Aaron Columbus Burr

Who was Aaron Columbus Burr?

Aaron Columbus Burr was an adopted son of Aaron Burr. He was born in Paris, France. His natural father was Count Verdi de Lesle. He came to New York in 1816 under the guardianship of Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr adopted him after the death of his father. He engaged in the diamond and jewelry business in New York City for twenty years. Thereafter he was in the rosewood and mahogany trade with South America and Central America. He retired about 1862.

During the Civil War he and Anna Ella Carroll lobbied Abraham Lincoln to establish a colony of freedmen in British Honduras, known today as Belize. In August 1860 Burr received a letter from James Grant of British Honduras, offering land for sale in the Stann Creek District of Belize. Burr had written to him earlier with an inquiry about the land. When this plan failed, the American Honduras Company was formed by Burr and James Grant to cut and export mahogany.