The Burrows family was a prominent Connecticut, New York, and Michigan business family. The papers begin in the mid-eighteenth century with Latham Avery, a Connecticut businessman. His daughter Jerusha married Roswell Burrows, another prosperous businessman. Among their children were Lorenzo Burrows, Roswell Burrows Jr., and Latham Burrows. Lorenzo Burrows, who served in Congress, had three children: George L. Burrows, Emeline Burrows, and Lorenzo Burrows, Jr. Among the children of the younger Roswell Burrows was Mary E. Burrows who married Alexander Stewart. Their child was Julia Ann Stewart (later Mrs. Julia Smith).
Lorenzo Burrows was born March 15, 1805 in Groton, Connecticut. He attended academies in Plainfield, Conn., and Westerly, Rhode Island, then in 1824, he moved to New York, settling in Albion, Orleans County, where he assisted his brother Roswell S. Burrows in his mercantile pursuits. He became a businessman himself, eventually helping his brother to establish the Bank of Orleans in 1839, also serving as its cashier. Burrows was politically active, serving two terms as a Whig in the US House of Representatives (1849-1853). He subsequently served as comptroller of the State of New York (1855-1857), director and president of the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company, regent of the University of New York (1858-1885) and commissioner of the Mount Albion Cemetery (1862-1885). He died March 6, 1885.
George L. Burrows, Lorenzo's son, was a Saginaw banker, heading the firm of G. L. Burrows & Co., as well as being member of the firms of Burrows & Eaton, and Burrows & Rust. Burrows was the owner of large tracts of pine and farming lands.
From the guide to the Burrows family papers, 1760-1916, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
