The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-09
ALFRED. E. BURR DEAD.
VETERAN EDITOR OF THE HART
 FORD TIMES PASSES AWAY.

Long Prominent and Influential |,
 Connecticut Democratic PoIitics-Sto
 ry of His Life and the Bnilding O
 the Paper of Which He Was PrOpri
 etOr-His Politics and His Religion.
 Hartford, Jan. S.--Hon. Alfred 10
 Burr died at 9:2S this morning at his
 home on Windsor avenue, after an ill
 ness of about two weeks. Death was
 due to old age.
 Alfred E. Burr was born in Hartford
 March 27, 1915. At the age of twelve he
 became an apprentice i'll the printing
 room of the Hartford Courant, then
 journeyman and then foreman. When he was about twenty-three years old,
 what seemed remarkable opportunity
 came to him in the offer on easy terms
 of the ownership and control of the pa
 per- the then owners being advanced in years and desirous of retiring. But two conditions were annexed. He must at- tend the Center church and he must be-
 come Whig. His religious views were
 not those of what was then called the
 or thodox church, but were practically Unitarian, as was shown later by his long official connection with Unnity church, and in politics he was demo-
 crat on conviction. He was too honest
 a man to abandon his views even for
 great and immediate advantage, and he
 refused the offer that was coupled with
 these conditions. Soon after he bought, in 1889, half interest in the Weekly Times and soon after became sole own- CT.
 The Daily Times was established in 1S41. This newspaper venture was made with very little money and it was desperately hard work to carry it and clear off the obligations that had been incurred in making the purchase But there was no question from the outset of the vitality of the paper. Its owner had something to say and said it so as to compel attention Within short time Mir. Burr was the center of a group of strong and able men who dis cussed the questions of the day and whose influence was valuable to the pa per. Among them were John M. Niles, Gideon Welles, Thomas Seymour, Lorin T. Pease, and Later William J. Nam- erlay, Charles Chapman and w. w. Eaton, to name only part of a group that had great influence in the politics of the time
 In 1854 MT. Burr was an active and able opponent of the repeal of the Mis- 11ri trr large portion of his party and breaking off his old association with more than one of his former friends. Through his paper he warned the democrats that the repeal would cause the overthrow of the party and lead to civil war, as Tit did a few years later As this war ap- MT. Burr believed that it could till be averted His position was based on constitutional grounds and his conversion to the policy which pre- vailed was slow. The paper suffered for a time, but 1t soon gained all it had lost, and has prospered greatly and increas- ingly up to the present time
 MT Burr was chairman of the com mittee which built the present State House and gave great deal of time to the work. The building was completed within the appropriation and his serv- Ing of this committee is regarded by | many of his friends as one of his most | service to the state. He was chairman through its whole existence of | he committee which disposed of the | arge tract of land composing the old | own farm. and which turned into the | own considerably over one hundred | thousand dollars, when very little could | lave been obtained had the sale been | made in block.
 MT. Burr served as representative in | he legislature in 1853 and 1S66 He was l member of the board of pardons from SS3 to 1897, and the state board of ! health from 1877 to 1898. He refused | nore than one opportunity to take high 'ffice, but he gave the opportunity to many other men. In private life he was ingularly kind and those who knew Jim best were most attached to him.
 MT Burr married in April, 1S41, Miss sarah A. Booth daughter of Abner Booth of Meriden Mrs. Burr survives n her eighty-third year. Their first hild Edmund Lewis, born in 1S42. died hree years later. Will Olcott Burr and llld, Wile LII IJf, JalrleS McMdnuS or l his city. are the surviving children. If the eleven brothers and sisters of llfred F. Burr Miss Frances Ellen Burr, who has been member of his amily from childhood, and Mir Frank il l.. Burr, are the only survivors. MT. franklin l.. Burr acquired an interest ! the Hartford Times in 1854, and was is brothers only partner in the pro- of the paper until the re- urchase of his interest some years ago. tt the time of his withdrawal from the ctive management of both the editori- and business management of the lines, about ten years ago, MT. A. E. urr made deed of the entire estab- shment to his son, w. o. Burr, who l as been the responsible and actual di- sctor of the affairs of the Times from nat period. During the later years of is life MT. Burr enjoyed the more or ss regular contribution of matter to le pages of the Times which he was ble to make, but the burden of con-