Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/67

 BURNET.

BURNET.

BURNET, David Qouverneur, president of Texas, was born in Newark, N. J., April 4, 1788; son of William Burnet, surgeon-general of the Continental army. He left school before grad- uating and in 1806, joining Miranda's expedition, took up arms on behalf of Venezuelan liberty. He was lieutenant in command of a launch, and gave the order for the first shot fired in the cam- paign. Returning to the United States he en- gaged in mercantile pursuits, at Nachitoches, La., and some years later commenced the prac- tice of law at Cincinnati. Ohio. In ISiQ he took up his residence in Texas, and his first efforts were directed toward freeing the state from Mexican rule. He was a member of the San Felipe convention of 1833, which presented a memorial to the Mexican government, written by liim, praying that Texas be separated from Coa- huila. In 1834 he was appointed district judge of Austin, and on March 16, 1836, was chosen provisional president of the new republic formed upon the declaration of independence. Santa Anna drove the new government from Austin, and Burnet escajjed to Galveston, which he made the capital, and though he discharged the onerous duties of his position with great skill and pru- dence he did not escape the charge of treason. On Oct. 22, 1836, he turned the government over to Sam Houston, the president elected under the new constitution. In December, 1838, he was elected vice-president of the republic, and during the last year of his three years' term of oflice, owing to the illness of President Lamar, he once more occupied the presidential chair. He was defeated by Ex-President Houston in the presi- dential election of 1841. He took an active part in the civil war, and thougli he deplored secession he remained in the south with his people. In 1866 he was elected to the United States senate under President Johnson's plan of reconstruction, but was not permitted to take his seat. The latter years of his life were spent in retirement on his plantation near Houston, and his death occurred at Galveston, Texas, Dec. 5, 1870.

BURNET, Jacob, jurist, was born in Newark. N. J., Feb. 23, 1770; son of William Burnet, surgeon-general in the revolutionary war. After his graduation at Princeton in 1791, he studied law. was admitted to the bar, and in 1796 removed to Cincinnati. He was a member of the territor- ial councils of Ohio from 1799 until the establish- ment of the state government in 1803 ; was a .state legislator in 1812; a supreme court judge of Ohio from 1821 to 1828, and a United States senator from 1828 to 1831, having been elected to fill the unexpired term of William H. Harrison, resigned. He was one of the commissioners to arbitrate the "statute of limitation" question between Ken- tucky and Virginia. As president of the coloniza-

tion society of Cincinnati, he did much to aid western settlers in adjusting their accounts with the government. The debts due to the govern- ment for lands amounted to more than twenty million dollars, these obligations exceeding the amount of currency then in circulation in the west, the banks suspended payment, and the farmers were threatened not only with bank- ruptcy, but with eviction, which they determined to oppose by force. In this crisis Judge Burnet pre- sented a memorial to Congress, praying on behalf of the debtors, that the back interest due be can- celled, and that permission be granted the land- holders to relinquish such part of their land as they were not able to use or pay for. Congress granted the desired relief, greatly to the satisfac- tion of the settlers of the south, as well as the west. In 1830. upon the forfeiture, by the state of Ohio, of the land granted by Congress for the extension of the Miami canal, Judge Burnet entered a forcible protest and secured not only the revocation of the forfeiture, but also an addi- tional grant of land. He was one of the founders of the Lancastrian academy, and of the Cincin- nati college, of which he was also president for some time. He assisted in the reorganization of the Ohio medical college, and acted as the presi- dent of its board of trustees for many years. Upon the nomination of the Marquis de Lafayette, he was made a member of the Frencli academy, and he belonged to many prominent literary and scientific associations in the United States. In 1847 he published. Notes on the Early Settle- ment of the Nortliwestern Territory, a work con- taining much authentic information, especially on the growth and progiess of the state of Ohio. He died in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 10, 1853.

BURNET, William, colonial governor, was born at the Hague, Holland, in March, 1688, son of Bishop Burnet. He relinquished liis office of comptroller of customs in England on being ap- pointed governor of the colonies of New York and New Jersey in 1720. He was zealous in defend- ing and promoting the interests of the British crown, established a trading post at Oswego, N. Y., and was the first to plant the British flag on the Great Lakes. He secured treaties with the east- ern Indians, and prohibited traffic with the habi- tcmts. He became extremely unpopular in New York, and his successor, John Montgomerie, was sent out in 1728, and Burnet was made governor of Massachusetts. He gained odium in that col- ony by his endeavor to exact from the assembly a fixed income. After much wrangling he was forced to withdraw his demand. He was ap- pointed governor also of New Hampshire. He was fond of astronomical study, and pubUshed observations in the transactions of the royal society. He died in Boston, Mass., Sept. 7, 1729.