Career
Born in Florida, New York, in Montgomery County, New York, he moved to Ontario and then to Tecumseh, Michigan. Burt then moved to Wisconsin Territory settling, in the town of Waterloo, in Grant County, Wisconsin, where he developed roads, gristmills, and sawmills. The unincorporated community of Burton, Wisconsin, in the town of Waterloo, was platted and named for him.
He served in the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature from 1840 to 1842 and 1847 to 1848 as a Whig.
Burt then moved to Dunleith, Illinois (now East Dubuque, Illinois), in 1866, where he started Burt Machine Company that produced agricultural machinery.
