Aaron Burr - Early Life

Early Life

Burr was born in Newark, New Jersey, to the Reverend Aaron Burr, Sr., a Presbyterian minister and second president of the College of New Jersey in Newark (which moved in 1756 to Princeton and later became Princeton University). His mother, Esther Edwards, was the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the famous Calvinist theologian, making Burr Edwards's grandson. The elder Burrs also had a daughter, Sarah ("Sally"), who married Tapping Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Aaron Burr's father died in 1757, and his mother the following year, leaving him an orphan at the age of two. Grandfather Edwards and his wife Sarah also died that year; young Aaron and his sister Sally went to live with the William Shippen family in Philadelphia. In 1759, the children's guardianship was assumed by twenty-one-year-old uncle Timothy Edwards. The next year, Edwards married Rhoda Ogden and moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rhoda's younger brothers Aaron and Matthias became the boy's playmates. The three boys, along with Jonathan Dayton, their neighbor, formed the group that lasted the boys’ lifetimes.

After being rejected once, Aaron Burr was admitted to the College of New Jersey (now known as Princeton University) at the age of 13. Aside from being occupied with intensive studies, he was a part of the American Whig Society and Cliosophic Society, the 2 clubs the college had to offer at the time. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1772. He then studied theology for an additional year, before rigorous theological training with Joseph Bellamy, a Presbyterian. Yet again, he changed his career path two years later and began the study of law with his brother-in-law Reeve. When, in 1775, news reached Litchfield of the clashes with British troops at Lexington and Concord, Burr's studies were put on hold while he went to join the Continental Army.