History Spotlight

 

Renaissance Man of Macomb County-

William Austin Burt

A renaissance man, as a phrase, hearkens back to Leonardo da Vinci, the multi-talented man from the renaissance (“reawakening of arts”), a period of Roman/Italian culture. In the 1400's A.D., Leonardo proved that one could use both sides of the brain, mixing accomplishments in art such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, with scientific feats such as designs of early submarines and flying apparatus, accurate anatomical drawings, and more. The term Renaissance man has morphed in modern times into a term that refers to an individual who excels in more than one field of expertise.

 

While William Austin Burt's accomplishments were mostly on the scientific side of the coin, the adjective Renaissance man is fitting. His achievements were diverse:

 

In the pioneer days of white men in the Michigan region, Mr. Burt was an organizer of early government. As a member of the territorial Michigan Legislature from 1826-1827, when the Michigan Territory included the present- day states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and a large portion of the Dakotas, Burt helped govern a large area.

 

He was a Macomb County Circuit Judge in 1833.

 

He was one of the first surveyors and explorers of the Michigan Territory. He was one of the surveyors for the Talcott line, verifying that the maps ceding the disputed Toledo territory to Ohio (who included the “Toledo Strip” in their state boundaries in 1803, the year of their statehood) were inaccurate. He explored Cheboygan County where Burt Lake is named for him. As a surveyor, he first worked in the Port Huron area, surveying townships. From there, he went to Wisconsin to do the same. Burt was always highly praised for the accuracy of his surveying lines-today, when re-surveyed, most of his work is still found to be totally accurate! He was a deputy surveyor of the United States from 1833 until 1853.

 

Speaking of those iron reserves, Burt discovered the first ones in Michigan. While surveying what was to become the Marquette Range, Burt noticed fluctuations in the compass readings. Shortly thereafter, Burt and his crew found many specimens of ore that Burt immediately recognized as iron! Burt first built the solar compass, unaffected by the presence of iron, in 1835. In February 1836, the U.S. Patent Office awarded Burt patent number 9428 X for his invention of the very useful compass.

 

 

The first American patent for a typewriter was granted in 1829 to William A. Burt. The typewriter was the progenitor of the computer keyboard, for those of us forgetting what a typewriter is. His version was called the typographer. His first version was lost in a fire at the U.S. Patent office in 1836, but Burt’s grandson, Austin Burt, built a replica that was displayed at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago in 1893. (see below photo). The replica was given to the Smithsonian where it is often on display. Burt’s second version was more expansive-said to be as big as a pinball machine!

 

 

On the artistic side of his brain, Burt was a millwright and designed an Octagon House whose location is now marked by a plaque in Stoney Creek Park of Macomb County.

 

William Burt was also the first postmaster for Mt. Vernon, MI. Mt. Vernon was one of the first communities in Macomb County, although little remains today but a church and a cemetery. Many of the county’s early settlers are buried in the cemetery-some as far back as 1817, twenty years before Michigan became a state. The post office opened on December 19, 1832 and operated until July 15, 1905. The village, which was named for George Washington’s Virginia estate, was located at 28 Mile and Mt. Vernon in Washington Township. On April 8, 1894, the spelling was changed to Mountvernon. Businesses in Mt. Vernon included a general store that also served as an inn, a blacksmith, a buggy store, a cooper, a re-weaving place, sawmills, and a greenhouse. There was also a school, two churches, a Catholic and a Methodist. The Methodist Church is about the sole remnant of the community and is pictured along with its adjoining cemetery. Farming was the chief industry. Dennis Soule, a farmer, specialized in constructing windmills. The small community was ravaged by smallpox from late 1875 to early 1876.

 

William Austin Burt was born June 13, 1792 and died on August 18. 1858 at the age of 66. Mr. Burt left Mt. Vernon around 1856 and spent his last years living in Detroit.

 

 

Practically all that is left of William Burt’s village of Mt. Vernon is the cemetery and the Methodist church (pictured). A random perusal of the burials in the cemetery reveals that many of the early pioneers of the area were buried here (for instance, see date on pictured tombstone).

 

 

By Alan D. Naldrett
Thanks once again to Karl Mark Pall for his invaluable assistance!