the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ho-Ho-Kus NJ, Dr. Sherri Burr traces her ancestry to John Pierre Burr, an anti-slavery activist on the Underground Railroad, who was the son of color of Aaron Burr. The Aaron Burr Association had been researching for over a decade the paternity of John Pierre Burr and his sister Louisa Charlotte when Sherri Burr presented evidence related to genetic ties in 2018. The Aaron Burr Association voted unanimously to acknowledge that Aaron Burr had fathered John Pierre Burr and Louisa Charlotte Burr, and that all their descendants were legitimate members of the Burr family dating back to Jehue Burr, Sr., who arrived in this country in 1630. Both Aaron Burr and Mary Eugenie Beauharnais Emmons, the mother of the two children, lived at The Hermitage during the Revolutionary War.
Aaron Burr is the most famous resident of The Hermitage in its 250-year history, having married the owner of the house, Theodosia Prevost, in 1782. His relationship with Emmons, a woman of color who had been brought from Haiti to be a servant at The Hermitage, came to more public attention in 2019 after Dr. Sherri Burr co-led a project to have John Pierre Burr’s paternity acknowledged on a granite headstone in Eden Cemetery. Dr. Burr, whose book Complicated Lives was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History, will be on hand to discuss the Burr Family heritage, and additional research she has unearthed.
Dr. Sherri Burr, the Third Vice President of the Aaron Burr Association, is the author of over two dozen books. Her 27th book, Complicated Lives: Free Blacks in Virginia: 1619-1865 (Carolina Academic Press, 2019), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in History. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, Princeton University, and Yale Law School, Dr. Burr was the recipient of a Monticello Fellowship to work on her book. After co-spearheading the Aaron Burr Association Headstone Project recognizing John Pierre Burr as the son of Aaron Burr, she was invited to write about both men for the Princeton and Slavery Project: Princeton & Slavery – Aaron Burr Jr. and John Pierre Burr: A Founding Father and his Abolitionist Son [1]. Her public service also includes the following: President of New Mexico Press Women, Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Authors Guild Foundation, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Albuquerque Museum. In 2021, she was named the National Federation of Press Women’s Communicator of Achievement.
June 10th, 2022
Jaqua Hall at the Hermitage
6PM: Reception
7PM: Lecture by Dr. Sherri Burr, Ph.D.
Tickets:
$25 for non-members
$20 for members
