NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

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

One of the most enterprising and energetic men in business and industrial circles of Morris county, New Jersey, is George T. BURTT, of Netcong, whose busy, well spent life and sterling qualities have won him a circle of friends that is only limited by his circle of acquaintances. He is recognized as a promoter of the varied interests which tend to the development of the town and the advancement of its welfare in every direction. For many years he has been engaged in railroad work, for the greater part of this time in the employ of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad.

   Job BURTT, father of George T. BURTT, was born near Brattleboro, Vermont, 1787, died in Roxbury township, Morris county, New Jersey, July 8, 1876. He was the youngest of five children at the time of the death of his father, which occurred at an early age, and his mother married a second time, some years after the death of her husband, her second husband being Thaddeus MINTON. Young Job BURTT, who had gone with his mother and the remainder of the family to Basking Ridge, was “bound out” to a Mr. HOWELL, who removed to Youngstown, Ohio. As he was dissatisfied with his new home, and as the laws of Ohio did not recognize the agreement which had been made between him and Mr. HOWELL, Job BURTT left him and returned to New Jersey. He learned the machinist’s trade at Elizabethport, and then obtained a position on the first steamboat which ever plied on Lake Champlain. The firm of BURTT, COOK & OGDEN were his employers for seven years, after which he worked as a blacksmith at Basking Ridge for a short time, and then in the same line of industry at Succasunna Plains. Removing to Kenvil, he purchased a farm there, and was both a farmer and blacksmith. He was in the employ of the Morris Canal Company, while that canal was in course of construction, and was also engaged in putting in inclined planes. Subsequently he bought a hotel at Succasunna, conducted this for nine years, and in 1857 removed to Drakesville Station, Roxbury township, Morris county, purchased a farm there and the remainder of his life was passed in the peaceful occupation of cultivating this property.

   Mr. BURTT married (first) Susan HARRIS, (second), Elizabeth, who died November 28, 1897, daughter of Amos and Mary (SALMON) WOLVERTON. Among the children of the first marriage were:

• 1. Captain T. M. BURTT, who was a sea captain twenty-nine years, went to California in 1849, and after his return lived in Newark, New Jersey, where he died in 1903, at the age of about ninety-four years.

• 2. Captain Alfred S. BURTT, a member of Company B, Fifteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers; was a resident of Corpus Christi, Texas, where he died in 1909, at the age of about eighty-five years.

• 3. Elizabeth, deceased; lived in Holden, Missouri, and was the widow of the late Major Thomas J. HALSEY, of the Eleventh Regiment New Jersey Volunteers. 

The children of the second marriage were:

• 4. Susan, deceased.

• 5. George T., of whom further.

• 6. Theodore, deceased; was an engineer on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad, and had a daughter, 

  • Daisy, who makes her home with her uncle, George T. BURTT.

• 7. Martha, deceased; was the wife of Charles PRATT.

• 8. Ella, died unmarried.

   George T. BURTT, son of Job and Elizabeth (WOLVERTON) BURTT, was born on Succasunna Plains, Morris county, New Jersey, December 27, 1846. His boyhood days were passed on the farm owned by his father. He was educated in the public schools, and from his earliest years showed much constructive and mechanical skill. While desirous of joining the ranks at once upon the outbreak of the Civil War, his services were not at once accepted because of his extreme youth at that time. In 1864, however, he enlisted in Company K, Thirty-ninth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, Captain Allen, His regiment becoming a part of the Ninth Army Corps, and he was constantly in the Army of the Potomac until the close of the war. Among the important engagements in which he was an active participant may be mentioned: Petersburg, Stony Creek, Hatcher’s Run, Poplar Grove Church, and many skirmishes, in all of which he displayed gallantry and bravery of a high order of merit.

   The connection of Mr. BURTT with the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company, from whom he now receives a pension for long-continued and conscientious performance of his varied and responsible duties, commenced in 1865 and ended in 1907. In the fall of the first mentioned year Mr. BRUTT was employed on a wood train under Major T. J. HALSEY, and on January 2, 1866, he was advanced to the position of ticket agent and assistant train dispatcher at Phillipsburg, an office he filled capably until his connection with the company was discontinued. Mr. BRUTT is also in receipt of a pension from the government for his faithful service during his military career. In political matters he has also distinguished himself. His support is always given to the Republican party; he served as postmaster of Port Morris from 1899 until August, 1911. He supported ROOSEVELT for the nomination, and TAFT for the office of President, in 1912, and was four years a member of the common council. He was a delegate to the convention which nominated the Hon. William Walter PHELPS for Congress at Morristown, and two years later served as delegate to the convention at Paterson at which Mr. PHELPS was re-nominated. He is a charter member of the Teddynetcong Tribe, I. O. R. M., of Phillipsburg, New Jersey. George T. BURTT is the owner of considerable real estate in Netcong. He is a well read man, and well posted on the questions of current interest. In his home he is hospitable in the extreme and has a host of friends.

   Mr. BRUTT married, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, November 2, 1868, Hester A., daughter of Hugh MERRICK, and they have children:

• Alfred M.,

• Bessie.,

• Paul G.,

• Seeley R.,

• Harold J.,

• Hanson M.,

• Florence,

• Marble,

• Allen E.

Of these the only one now living is Allen E., who is night foreman at the railroad house at Port Morris. He married Emma, daughter of John and Catherine BAUER, and has children:

• Catherine and Norma, four and three years of age respectively.

This biography was transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003).

Copyright ©1999-2018 by Brianne Kelly-Bly, all rights reserved.