Latin to youth, and co-authored Introduction to the Latin Tongue.{{Cite book|last=Ross|first=Robert|title=The American Latin Grammar: or, A Compleat Introduction to the Latin Tongue. Formed from the Most Approved Writings in This Kind; as Those of Lilly, Ruddiman, Phillipps, Holmes, Bp. Wettenhall, Cheever, Clarke, Reed, &c. Compiled by Presidents Burr, Finley and Others, For the Use of the Grammar Schools Throughout the United States.|publisher=Edward Gray|year=1793|edition=8th|location=Springfield, Mass.|oclc=55831666}} After a few years, Burr rose to prominence in the Presbyterian circles of upper New Jersey and the New York City area.

Between 1741 and 1758, a controversy over unorthodox piety fostered by the Great Awakening and how it affected traditional authority of church officers led to internal differences in the Presbyterian and Congregational churches. Presbyterians became divided between the so-called conservative Old Side and dissenting, pro-Awakening New Side congregationalists—between Old and New Lights.{{Cite book|last=Trinterud|first=Leonard J.|title=The Forming of an American Tradition: A Re-examination of Colonial Presbyterianism|publisher=The Westminter Press|year=1949|location=Philadelphia|oclc=718119879}}{{Page needed|date=October 2021}}{{Cite magazine|last1=Hart|first1=D. G.|last2=Muether|first2=John R.|date=March 2005|title=Turning Points in American Presbyterian History Part 3: Old Side versus New Side, 1741–1758|url=https://www.opc.org/nh.html?article_id=46|magazine=New Horizons|access-date=October 6, 2021}} The rift affected the faculty and student body at Yale that was at the time an incubator for both Presbyterian and Congregational clergy. In opposition to Thomas Clap, Yale's first president, Jonathan Edwards, Burr, and Jonathan Dickinson, all being on the pro-Awakening side, founded the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) at Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1746.

Dickinson was elected first president of the College, but died soon after in 1747. Burr, who taught at the College, then became the second president on November 9, 1748 after approval of the college charter by the New Jersey governor, Jonathan Belcher. During his tenure (1748–1797), the curriculum was settled, the student body increased from 8 in 1747 to 40–50 in 1751, and the first commencement was held. Among the first graduates was Richard Stockton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence; five others became Presbyterian ministers. Burr moved the College to its permanent home at Princeton, New Jersey, where he supervised the construction of Nassau Hall, Princeton's best-known structure and the largest building in colonial New Jersey when it was completed in 1756. In 1755, Burr was relieved of his pastoral duties in order to concentrate full-time on his work at Princeton. At age 32, he became the youngest person ever to serve as president of Princeton.{{cite web|title=Aaron Burr Sr.|url=https://www.princeton.edu/pub/presidents/burr/|url-status=live|access-date=October 6, 2021|website=The Presidents of Princeton University|publisher=Princeton University|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101125084716/http://www.princeton.edu:80/pub/presidents/burr/ |archive-date = 2010-11-25 }}

In September 1756, when the French and Indian War was underway, Burr wrote a sermon in which he sought to defend the "Priviledges [sic] of unadulterated Christianity; British Liberty and Property, in a delightful and fruitful Country"{{Cite book|last=Burr Sr.|first=Aaron|url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N06196.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext|title=The Watchman's Answer to the Question, What of the Night, &C: A Sermon Preached Before the Synod of New York, Convened at Newark, in New Jersey, September 30, 1756|publisher=Re-printed and sold by S. Kneeland, Opposite the Probate-Office, in Queen-Street., 1757|year=1757|location=Boston|oclc=977438608}} foretelling future fusion of secular and religious rhetoric in the Revolutionary era.{{Cite web|last=Noll|first=Mark A.|date=2000|title=Burr, Aaron (1716-1757), Presbyterian minister and college founder|url=https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0100121|url-status=live|access-date=October 6, 2021|website=American National Biography|doi=10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0100121|isbn=978-0-19-860669-7 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211006071008/https://www.anb.org/view/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.001.0001/anb-9780198606697-e-0100121;jsessionid=9601491E47575AC80C7BC6D0D938C6DB |archive-date = 2021-10-06 }}

On June 29, 1752, Burr married Jonathan and Sarah Edwards' daughter Esther (1732–1758). Together, they had two children:

• Sarah "Sally" Burr (1754–1797), who married Tapping Reeve (1744–1823)
• Aaron Burr Jr. (1756–1836), who in 1782 married Theodosia Bartow Prevost (1746–1794), widow of an officer of the British army, Jacques Marcus Prevost (1736–1781), who was a younger brother of general Augustine Prevost (1723–1786). After her death in 1794, he married Eliza Jumel (1775–1865) in 1833.

