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Esther Edwards Burr

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Esther Edwards Burr
Born
Esther Edwards

(1732-02-13)February 13, 1732
Northampton, Province of Massachusetts Bay, British America
DiedApril 7, 1758(1758-04-07) (aged 26)
Princeton, Province of New Jersey, British America
Known for"The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr" 1754-1757
SpouseAaron Burr Sr.
ChildrenAaron Burr Jr.
Sarah Burr
Parent(s)Jonathan Edwards
Sarah (Pierpont) Edwards

Esther Edwards Burr (February 13, 1732 – April 7, 1758) kept a personal journal from October 1754, in which she recorded her perspective on current events and her daily activities.[1] Esther Burr's journal is considered an important source in studies of American history and literature for its insight into a woman's daily life in the late colonial period of the United States, although it was not until 1984 that her journal was published in its entirety to the public.[2] She was also the mother of 3rd U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr Jr. and the wife of Princeton University President Aaron Burr Sr. whom she married in 1752, one year after she moved to Stockbridge in western Massachusetts.[3]

Early life and family

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Esther Edwards was born in Northampton, Province of Massachusetts Bay, the third of the eleven children of Sarah (Pierpont) Edwards and the famed preacher of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards. Esther was named after Edwards' mother and grandmother who came before her. She initially grew up in the town of Northampton, but Jonathan Edwards had a falling out with the church in Northampton, the First Church of Northampton was unwilling for Jonathan Edwards to change his position on the Lord's table.[4] This led to the Edwards family moving to the frontier settlement Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1751, where she met Aaron Burr Sr. whom she married in 1752. Though the Edwards children were encouraged to read the Bible and engage in piety at all times, they were not kept in the dark about all forms of contemporary, non-religious culture. For instance, they were allowed to read novels, if their parents approved of their content, but Jonathan Edwards was still a rather strict father.[5]

Esther Edwards was never given a proper formal education, but she did receive quite an education at home. Both her parents were as interested in her writing ability. These writing abilities carried over to her adult life, evident in her journal, consisting of letters sent to her friend.[5]

First Church of Northhampton, The church Esther initially attended before moving to Stockbridge
First Church of Northhampton, The church Esther initially attended before moving to Stockbridge

Esther Burr was a member of the Church at Stockbridge and Northampton and later the church in Newark.[6] In 1752, Esther married Aaron Burr Sr. She was just seventeen when she received her first and only marriage proposal from him, who was the president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). In 1754 Esther had a daughter named Sarah nicknamed Sally and in 1756 she gave birth to Aaron Burr Jr. who would become vice president of the United States (1801–05). The marriage seems to have been a happy one. Esther, however, desperately missed her friends and close-knit family. Her new husband's duties frequently kept him away from home, and Esther found her own responsibilities as the wife of a university president and prominent minister. Esther managed the affairs of the household and hosted many of the scholars of the school at her home, which she thoroughly enjoyed due to being able to listen on the conversations between her husband and their guests about topics of religion.[7] These continuous daily duties were so draining for her, that sometimes she didn't even have the strength to write a single line of a letter to a friend.[7]

Esther Burr's daughter, Sarah, married Tapping Reeve, previously Aaron Jr. and Sarah's School Tutor and the founder of America's first law school Litchfield Law School. Esther Burr's son, Aaron, was the third vice president of the United States (1801–05), who shot and killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. Esther kept to a plain style, proudly asserting that she was a "busy housewife."

Her journal

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The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757 edited by Carol F. Karlsen and Laurie Crumpacker
The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757 edited by Carol F. Karlsen and Laurie Crumpacker

Like the earlier journal of Sarah Kemble Knight in 1704–1705, Esther Burr's Journal provides insight into a woman's daily life in the late colonial period of the United States. Esther Burr's Journal might be called an epistolary diary, since, rather than being a traditional diary written as a private record for oneself, Esther Burr's Journal consists of daily letters exchanged with her childhood friend Sarah Prince in Boston from 1754 to 1757.[8] In the Journal, Sarah Prince is referred to as Fidelia while Sarah refers to Esther as Burrissa most likely a reference to her last name after she married Aaron Burr Sr. Esther wrote about ordinary things that happened around her, but she also sometimes expressed original thoughts about serious topics in passing such as the dominant themes of loneliness and hardship of everyday existence as well as slavery.[5]

That there exist multiple editions of Esther Burr's Journal can be somewhat confusing. In 1901, the president of Howard University, Jeremiah Rankin, published a book[9] which, despite being entitled Esther Burr's Journal is actually a fictionalized account of Esther's life.[10] It was not until 1984 that Esther Burr's Journal was published in its entirety by Carol F. Karlsen and Laurie Crumpacker,[11] but this book is no longer in print and it is quite hard to find a copy in good condition.

