Summary Information
Burrows and Richardson Business Records
1836-1915
- Burrows, George B., 1832-1909
- Richardson, James, d. 1893
Wis Mss AQ
27.0 c.f. (85 archives boxes and 12 flat boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Records of Burrows and Richardson, a Madison, Wisconsin, real estate firm that was established in the early 1850s by James B. Richardson and operated under varying titles and partners--Abraham H. Palmer, Napoleon B. Van Slyke, Timothy Brown, Levi B. Vilas, and Leonard Farwell--until 1868 when it was taken over by George B. Burrows, who continued it until his death. The firm also acted as an investment, loan, and collection agency for other land companies and for individuals, including Charles Doty. The records document the firm's work with similar agencies in the state and its banking operations from the late 1850s to 1863, as well as its real estate transactions.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-wis000aq ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
James Richardson, Napoleon B. Van Slyke, and Timothy Brown dealt in banking and real estate. They organized during the 1850s the firms of Richardson and Van Slyke, the Northwestern Land Agency, joined as James Richardson and Company, and, with others, organized the Waupaca County Bank in 1858. According to the History of Dane County, Wisconsin, published in 1880 by the Western Historical Society of Chicago, Van Slyke and Richardson owned the Dane County Bank (later the First National Bank) of Madison which opened its doors as a private bank on January 1, 1854. In September, 1854, according to this history, ownership changed to Van Slyke, Levi B. Vilas, and Leonard Farwell. Little correspondence relates to this bank except insofar as Richardson, for more than a decade, seems to have had unlimited credit from it to finance his land transactions. Many letters are found in the collection from Farwell, but they relate mainly to real estate transactions and personal matters.
Before the Civil War, all Wisconsin banks were required to deposit with the State Bank Comptroller $25,000 in bonds of the United States or of some state. The practice was to buy depreciated bonds of southern states which would deliver a high rate of interest on the money invested. Since the bonds fluctuated in value, it was advisable for out-state bankers to have an agent in Madison who could also advise them on legislation, financial trends, and collect interest coupons. By a statute of 1861, every bank was required to maintain an agent at Milwaukee or Madison authorized at all times to redeem the bank's paper. [This information was secured from Merk's Economic History of Wisconsin, 187-219.]
In this situation Richardson had a thriving, if not too profitable, business as a bank agent from 1856 to 1864. The firm cooperated with similar agencies in the state, particularly Washburn and Woodman of Mineral Point and Catlin and Williamson of Madison. Towards the end of the decade members of the firm engaged in banking operations, organizing or affiliating with or serving as agents for banks in Madison and elsewhere in the state and in northern Illinois. The National Bank Act of 1863 killed this business, and, beginning in 1864, the correspondence shows a much greater emphasis being placed on the land business. As an agent for eastern investors, Richardson bought lands, filed bounty claims, and redeemed and paid taxes on lands (usually in local government orders which he was able to purchase at a discount). Included in the collection of papers is a large group of Charles Doty material relative to Doty's real estate holdings and correspondence with Catlin and Williamson of Madison. This material dates from 1836 to 1856, and includes early land deeds.
In 1868, Richardson sold his Madison business to George B. Burrows and moved to Buffalo, New York.
George B. Burrows was born in Springfield, Vermont, October 20, 1832, to Baxter and Lydia Boynton Burrows. In 1858 he moved to Sauk City, Wisconsin where he managed a bank for several years. Burrows moved to Madison to purchase the Richardson business and expanded it to include the entire northern part of the state in its operations. Among his other business activities, Burrows was president of the Iron Mountain Furnace Company and was president of the Chippewa County Drywood Lumber Company. Active in Republican Party politics, Mr. Burrows served in the State Senate, 1878-1882, and in 1895 in the State Assembly where he was speaker.
Mr. Burrows was married to Alma Thompson, January 13, 1857. He died in 1909.
Scope and Content Note
The Burrows and Richardson Business Records include correspondence and letterbooks, deeds, land contracts, tax receipts, personal receipts and other papers, financial recordbooks, tax sales recordbooks, copies of surveyor's field notes, plat books, and other records. Unbound papers are in boxes 1-60 followed by bound volumes in boxes 61-72 plus 40 unboxed volumes. The unbound papers generally are not foldered. In the contents list the creator of the record--Richardson, Burrows, or one of their companies--is indicated along with the type of record and its dates.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Received in March 1922.
