Aaron Columbus Burr, born Aaron Burr Colombe, was the adopted son of American politician Aaron Burr.
Background
Aaron Columbus Burr was born in Paris on September 15, 1808, purportedly the son of Count Verdi de Lesle. Historians Nathan Schachner and Milton Lomask maintain that Aaron Columbus Burr was Aaron Burr"s son by a Frenchwoman and was born during Burr"s period of exile in France.
Career
The boy sailed to New York in 1816 under the guardianship of Aaron Burr, who adopted him. The younger Burr moved to the United States and was adopted by Aaron Burr. He was a goldsmith and silversmith, and engaged in the diamond and jewelry business in New York City.
He retired in about 1862.
In August 1860 Burr received a letter from James Grant of British Honduras (known today as Belize), offering land for sale in the Stann Creek District. During the American Civil War, Burr and Anna Ella Carroll lobbied Abraham Lincoln to fund what they proposed to call "the Lincoln Colony" for freedmen.
This colony, to be located in British Honduras, would have been similar to colonies established in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Africa by Great Britain in Sierra Leone and by the American Colonization Society in Liberia. The colonization plan failed, but Burr and Grant successfully founded the American Honduras Company to harvest and export mahogany as a trade product.
This tropical hardwood became widely used in fine furniture.
Burr died in New York City on July 27, 1882. He was buried at Coutant Cemetery in New Rochelle. Aaron C. Burr was married to Mary Coutant (1788-1851).