Death

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Barely a fortnight after the sudden death of her father, Jonathan Edwards (who had come to Princeton to be Burr's successor as president of the college who died March 22, 1758, due to complication following a smallpox inoculation), Esther fell ill and died on April 7, 1758, after "a few days illness". She was seized with a fever, apparently not linked to her recent smallpox inoculation, which produced a violent headache and then delirium. Her sister Sarah believed it was not unlike the sudden fever from which her sister Jerusha had died. Esther's death left her two children, Aaron and Sarah Burr, as orphans. Burr and his sister went to live with their wealthy maternal uncle Timothy Edwards in a cramped, crowded environment.[12] Aaron Burr Sr. had died previously in September 1757.[13] Sarah Edwards, her mother, died soon after in October 1758.[14] Esther, along with the rest of the Edwards family, where buried together at the Bridge Street Cemetery in Northampton.

After Esther's death in Princeton, on April 7, 1758. Sarah Prince was nearly inconsolable by her death, as seen when she wrote the words, "My whole dependance for Comfort in this World [is] gone,...", and "[Esther] was dear to me as the Apple of my Eye- she knew and felt all my griefs..." in her personal book of meditations.[15]

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Theatre and film

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Leslie Odom Jr. as Burr in Hamilton
Leslie Odom Jr. as Burr in Hamilton

Aaron Burr Jr. is featured in the hit Broadway show "Hamilton", played by Leslie Odom Jr. In the play, Aaron Burr mentions Esther twice in the first half of the musical. Esther is personified by a female ensemble member during "Wait For It" after Leslie Odom Jr., playing the role of Aaron Burr Jr., sings the line "My Mother was a genius" and then proceeds to sing, "when they (Esther Edwards Burr and Aaron Burr Sr.) died they left no instructions, just a legacy to protect", implying that they didn't tell Aaron Burr Jr. anything before she died, Esther is briefly also mentioned in "Aaron Burr, Sir".

References

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  1. ^ Karlsen, Carol; Crumpacker, Laurie, eds. (1984). The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 3. ISBN 9780300029000.
  2. ^ http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2008/11/esther-edwards-burr-1754.html (accessed Jan. 26, 2016)
  3. ^ http://etcweb.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/burr_aaron_sr.html Archived 2019-07-20 at the Wayback Machine (accessed Dec. 21, 2009)
  4. ^ g3min https://g3min.org/jonathan-edwards-was-fired-lessons-for-the-church/
  5. ^ a b c Historia Obscura https://www.historiaobscura.com/the-journal-of-esther-edwards-burr/
  6. ^ Samuel H. Wandell, Aaron Burr, Part 1 (Paperback) (Kessinger Publishing, LLC (May 20, 2003) original 1925)
  7. ^ a b Admin, Office (2015-10-09). "Lessons from Church History: Esther Edwards Burr". Founders Ministries. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
  8. ^ Harde, Roxanne (2002). ""I don't like strangers on the Sabbath": Theology and Subjectivity in the Journal of Esther Edwards Burr". Legacy. 19 (1): 18–25. doi:10.1353/leg.2003.0009. ISSN 1534-0643.
  9. ^ Rankin, Jeremiah (1901). Esther Burr's Journal. Washington: Howard University Print.
  10. ^ Dietrich, Rayshelle (December 2008). Everyday Epistles: The Journal-letter Writing of American Women, 1754-1836 (Ph.D.). Texas Christian University. p. 44.
  11. ^ Karlsen, Carol; Crumpacker, Laurie, eds. (1984). The Journal of Esther Edwards Burr, 1754-1757. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300029000.
  12. ^ "Princeton, April 12". The New-Hampshire Gazette. No. 83. May 5, 1758. p. 3.
  13. ^ Davis, Kenneth (2011). A Nation Rising: Untold Tales from America's Hidden History. Harper Collins. p. 22. ISBN 978-0061118210.
  14. ^ Leverenz, David; Leverenz, Professor David (1980). The Language of Puritan Feeling: An Exploration in Literature, Psychology, and Social History. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813508825.
  15. ^ Norton, Mary Beth (2011-05-16). Separated by Their Sex: Women in Public and Private in the Colonial Atlantic World. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801461378.
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