Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/502

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BURROUGHS
BURROWES

was for nearly forty years annually elected president of the Portsmouth athenaeum ; was elected in 1842 corresponding member of the Massachu- setts historical society, and was president of the general theological library of Boston from its es- tablishment until his death. In 1838 the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Columbia. He published " Memoirs of Horace B. Morse " (1821)) and "The Poetry of Religion, and Other Poems" (1851).


BURROUGHS, George, clergyman, b. about 1650 ; d. in Salem, Mass., 19 Aug., 1692. He was graduated at Harvard in 1670, was a preacher at Falmouth (now Portland), Me., in 1676, and at Salem, Mass., in 1680. Here he remained until 1683, when, in consequence of some dispute, he re- turned to Falmouth, where his former parishioners had given him 200 acres of land. His place of residence after 1690 is not certainly known, but in 1692 he was accused of witchcraft in Salem. He was brought to trial on 5 Aug., and it was declared in the indictment that, by his wicked arts, one Mary Wolcott " was tortured, afflicted, pined, con- sumed, wasted, and tormented." The evidence against him was derived principally from the "af- flicted persons " and from those who had confessed that they were witches. These latter affirmed that Burroughs had attended witch-meetings with them, and compelled them to the snares of witchcraft. Burroughs possessed great physical strength, and this fact was used against him. Just after his ar- rest, as the constables were taking him through a wood, there had been a violent thunder-storm, and this, in the minds of the judges, was additional proof of his connection with the evil one. He was condemned to death. It is thought that his conviction was the indirect result of the prejudice that had been excited against him in Salem while he was pastor there. At the execution he repeated without mistake the Lord's prayer, which, it was said, could not be done by a witch. He moved many to tears by his last words ; but Cotton Mather, who was sitting on horseback in the crowd, reminded the people that the devil often appeared as an angel of light. Burroughs was the only cler- gyman that suffered during the reign of this re- markable delusion. A list of works referring to him may be found in Sprague's " Annals of the American Pulpit."


BURROUGHS, John, author, b. in Roxbury, N. Y., 3 April, 1837. He is the son of a farmer, and, after receiving an academic education, taught school eight or nine years. He was a clerk in the treasury department at Washington from 1864 till 1873, and was then appointed receiver of the Wallkill national bank in Middletown, N. Y. He settled on a farm in Esopus, N. Y.. in 1874. giving his time to literature and fruit-culture, except the months when his duties as bank-examiner called him away. He has contributed largely to period- icals, writing mainly upon rural themes. His books are " Walt Whitman as Poet and Person " (New York, 1867); " Wake Robin " (Boston, 1871) ; " Win- ter Sunshine" (1875); "Birds and Poets" (1877); "Locusts and Wild Honey" (1879); "Pepacton" (1881); "Fresh Fields" (1884); "Signs and Sea- sons" (1886); "Indoor Studies "(1889y; " Riverby " (1894) ; and " Whitman, a Studv " (Boston, 1896).


BURROUGHS, John Curtis, educator, b. in Stamford, Delaware co., N. Y., 7 Dec, 1818 ; d. in Chicago, 111.. 21 April, 1892. He was graduated at Yale in 1842 and at Madison theological seminary in 1846. After preaching one year in Waterford, N. Y., he was pastor of the Baptist church in West Troy for five years, and in 1852 assumed the pastorate of the 1st Baptist church of Chicago. In 1855 he began a movement in the interests of higher education, which resulted in the establishment, in 1857, of the university of Chicago. In 1855 Dr. Burroughs declined the presidency of Shurtleff college, but in 1856 he accepted the presidency of the University of Chi- cago, which he resigned in 1874. Soon afterward he was appointed a member of the Chicago board of education, and in 1884 he was elected assistant superintendent of public schools in that city. He received the degree of I). D. in 1858 from the Uni- versity of Rochester, and in 1869 that of LL. D. from Madison university.


BURROUGHS, Stephen, adventurer, b. in Hanover. N. H., in 1765; d. in Three Rivers, Canada, 28 Jan., 1840. He was the son of a Con- gregational clergyman, and early gained the repu- tation of the worst boy in town. He ran away when fourteen years old and joined the army, but deserted and soon afterward entered Dartmouth, where he engaged in all sorts of mischief. He left college secretly before the end of his course, went to sea as a privateersman, and then figured as ship's physician. Returning to land, he became a school-master, and then, assuming the name of Davis, took charge of a Congregational church at Pelham, Mass. He preached there six months without detection, but was then discovered, and shortly afterward arrested in Springfield, Mass., for passing counterfeit money. He was convicted and imprisoned at Northampton, where, after numer- ous unsuccessful attempts to escape, he set fire to the jail and was then removed to Castle island, Boston harbor. Even from this place he escaped, but was recaptured and served out his term. He then went to Canada, where he was for yeai's the head of a gang of counterfeiters. Later in life he reformed, imited with the Roman Catholic church, and supported himself by educating the sons of wealthy Canadians at his home, where he had a valuable libi'ary. He was successful as a teacher, beloved by his pupils, and respected by all, not- withstanding his career. His charitable deeds were many, even in the worst part of his life. He published " Memoirs of Mv Own Life " (Albanv, 1811; Philadelphia, 1848).


BURROWES, George, educator, b. in Trenton, N. J., 3 April, 1811: d. in San Francisco. 19 April, 1894. Ho was graduated at Princeton in 1832, and took a three years' course in the theological seminary there, also acting as tutor. He was ordained by New Castle presbytery, 13 Dec. 1836, preached at West Nottingham, Md., from 1836 till 1850, and for the next five years was professor of Latin and Greek at Lafayette college, Easton. Pa. He preached at Newton, Pa., from 1857 till 1859, when he removed to San Francisco, Cal., and was the founder there of City college, now University college. He began this work under the direction of the Presbyterian board of education in November, 1859. with four pupils and not a dollar of property. When he left, on account of broken health, in 1865, the institution numbered 200 pupils and ten teachers and owned property valued at $200,000. He was again professor in Lafayette college from 1865 till 1869, when he returned to California and established a large school at University Mound, three miles from San Francisco, remaining its principal till 1873. He became professor of Hebrew at the Presbyterian theological seminary, San Francisco, in 1872, and in 1875 was given the chair of Greek exegesis. Washington college, Pa., gave him the degree of I). D. in 1853. He has contributed to periodical literature, and has published a " Com-