Aaron Burr is often regarded as one of the most controversial figures from the early years of the United States. However, what you might not know is that he had roots in South Windsor.
Before his Vice Presidency, the shooting of Alexander Hamilton, and being prosecuted for treason, Burr had humble beginnings.
Burr’s grandfather, Jonathan Edwards was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, in an area that is now South Windsor. Edwards received a great education from his father and older sisters, and he enrolled at Yale at just 12 years old. Edwards had a great interest in natural science and loved praying in nature.
For two years after he graduated, he studied theology, yet still remained interested in science. He served as an assistant to his grandfather, Solomon Stoddard, at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts. In 1729, when Stoddard died, Edwards became the sole minister at the church.
“He would stand at his pulpit in Northampton, Massachusetts and thunder at his parishioners about hell, sin and the righteousness of faith,” South Windsor High School history teacher Joseph Camire explained.
His most famous work at the time was his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” which he gave at his church in 1741.
Camire said that Edwards demanded good behavior and adherence to faith in his sermons.
Esther Edwards Burr was born in 1732 to Jonathan Edwards and Sarah Pierpoint Edwards in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Notably, Esther Edwards Burr wrote letters about her daily life to her friend for three years from 1754 until 1757. These letters were published in 1984 by Carol Karlsen as The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr.
Burr’s father, Aaron Burr Sr, was born in what is now Fairfield, Connecticut.
Burr Sr. was a Presbyterian minister, and founded a college known as the College of New Jersey, where he became the second president. The college would later be renamed to Princeton University.
Burr Sr. served as college president from 1748 to 1757.
Aaron Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1756 to Aaron Burr Sr. and Esther Edwards Burr.
When Burr Sr. died in 1757, he was succeeded as president of the College of New Jersey by his father-in-law, Jonathan Edwards.
For the short time where he served as the president of the College of New Jersey, which was located in Newark at the time, he watched over a young Aaron Burr Jr. and his older sister Sarah.
When Burr was just two years old, Jonathan Edwards passed away, along with Esther Edwards Burr and Sarah Pierpoint Edwards, all in the same year.
This left young Aaron Burr and Sarah Burr orphaned.
Custody of Aaron and Sarah Burr were then given to their maternal uncle, Timothy Edwards, son of Jonathan Edwards.
Despite sharing a name, South Windsor’s middle school, Timothy Edwards Middle School, was actually named after the father of Jonathan Edwards, not his son.
According to multiple sources, the relationship between Aaron Burr and Timothy Edwards was “strained” due to Edwards often being physically abusive to Burr. Historians believe that this relationship during Burr’s childhood gave him his complex adult personality.
“The loss of his parents and the strict upbringing provided him a relentless ambition, as well as a deep desire to create larger family bonds, but also created a psycho social need for attention and a narcissism that betrayed aspects of his thinking as seen in his later actions,” Camire said.
Burr lived a life of controversy, yet he was an important figure in founding the nation. In fact, his whole family was very prominent, and helped influence the nation as we know it today.