In the fall of 1757, Burr died in his first year in Princeton (tenth year of being the president) of fever after traveling to Massachusetts to Governor Belcher's funeral where he delivered a sermon. It was believed that his premature death had been brought on or aggravated by overwork. His remains were interred in the President's Lot at Princeton Cemetery. His widow died seven months later, orphaning their three-year-old daughter and two-year-old son.{{cite book|last=Isenberg|first=Nancy|title=Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr|publisher=Viking Press|year=2007|isbn=978-0-670-06352-9|location=New York|pages=5}}

His grandchildren include Aaron Burr Reeve (1780–1809),{{cite web|title=Reeve Family Papers, 1767–1866 |url=http://www.fairfieldhistory.org/wp-content/uploads/Reeve-Family-Ms-18.html|website=www.fairfieldhistory.org|access-date=13 January 2017}} who died shortly after the birth of his only child, Tapping Burr Reeve (1809–1829),{{cite web|title=Litchfield Ledger – Student|url=http://www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org/ledger/students/2117|website=www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org|access-date=13 January 2017}} and Theodosia Burr (1783–1813). Theodosia was married to Joseph Alston (1779–1816), who served as the 44th Governor of South Carolina from 1812 to 1814.{{cite book|editor1-last=Commire|editor1-first=Anne|title=Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia (Vol. 3)|date=2002|publisher=Yorkin Publications|location=Detroit|pages=232–33|chapter=Burr, Theodosia (1783–1813)}}

Aaron Burr Sr. had many siblings from his father's three marriages:

• Hannah Burr (b. 1681)
• Jehu Burr (1687–1757), was twice married, among his sons was Jehu Burr Jr. (1734–1808).
• Mary Burr (1689–1763), married David Meeker (1687–1754).
• Elizabeth Burr (1696–1760), married Nathaniel Hull (1695–1749).
• Stephen Burr (1697–1778)
• Peter Burr (1699–1777)
• Jane Burr (1701–1779), married Samuel Sherwood (1699–1768).
• Esther Burr (1703–1741), married Daniel Bradley (1704–1765).
• David Burr (1709–1766)
• Moses Burr (1714–1740)

• Burr, Aaron. Sermon at the Ordination of David Bostwick. New York, 1745.
• Burr, Aaron. A Discourse Delivered at New-Ark in New Jersey, January 1, 1755. New York, 1755.
• Burr, Aaron. [http://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/evans/N06196.0001.001/1:2?rgn=div1;view=fulltext The Watchman's Answer to the Question, What of the Night, & C: A Sermon Preached Before the Synod of New York, Convened at Newark in New Jersey, September 30, 1756]. Boston, 1757.
• Burr, Aaron. The Supreme Deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maintained. Boston, 1757.
• Burr, Aaron. A Funeral Sermon, Preached at the Interment of Jonathan Belcher, Esg. New York, 1757.

{{reflist|30em}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://www.richardsibbes.com/Princeton.Cemetery.Presidents.htm Photographic tour of Aaron Burr's grave at Princeton Cemetery.]
• [http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/burr_aaron_sr.html Biography of Burr Sr. at Princeton University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720205901/http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/burr_aaron_sr.html |date=2019-07-20 }}

{{s-start}}

{{s-aca}}

{{succession box

| before = Jonathan Dickinson

| title = President of the College of New Jersey

| years = 1747–1757

| after = Jonathan Edwards

}}

{{s-end}}

{{Princeton presidents}}

{{Princeton University President}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burr, Aaron Sr.}}

Category:1716 births

Category:1757 deaths

Category:Fathers of vice presidents of the United States

Category:People from Fairfield, Connecticut

Category:People from Lavenham

Category:Clergy from Newark, New Jersey

Category:People from colonial Connecticut

Category:People from colonial New Jersey

Category:Yale College alumni

Category:American people of English descent

Category:Presidents of Princeton University

Category:American Presbyterian ministers

Aaron Sr.

Category:Burials at Princeton Cemetery

Category:University and college founders