Burroughs Family Coat of Arms

            The antiquity and prominence of the Burroughs name are seen from the following heraldic records: “The first attempt to reach China by this route (Nova Zembla) was made by the Muscovy or Russian Company in 1553, under Sir Hugh Willoughby in three ships, with Richard Chanceller as Pilot Major. The leader and two vessels with seventy men were lost on the coast of Lapland; The third ship, under command of Capt. Stephen Burroughs with Chanceller, reached the White Sea safely, and commercial relations were established with Russia. In 1556, Capt. Stephen Burroughs had chief command of another expedition. He doubled Cape north, touched Nova Zembla, discovered the island Wygatz and Wygatz Straits, which separate Nova Zembla from the then supposed continent, and reached north latitude seventy degrees, three minutes - a higher point than had been reached by any previous navigator. He returned to England and published an account of his observations. He was the first who observed the declination of the magnetic needle.” {Note - This route is north of Russia. The island of Nova Zembla, now spelled Novaya Zemlya, separates the Barents and Kara Seas. The White sea is roughly between Murmansk and Archangel, and Lapland is generally the northwest coast of Norway. Needle declination is the downward tilt of the compass needle near the North Pole. }
            The following is the Burroughs coat-of-arms as given in the best books on Heraldry: “’Azure, a Bend wavy argent between two Fleur de lis Ermine’, and was assigned and granted by Robert Cooke, of Clarencieux, January 27, 1586, in the twenty-ninth year of Queen Elizabeth, to William Burroughs, Esq., Clerk and Comptroller of the queen’s Navy, son of Walter Burroughs, descended from the Burroughs at Northam, near Barnstable in the County of Devon”.
            Sir John Burroughs was grandson of William Burroughs, of Sandwich, Kent, by the daughter of Basil Gasell, of Newkirk, Bralant, and garter king of arms. He received a classical education and afterward studied law at Grey’s Inn. In 1623 he was appointed Keeper of Records in the Tower of London. In June of the same year, the Earl Marshall, to whom he was secretary, appointed him Herald Extraordinary. On Dec. 30 of the same year he was made king of arms at Arundel House in the Strand. He received the favor of Knighthood July 17, 1624. In 1634 he was made garter principal. He attended his sovereign, Charles I, when he went to Scotland to be crowned in 1633. On April 14, 1636, he obtained a grant to entitle him to the fees of his office of garter principal while employed beyond the sea in the King’s special service. He died October 21, 1634, leaving two sons and two daughters. His son John was knighted by Charles II.
            The family has continued in London to the present day. Silas M. Burroughs, the head of then largest drug house in the world, Burroughs, Welcome & Co., of London - is one of this family. John is a family name, for we find in English history John Burroughs, a divine, who died in 1386. He was D.D. of Cambridge, Rector of Collingham, Nottinghamshire; appointed July 1, 1384, to the post of chancellor of his university.
            The foregoing outline of the early history of the family was written by William Berrien Burroughs, and was published in “Memoirs of Georgia”, Vol. I, pages 977-8, (The Southern Memorial Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 1895), from whence it is copied here.
            Regarding the family in America, the following appears in the “Annals of Newtown” by James Riker, Jr., New York, 1852, under the heading “The Burroughs Family”, page 383: John Burroughes, the progenitor of this family, was of English birth; early came over to Massachusetts, and is found at Salem in 1637. Upon his removal to Newtown, he became a leading man, and being a skillful penman, a quite rare accomplishment in those days, he filled the office of town clerk for eleven years. He appears to have been a resolute character, and a warm advocate of popular rights.

The successive generations of the family in America are as follows:

1. John Burroughs, 1617-1678, of Dorsetshire, England, was the first of the family to come to the United States. He landed at Salem, Massachusetts in 1642 where he remained for only a few years and then moved to Newtown, Long Island, New York, where the family lived for five generations, from 1652 to 1795, before the name was brought South. In the “Annals of Newtown” John Burroughs is referred to as a leading man and a skillful penman, a clerk of Middleberg (afterwards called Newtown) for thirteen years, which was an important position at that time. He married ______ Jessup and had four children. He married second, Elizabeth Reed and had one child.

2. Joseph Burroughs, 1653-1738, son of John, lived in Newtown. It is not known whom he married, nor how many children he had.

3. John Burroughs, ______-1750, son of Joseph, lived in Newtown where he occupied the positions of Constable and Justice of the Peace. He married Margaret Renne in 1721 and had three children.

4. John Burroughs, ______-1755, son of John, lived in Newtown. He married Sarah Hunt in 1747 and had only one child.

5. Joseph Burroughs, ______-1820, only son of John, lived in Newtown, and appears to have been a farmer. He married Lydia Hallett in 1765 and had six children. They named one of the sons Joseph Hallett, which name with its feminine Josephine Hallett has since been a very popular name in the family, there having been one or more in each generation.

6. Benjamin Burroughs, 1779-1837, son of Joseph, moved to Georgia in 1795 when only 16 years of age. He first located in Augusta where he remained only one year, and then settled in Savannah, where he became a prominent and wealthy cotton merchant. He married Catherine Eirick in 1799 and had nine children.

7. Joseph Hallett Burroughs, 1803-1854, son of Benjamin, lived in Savannah where he was a cotton merchant. He married Valeria Gibbons Berrien in 1828 and had ten children.

8. William Berrien Burroughs, 1842-1917, son of Joseph Hallet, lived in Brunswick, Georgia Where he owned large real estate holdings, and engaged in the real estate and insurance business. He married Elizabeth Pettingill Wilson Hazlehurst (Lilla) in 1872 and had six children.

9. Mac Hazlehurst Burroughs, 1885-1947, son of William Berrien, lived in Brunswick, Georgia, and was engaged in the insurance business. He married Eliza Fenton McIntosh in 1912 and they had four children.

10. Mac Hazlehurst Burroughs, 1917-2003, son of Mac Hazlehurst, < lived in Miami, Florida and worked in the life insurance business. He married Regis Mary White in 1945 and had six children.>

10. Swinton McIntosh Burroughs, 1921-______, son of Mac Hazlehurst, <lives in Indialantic, Florida and is retired from the United States Air Force. He married Bettye Ann Pope in 1943 and had three children.

11. Mac Hazlehurst Burroughs, 1946-2003, son of Mac Hazlehurst (1917-2003), lived in Lake City, Florida and worked as an electrician and a craftsman. He married Dorothy Jo Bauer in 1975 and had no children.

11. Jan Stryker Burroughs, 1951-______, son of Mac Hazlehurst (1917-2003), lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and is retired from the United States Coast Guard. He married Diannah Gwyn Harrell in 1973 and has two children.

11. Swinton (Gene) McIntosh Burroughs 1946-______, son of Swinton McIntosh, lives in Aurora, Illinois, and worked as aircraft controller. He married Rosemarie (Mona) Karen Wright in 1969 and had two children, Tavi & Sarah.

11. William (Berri) Berrien Burroughs, 1950-______, son of Swinton McIntosh, lives in Nashville, Tennessee and is retired from Nissan. He married Laura Ann Willman in 1971 and two children.

12. Benjamin Berrien Burroughs, 1971-______, son of William Berrien, lives in Austin, Texas and works in the computer business. He married Jacqueline Jones in 2007.

12. Jason Oliver Burroughs, 1973-______, son of William Berrien, lives in Austin, Texas and works in the renewable energy industry. He is not married..