Contents List
|
Wis Mss AQ
|
Series: Unbound Papers
|
|
|
Subseries: James Richardson
|
|
|
General Correspondence
: This correspondence is of a business nature only. Letters are found here from the following persons: James D. Doty, Lyman C. Draper, Leonard J. Farwell, Harrison Ludington [Sr.?], Walter L. Newberry, and Cadwallader C. Washburn and Company.
|
|
|
Box
1
|
1850-1851, 1854-1857 June
|
|
|
Box
2
|
1857 June-1858
|
|
|
Box
3
|
1859
|
|
|
Box
4
|
1860
|
|
|
Box
5
|
1861-1863
|
|
|
Box
6
|
1864 January-September
|
|
|
Box
7
|
1864 October-1865 June
|
|
|
Box
8
|
1865 July-1866 May
|
|
|
Box
9
|
1866 June-1867 March
|
|
|
Box
10
|
1867 April-December
|
|
|
Box
11
|
1868
|
|
|
Transactions
: These transactions are arranged alphabetically in folders under the name of Richardson's clients. The papers having been separated originally in this manner by Richardson, it was thought best to allow them to remain in this order. Correspondence, deeds, and tax receipts are, therefore, filed together under the person's name with whom the transaction was made. The Doty material is filed in this group.
|
|
|
Box
12
|
A-M
|
|
|
Box
13
|
N-Z
|
|
|
Deeds and Contracts
: These papers consist of deeds and of land contracts between Richardson and his customers, and are arranged by year only.
|
|
|
Box
14
|
1837, 1850-1854
|
|
|
Box
15
|
1854-1855
|
|
|
Box
16
|
1855-1857
|
|
|
Box
17
|
1855-1857
|
|
|
Personal Receipts
: The personal receipts are also arranged by year only and consist of Richardson's own receipts for his family's expenditures with Madison firms. They also include receipts for repairs and upkeep on his clients' real estate investments.
|
|
|
Box
18
|
1851, 1853-1860
|
|
|
Box
19
|
1861-1865, 1867-1868, 1871
|
|
|
Tax Receipts
: The tax receipts are arranged chronologically by year only, and consist of duplicate or triplicate receipts given by county officers or by Richardson for money received for tax purposes from his customers.
|
|
|
Box
20
|
1839, 1851-1860
|
|
|
Box
21
|
1861-1868
|
|
|
Subseries: George B. Burrows
|
|
|
Personal Papers
|
|
|
Box
22
|
1850 April 10-1889
|
|
|
Box
23
|
1850-1904
|
|
|
Box
24-25
|
Business Papers
: These papers were previously closed to the public. No further description of them is available.
|
|
|
Miscellaneous Business Papers
|
|
|
Box
26
|
1848-1913
|
|
|
Box
27
|
1914-1916, undated
|
|
|
Box
28
|
Business Papers Concerning Lands Outside Wisconsin
|
|
|
Land Papers by County, 1851-1919
|
|
|
Box
29
|
A
|
|
|
Box
30
|
B
|
|
|
Box
31
|
C
|
|
|
Chippewa County Drywood Lumber Company
|
|
|
Box
32
|
Miscellaneous dates (includes , 1881-1894)
|
|
|
Box
33
|
1862-1979
|
|
|
Box
34
|
1880-1889
|
|
|
Box
35
|
1890-1899
|
|
|
Box
36
|
1900-1919
|
|
|
Dane County
|
|
|
Box
37
|
1858-1869
|
|
|
Box
38
|
1870-1889
|
|
|
Box
39
|
1890-1923
|
|
|
Box
40
|
D-E
|
|
|
Box
41
|
I-L
|
|
|
Box
42
|
M-O
|
|
|
Box
43
|
P-R
|
|
|
Price County
|
|
|
Box
44
|
1876-1887
|
|
|
Box
45
|
1885-1895
|
|
|
Box
46
|
1896-1903
|
|
|
Box
47
|
1904-1919, undated
|
|
|
Box
48
|
S
|
|
|
Taylor County
|
|
|
Box
49
|
1873-1891, undated
|
|
|
Box
50
|
1892-1919
|
|
|
Box
51
|
T
|
|
|
Box
52
|
U-W
|
|
|
Box
53
|
Material concerning Brown, Cheesman, Dates, and Emmons Estates
|
|
|
Material on the Ralph Marsh Estate
|
|
|
Box
54
|
1857-1877
|
|
|
Box
55
|
1878-1917
|
|
|
Box
56
|
Material concerning the Ramsay Land Company, 1890-1919
|
|
|
Box
57
|
Material concerning Flambeau Investment Company, 1901-1917
|
|
|
Box
57
|
Material concerning Ramsay, Campbell, and Burrows, 1878-1893
|
|
|
Burrows Estate Receipts
|
|
|
Box
58
|
1911-1922
|
|
|
Box
59
|
1912-1914
|
|
|
Box
60
|
1914 (continued)-1916
|
|
|
Series: Bound Volumes
|
|
|
Subseries: James Richardson and Van Slyke
|
|
|
Box
73
Volume
1
|
Ledger A, 1853 May-1861 January
|
|
|
Box
74
Volume
2
|
Ledger B, 1861 January-1868 October
|
|
|
Box
75
Volume
3
|
Journal A, 1853 May-1860 December
|
|
|
Box
76
Volume
4
|
Journal B, 1861 January-1868 October
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
5
|
Index to Ledger A
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
6
|
Index to Ledger B
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
8
|
Cashbook, 1854 January-1856 December
|
|
|
Subseries: James Richardson & Company
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
7
|
Index to Record of Contracts
|
|
|
Cashbooks
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
9
|
1854 January-1856 December
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
10
|
1856 October-1857 May
|
|
|
Letter Books
|
|
|
Box
62
Volume
16
|
1854 April-1855 March
|
|
|
Box
63
Volume
17
|
1855 March-1856 January
|
|
|
Box
63
Volume
18
|
1856 January-August
