Joseph Burnett (1820–1894) was an American educator and businessman.

Biography

Burnett was born in

Southborough, Massachusetts Southborough is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It incorporates the villages of Cordaville, Fayville, and Southville. Its name is often informally shortened to Southboro, a usage seen on many area signs and maps. At th ...

, in November 1820 and died there in 1894. He was an innovator in the production of premium

vanilla extract Vanilla extract is a Solution (chemistry), solution made by maceration (food), macerating and percolation, percolating vanilla, vanilla pods in a solution of ethanol and water. It is considered an essential ingredient in many Western desserts, es ...

in the United States. Vanilla extract was previously imported from France and made by processes which were proprietary secrets. Burnett was also a manufacturer of pharmacy and foods and the family remained in business for over a century. He was the founder of St. Mark's School, an Episcopalian boarding school. He and his wife had twelve children many of whom who married members of other prominent Boston families. His son Edward Burnett served a term as a United States congressman. Edward's wife was Mabel Lowell, the daughter of American writer and diplomat

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

, who inherited her father's house Elmwood, currently home to the President of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. The children born to Joseph Burnetts wife were Edward, Harry, Robert Manton, Waldo, Esther, Ruth, Charles Cutler, John Torrey, Louise and Elinor.

References

The Life and Legacy of Joseph Burnett

1820 births 1894 deaths Schoolteachers from Massachusetts 19th-century American Episcopalians Founders of American schools and colleges Heads of American boarding schools People from Southborough, Massachusetts 19th-century American educators 19th-century American philanthropists {{US-edu-bio-stub