Frederick Gordon Burnham

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

The family of BURNHAM, represented in the present generation by Frederick Gordon BURNHAM, an eminent and successful lawyer of Morristown, settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts, about 1635. His paternal great-grandfather was a soldier in the French and Indian Wars. His maternal great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dickinson, was the founder and first president of Princeton College; his maternal grandfather, Judge Silas CONDICT, of Morris county, New Jersey, was a man of sterling integrity and great financial ability; his maternal great-grandfather, Colonel Ebenezer CONDICT, having been a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary army, died while encamped at Morristown. Gordon BURNHAM, father of Frederick G. BURNHAM, was for many a large wholesale merchant in New York City, but removed with his family in 1840 to Morristown, New Jersey, and died at the homestead in August, 1881, his wife, Marcia (CONDICT) BURNHAM, dying in 1884.

Frederick G. BURNHAM was born in New York City, June 29, 1831. He prepared for college at the Morristown Academy, and in 1847 matriculated in the New York University, from which institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1851, and that of Master of Arts in 1854. He prepared for his profession by entering, as a student, the office of BARNEY, HUMPHREY & BUTLER, in 1851, with whom he remained until 1853. He then entered Harvard Law School, completing his studies there the following year. He was admitted to the New York bar as an attorney and counsellor in 1853. The following year he established an office in New York City and there engaged in active practice until 1864, when he abandoned his line of work in order to regain his health which had been impaired, and the following four years he spent in travel. In 1858 he entered into partnership with John VAN BUREN, formerly Attorney General of New York, and under the name of VAN BUREN & BURNHAM had a large law practice until 1864. Upon his return from his travels in 1868 Mr. BURNHAM was admitted as an attorney at the New Jersey bar in February of that year, and a few months later settled in Morristown, New Jersey, his present place of abode. He was appointed one of the counsel of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, for New Jersey, and on assuming these duties he removed his office to Newark, in order to be in close proximity to the courts. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar as counsellor in 1871. For many years he has acted as the general counsel of the Board of Church Erection of the Presbyterian Church for the United States, and in this capacity examined and passed upon every land title in which that body was interested. He also acted as counsel for a large number of charitable and religious organizations, for which he successfully conducted many important will cases. In the year 1911 he was elected president of that board.

Mr. BURNHAM founded, in 1886, the BURNHAM Industrial Farm, located near Canaan, Columbia county, New York, but which is now known as the Berkshire Industrial Farm, and donated a property of 1,000 acres with appropriate buildings for the purpose of that institution. He was for several years and is now its president. He has always supported the principles of the Republican party, but has never sought or held public office, preferring to devote his time and energy to his profession. For several years he acted as chairman of the Morris County Republican Committee. During the Civil War he received an appointment as aide, with the rank of major, on the staff of Governor MORGAN, of New York, but the state of his health forbade him from performing his duties, consequently he tendered his resignation.

Mr. BURNHAM married, April 29, 1859, Catharine L. HILLIARD, daughter of Judge Francis HILLIARD, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, a prominent jurist and writer of legal treatises. One child, Anna Washburn, now the wife of Samuel T. CARTER, a member of the New York bar, is their only child.

Transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003)