|
|
|
Box
63
Volume
19
|
1856 August-1857 July
|
|
|
Box
63
Volume
20
|
1857 July-1858 February
|
|
|
Box
64
Volume
21
|
1858 February-September
|
|
|
Box
64
Volume
22
|
1858 September-1859 April
|
|
|
Box
64
Volume
23
|
1859 April-December
|
|
|
Box
64
Volume
24
|
1860 January-August
|
|
|
Box
65
Volume
25
|
1860 August-1861 May
|
|
|
Box
65
Volume
26
|
1861 May-1862 February
|
|
|
Box
65
Volume
27
|
1862 February-November
|
|
|
Box
65
Volume
28
|
1862 November-1864 March
|
|
|
Box
66
Volume
29
|
1864 March-1865 February
|
|
|
Box
66
Volume
30
|
1865 February-1866 March
|
|
|
Box
66
Volume
31
|
1866 March-1867 May
|
|
|
Subseries: James Richardson
|
|
|
Cashbooks
|
|
|
Box
61
Volume
11
|
1861 January-1866 December
|
|
|
Box
62
Volume
12
|
1862 July-1865 May
|
|
|
Box
62
Volume
13
|
Book of Promissory Notes, 1851-1855
|
|
|
Box
62
Volume
14
|
Index to Book of Promissory Notes
|
|
|
Box
62
Volume
15
|
Record of all contracts, notes, bonds, mortgages, etc. left for adjustment or collection, 1851-1908 (1868-1908 by Burrows)
|
|
|
Box
66
Volume
32
|
Letter Book, 1867 May-1868 November
|
|
|
Subseries: George B. Burrows
|
|
|
Letter Books
|
|
|
Box
66
Volume
32
|
1868 December-1870 April
|
|
|
Box
85
Volume
33
|
1868 July-1869 November
|
|
|
Box
85
Volume
34
|
1870 May-1871 June
|
|
|
Box
85
Volume
35
|
1871 June-1872 April
|
|
|
Box
86
Volume
36
|
1874 May-1875 June
|
|
|
Box
86
Volume
37
|
1875 June-1877 January
|
|
|
Box
86
Volume
38
|
1877 January-1878 November
|
|
|
Box
87
Volume
39
|
1878 November-1880 April
|
|
|
Box
87
Volume
40
|
1880 March-1881 April
|
|
|
Box
87
Volume
41
|
1881 April-1882 October
|
|
|
Box
88
Volume
42
|
1884 June-1886 April
|
|
|
Box
88
Volume
43
|
1886 April-1888 June
|
|
|
Box
89
Volume
44
|
1890 January-1892 May
|
|
|
Box
89
Volume
45
|
1892 May-1894 November
|
|
|
Box
90
Volume
46
|
1894 November-1897 April
|
|
|
Box
90
Volume
47
|
1897 April-1899 August
|
|
|
Box
91
Volume
48
|
1899 August-1902 March
|
|
|
Box
92
Volume
49
|
1901 April-1910 July
|
|
|
Box
92
Volume
50
|
1907 November-1910 March
|
|
|
Box
93
Volume
51
|
1910 March-1916 March
|
|
|
Records of Tax Sales
|
|
|
Price County
|
|
|
Box
77
Volume
52
|
Book A
|
|
|
Box
78
Volume
53
|
Book B
|
|
|
Box
79
Volume
54
|
Book C
|
|
|
Box
80
Volume
55
|
Taylor County
|
|
|
Box
81
Volume
56
|
Taylor County Estimates
|
|
|
Box
82
Volume
57
|
Land or Tax Sales in Chippewa, Taylor, Trempealeau, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wood, and Jackson Counties
|
|
|
Appraisals, Descriptions, and Plats of School and University Lands, State of Wisconsin
|
|
|
Box
83
Volume
58
|
V. 1-2
|
|
|
Box
84
Volume
59
|
V. 3
|
|
|
Land Sales in Dane County
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
60
|
1851-1867
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
61
|
1858-1867
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
62
|
1858-1873
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
63
|
1864-1886
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
64
|
1866-1899
|
|
|
Northwestern Land Office
|
|
|
Box
67
Volume
65
|
Land Book No. 2 (Ashland-Oconto Counties)
|
|
|
Box
94
Volume
66
|
Price County Tax Certificates, 1887-1895
|
|
|
Ledgers
|
|
|
Box
94
Volume
67
|
1871 December-1900 April
|
|
|
Box
94
Volume
68
|
1883 August-1908 November
|
|
|
Journals
|
|
|
Box
95
Volume
69
|
1872 January-1879 December
|
|
|
Box
95
Volume
70
|
1880 January-1883 April
|
|
|
Box
95
Volume
71
|
1883 April-1888 November
|
|
|
Box
96
Volume
72
|
1888 October-1902 June
|
|
|
Box
97
Volume
73
|
Land Book, circa 1868-circa 1908 (previously used as a day book by Thomas Hood and beginning in 1850)
|
|
|
Cash Books
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
74
|
1902-1904
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
75
|
1905-1908
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
76
|
1909
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
77
|
Burrows Estate Ledger, 1909 March-1910 March
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
78
|
Burrows Estate Tax Book, 1912-1916
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
79
|
Burrows Estate Goods Sold, 1909 December-1915 August
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
80
|
Pay List (lands bought and paid for by clients of G.B.B.)
|
|
|
Box
68
Volume
81
|
Wisconsin Lands Report Book, Volume B, 1901
|
|
|
Box
97
Volume
82
|
Descriptions and Plats of Lands (counties not named)
|
|
|
Surveyor's Field Notes (copies)
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
83
|
Township 38, Range 1 W
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
84
|
Township 39, Range 2 W
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
85
|
Township 34, Range 1 E
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
86
|
Township 36, Range 1 E
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
87
|
Township 34, Range 3 W
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
88
|
Township 30, Range 3 E
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
89
|
Township 31, Range 3 E
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
90
|
Township 33, Range 3 E
|
|
|
Box
69
Volume
91
|
Township 37, Range 3 E
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
92
|
Township 32, Range 3 E
|
|
|
Plat Books, by counties
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
93
|
Adams County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
94
|
Ashland County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
95
|
Barron County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
96
|
Bayfield County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
97
|
Burnett County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
98
|
Chippewa County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
99
|
Clark County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
100
|
Clark County, 1893
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
101
|
Clark County, 1895 October
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
102
|
Columbia County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
103
|
Crawford County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
104
|
Douglas County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
105
|
Dunn County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
106
|
Eau Claire County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
107
|
Florence County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
108
|
Forest County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
109
|
Jackson County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
110
|
Kewaunee County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
111
|
La Crosse County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
112
|
Langlade County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
113
|
Lincoln County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
114
|
Manitowoc County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
115
|
Marathon County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
116
|
Monroe County
|
|
|
Box
70
Volume
117
|
Oneida County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
118
|
Outagamie County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
119
|
Polk County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
120
|
Price County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
121
|
Price County (continued)
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
122
|
Richland County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
123
|
Rusk (Gates) County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
124
|
St. Croix County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
125
|
Sawyer County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
126
|
Shawano County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
127
|
Shawano County (continued)
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
128
|
Taylor County, 1895 October
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
129
|
Taylor County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
130
|
Trempealeau County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
131
|
Vernon County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
132
|
Washburn County
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
133
|
Waupaca County
|
|
|
Land Inspector's Reports
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
134
|
Book 1
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
135
|
Book 2
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
136
|
Book 3
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
137
|
Township 26 (and others)
|
|
|
Box
71
Volume
138
|
Township 28 (and others)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
139
|
Township 40, sect. 19 (and others)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
140
|
Township 23, Range 1 E (and others)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
141
|
Township 30, Range 2 W (and others)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
142
|
Township 31, Range 3 E (and others)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
143-149
|
Dane County (large map cut into 7 small leather covered parts)
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
150
|
Pocket Tract Book, 1870
|
|
|
Box
72
Volume
151
|
Clark County, 1880
|
|
|
